A good traveler has no fixed plans and no intent on arriving - Lao Tzu

Hilo

So waking up and seeing land after a week of rough seas is just beautiful.  Everyone was up at 6 on deck watching the sunrise. Which wasn’t the greatest actually; there were clouds in the way. There also may have been a good amount of people on cell phones after being depraved communication for a week.  I’m not admitting to anything.

 

Because the ship had sailed from Mexico we all had to go through immigration before anyone could leave the ship. So by the time we got off the boat it was about 8 in the morning. Believe me we were glad to get off the ship.

 

On the first day in the first port I somehow already have an FDP to go on. An FDP stands for Faculty Lead Practica which each class requires. This one was for my linguistics class to the Ka’ Umeke Ka’eo Hawaiian Language School. We got to the school at about 10 and we greeted with all the kids waiting on the lawn. It was explained to us that we had to request entrance because we were strangers to the community and because we couldn’t speak Hawaiian two of the students would do so on our behalf. The two kids started to chant and sing in Hawaiian and the rest responded and we were allowed to cross over and enter the school property. Then the school did this song were they all sang in Hawaiian, played the drums and ukuleles and danced. Then some of the kids ran up with leis and gave one to everyone with a hug and a kiss. It was one of the coolest unexpected things. The school teaches only in Hawaiian and is part of the revitalization movement in Hawaiian culture.

 

After the FDP and finished and dropped the group of us off at the ship we mostly decided to head to this black sand beach a mile and a half down the road. It wasn’t what I expected of a Hawaiian beach but it was pretty nice. It was also filled with SAS kids. After an hour or so the kids I came with had to go back because of the SAS luau. From there I ran into more people and went to a Hawaiian restaurant and tried the mashed terra plant called poi (that may be misspelled).  The food was really good, though the poi does taste like paste. We all then headed downtown to a Kava bar where it was open mike night and big love Monday.

 

So kava is apparently a root that is supposed to help relax while maintaining mental clarity. It is drunk out of a coconut shell and before you drink you have to clap once, and give some to your roots (the ground) and some to your ancestors (over your shoulder).   It taste earthy but by the time you finish it is the most relaxing thing. We all stayed there for a while, and the guy who were playing for open mike just started to sing “don’t worry about a thing, every little thing’s going to be alright” and prompted a sing along.

 

So after the sing along I changed cars and groups and went to a little beach on Dave’s advice (Dave is the owner of the Kava bar. He was awesome with making sure we could get back to the ship, and gave us his business card if we needed anything. That seems to be the general attitude of Hilo. Most people came back with stories of how the locals here are just helpful and chill about everything.) The beach and the water were so pretty and night.  On the way back to the car we past the Kava place again and ended up getting a free cup of Kava before trying a different beach.

 

Great first day in port.

 

The next day I ended up at the volcanoes, which was great and interesting but the first day tops by far.