No pain, no gain

Dear travel diary

Friday, April 16, 2021

In the night from Thursday to Friday, Debbie's sister flew with her two children, Grace and Hope, from Big Island due to Grandma's deteriorating health. So we have a full house with the Lee family. The two children even slept on the couch in the living room. Since Chantal and I have breakfast at 6:30 am, we moved everything to my room so as not to wake them up.

When we arrived at school, the power went out and a speaker in the classroom informed us that there was a power outage gradually throughout the Waikiki suburb. After a while, the voice came back and told us that only elevator number 1 was still working. Slowly but surely, we could feel that it was getting warmer and warmer in our room. Nevertheless, it was still comfortable because otherwise it tends to be a bit too cold. Dozens of minutes later, it became bright again and the power was back. Several more minutes passed and the charming man from the speaker told us that the power was back and we could resume our activities. Oh well, I didn't expect that... How nice ;)

Since Vanessa has her last day of school today, we all went out for sushi. As always, it was very delicious. Afterwards, we met up with some girls from school in front of the surf shop. We tried surfing. It's my first time and I'm not sure what to think of it. Those who know me know that water and I are not a really good combination. And then there's the saltwater with the contact lenses. Also not a good combination, but who knows, maybe it works out not so bad and all my doubts disappear in no time.

Finally far enough out, I already felt like my arms were about to fall off. Paddling constantly is quite exhausting. After one or two waves, I was already able to show off my possible talent. The first wave didn't work out exactly as I had hoped. But I mean, it's my first time on the surfboard and on the wave. With the next possible wave, I decided to stay lying on the board and I felt like I was being carried with the wave for an infinitely long time. The feeling you experience is unique. The best way to describe it is with a sense of ease and emptiness in your body. Afterwards, the waves didn't really want to carry me anymore. I also felt like I wasn't making much progress while paddling. So I ended my first surf session after nearly two hours. But it definitely won't be my last. It went better with the water and all my doubts than I had imagined beforehand. The only problem is my little motion sickness, which I already felt just on the surfboard after this time. When I had solid ground under my feet again, I was pretty happy and relieved.

Now, however, my hip bones, my upper ribs, and my sitting bones are hurting. Only the sore muscles in my arms were spared.

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Today, my alarm went off at 4:30 am. Boy, that was early, but I was really excited about the planned activity. We wanted to conquer Koko Head. It's right around the corner from us. Tony was so kind and drove us to the start of the trail. Equipped with flashlights in the dark, we set off and were surprised to be a little out of breath after a short time. The path up the 'hill' was equipped with predetermined railway ties and therefore extremely strenuous because you can't choose your own step size. Some of the steps were huge and almost reminded us of a climbing trip. At one part of the trail, we had to balance over a kind of bridge without a railing over the steps, which was pretty precarious.
Meanwhile, it started to drizzle a little, which made the wooden steps even more dangerous due to the moisture.

In the end, it got even more intense and especially steep. We arrived at the top, shortly before 6:00 am, after about 45 minutes, and froze our butts off. It was quite cold due to the drizzle, our sweat, and the wind. However, our plan didn't completely work out and we didn't get to see the sunrise as beautifully as we had hoped because it was quite cloudy. Nevertheless, we waited a little longer at the top and the view improved slightly.

The ascent was already tedious, but the descent even more so. Fortunately, we could do this in daylight. And fortunately, we were already on the way so early because now there were almost people on the narrow path. However, many of them were equipped with tools or gravel in their hands. All these volunteers helped to maintain the path. Tired and healthy, we reached the bottom and Tony kindly picked us up again.

When we arrived home, we watched Lehua as she made a flower crown. In addition, she was tasked with making a lei. We were allowed to help her and thus made our first lei.
However, she said that she will teach us how to make such a beautiful flower crown as well. I am already looking forward to it!

To relax a bit, we enjoyed the afternoon at the beach and soaked up some sun before sprinting back to catch the bus... First, we ran to the bus stop because the bus supposedly arrived 6 minutes early, and then we ran back at the next stop because we caught the bus in the wrong direction. Now, however, we have a delicious dinner as a reward ;)