617 Curves

Dear Travel Diary,

Wednesday, July 7th, 2021

Today we had another tour planned and we had to be ready in sports attire by 9:00 a.m. The drive took us to the Iao Valley, which used to be the site of many battles and wars amongst rulers.

When we arrived, it started raining, just like last Saturday during our hike. So, completely soaked, we started our hike. First, a set of stairs up to a viewpoint, then behind the barricade into the "Area closed" section. When a little boy saw us and told his mother that we were doing something forbidden, I felt a bit guilty. But since we were with Jaret, a local, that feeling quickly disappeared.

The first part was steep and rocky and already slippery from the rain. I also felt the strain in my muscles from yesterday's workout, which didn't make it any easier. We barely started and already had to climb a wall and ended up in a field of ferns. On the narrow path, we maneuvered our way through and utterly scratched up our legs.

Fortunately, this section came to an end and we walked through a forest with many Strawberry-Guava trees on both sides. Jaret showed and explained things about the plants and nature to us, which was very exciting. We also sucked the sweet nectar out of the Hawaiian ginger flowers and put them in our hair on the correct side (single/taken).

The path through the thicket became muddier and slippery. But we were already accustomed to these kinds of paths, so it was nothing new for us.

Finally, when we reached our destination, we could enjoy the view for about five minutes before it started raining again. This made the descent even more difficult, and I almost slipped into the mud a few times.

Back down, some of us cooled off in the river while I enjoyed my sandwich.

As we drove off in the bus, Domi shouted to Jaret if he wanted to take his dog with him. Jaret asked, confused, what he meant and where his dog was. Well, there he was, all alone on the side of the road, waiting. Luckily, Domi saw him, otherwise he probably would have been sitting there, forgotten.

In the evening, we ate, sat, and had a cozy drink until I fell tired into bed.

Thursday, July 8th, 2021

Today Domi and I got up early again because we had to be in an Uber by 7:30 a.m. to pick up our rental car for the day. Since I was already awake at 5:30 a.m., it was no problem to get up at this time.

So we had breakfast and made our way to Kihei. When we picked up the car, we fueled it and bought lunch for the road. Then we picked up the other three at the hostel and continued on the Hana Highway.

The Road to Hana is a long, narrow, and increasingly dangerous road along the coast.

At the first stop, we unfortunately had to move on as there were no more parking spaces, and the same happened at the second stop. But at the third stop, there were Rainbow Eucalyptus trees, which have beautiful rainbow-colored bark. They shimmered in different colors. Right at this stop, I also took a motion sickness tablet, as it is quite a curvy road. Apparently, the whole route 360 has a total of 617 curves and 56 one-lane bridges.

We continued driving over many bridges, past waterfalls. Along the way, we found a charming eatery where we ate way too much lunch. With full stomachs, we continued to the Red Sand Beach, which was beautiful and something completely new once again. Until now, we had seen more or less everything. Waterfalls, plants, and even more blue and green. We stayed at this beach for a short time, flew Corina's drone, and enjoyed the cool water on our legs or all the way in.

From there, we drove another 20 minutes to the Wailua Falls, where there was almost an accident. Cars crossed each other, tried to park and leave, and didn't consider others. It felt like the game "Rush Hour," where the red car has to get out of the parking lot, and all the other cars can only move to a certain point. Luckily, we and our car were safely parked, and Domi drove it safely out of there.

On the way back, we stopped at a charming food truck and had vegan ice cream made from coconut milk. It tasted wonderful but also cost a fortune. We paid a whopping $40 for five scoops of ice cream. No wonder the price wasn't written anywhere.

We also visited the two waterfalls from the beginning and returned to the hostel without any dizziness or accidents by 6:00 p.m.

Afterwards, Domi returned the car with Chantal, and we cooked dinner together one last time. The three of them are flying back to Oahu tomorrow and shortly after to Switzerland. Since we were like lazy flies the whole day, we didn't stay up late either.

Friday, July 9th, 2021

Today, I got up early again because I had a meeting. Afterwards, I was alone in the courtyard, and the temperature was pleasant.

At around 8:00 a.m., we had breakfast for the last time with Corina, Esther, and Domi. Joelle from Germany, who had already spent a few days with the three of them in the hostel in Kauai, was also new to the group. So, there was a reunion.

A little later, we had to say goodbye to our Maui friends. It was a nice time with them and a nice change to be with other people again.

Joelle, Chantal, and I stayed outside comfortably until noon and then had our sandwiches from yesterday after I took a short nap in the garden chair.

After lunch, we made our way to the beach, where once again, it was so windy that I felt like I was in a sandstorm. Even moving behind a tree trunk didn't help. The wind came from all sides and made it pretty unpleasant. The sand was in my hair, mouth, ears, bag, bikini, and even on the screw cap of my bottle. That was enough for me, so I wanted to go back to the hostel.

But then Joelle saw turtles further out in the sea, and we also briefly marveled at them. It looked like they were feeding and needed to come up for air from time to time. They kept sticking their heads out of the water and diving back under the surface.

Chantal and Joelle didn't find it very pleasant either, so they came back up to the hostel with me. There, we took showers and prepared our warm clothes. We're going back to Haleakala once more.

Joelle met an Uber driver when she arrived at the hostel, who offered to drive her to Haleakala for free. So, with mixed feelings, we joined her. In my mind, I was flipping back and forth. Who drives complete strangers for free to a volcano? Why is she doing this, and doesn't she have to work? But Joelle said she had a good feeling about it, so we got in. It's not like I haven't gotten into a stranger's car like this in Zanzibar before, but here I had a queasy feeling at the beginning.

Fortunately, this feeling quickly disappeared, and I felt comfortable because the Uber driver (name?) seemed very nice. Nevertheless, her joke about it looking like a horror movie here with the fog didn't really calm me down. On the way there, we stopped at two photo spots, and she even gradually turned it into a photoshoot with us. She wanted us to hold the sun with our hands or kick it like a ball. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out as desired, and it was a spectacle to watch her get upset and lie on the ground to get a better perspective.

When we arrived at the top, we could even see into the crater in daylight, which shimmered in many colors. Last time, it was already too dark for that. The landscape reminded me of a Mars landscape with the hills and colors.

For the sunset, we walked a bit higher than on Sunday and enjoyed it from there. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy, so it wasn't as beautiful as the last one. Nevertheless, once again breathtaking with the colors and especially the total silence at 10,023 feet.

? then drove us back home to the hostel and became quite talkative on the way back. She told us about her travels and leisure activities planned for the next few days.

We arrived at the hostel around 9:00 p.m. and cooked dinner before enjoying the guava from the hike on Wednesday as dessert. It tasted similar to a passion fruit and was therefore very delicious.