Aloha Friends,

Here I am with access to a computer again, yipee! It's sad how much I miss my laptop. I like to think of myself as "not-so-plugged-in", but now that I'm not plugged in at ALL I must admit I really miss it.

I'd like to share some things I've been learning...

Camping in Hawaii, while EPIC! is not as easy as one might think. We've discovered that in many cases, the county and especially state parks make things harder for campers than I think is necessary. For example, while we were on Maui we were driving up the road to Hana, which is famous for it's curves and vistas. We needed a place to sleep and we'd heard good things about Waianapanapa, a black sand beach on the east coast of Maui. When we stopped to check things out we were clearly told (by a sign in the window) that there is NO CAMPING without a PERMIT and PERMITS WILL NOT BE ISSUED ANYWHERE EXCEPT THE OFFICE IN WAILUKU. Wailuku happens to be a really long way from Waianapanapa, at least in island distance. We didn't camp there. Another example of this type of thing is here on Kauai, if you go to many of the county offices to get a $3 camping permit, you cannot pay with cash or credit card. Money orders or certified checks only. For $3. Interesting.

Camping permits can also be expensive sometimes. Waimanu Valley permits on Big Island are $18 per person, per night. Here on Kauai is the Napali Coast Trail, one of the most famous hikes in the world, which leads to Kalalau Valley. Permits for Kalalau are $20 per night per person. These types of permit fees were unexpected for me.

So now we know why a lot of campers don't bother to be legitimate. Mikey and I hiked into Waimanu Valley with no permits. While we were hiking out we met a man who works for the Department of Land and Natural Resources. He was super cool and didn't care if we had permits or not. We've done a bit of covert camping with good success.

And to be fair, sometimes it is extremely easy to be legit, and the rangers are often really nice. National parks out here, I've noticed, are much easier to deal with. We camped in the Haleakala National Park on Maui, at Kipuhulu, for 4 glorious days. Kipuhulu is in the south of Maui, near Hana. The campground is very close to a series of waterfalls (people call them the Seven Sacred Pools). At the Kipuhulu campground, camping permits are $10 per car, valid for 3 days. If you arrive after their office is closed you will find a sign in the window that says : OFFICE CLOSED, PAY TOMORROW.

So far, most of my favorite campsites have been undesignated by anyone with authority. My favorites have been designated as a great campsite by Mikey and I. On Big Island, we camped at Punalu'u, the turtle beach on the south side of the island. Punalu'u has marked campsites, but down the coast a little, away from the park, we camped in one of the sweetest spots I've ever been. Flat sand, with a treeline to block the coastal winds and give some extra rain cover, but still right on the beach. Near the parking lot, but with an isolated feeling. That particular campsite was shown to us by a man named Eddie, who told us, "I don't tell just anybody about this spot!" I guess he must have liked us. :)

On another note, I've learned yet again that

Hawaii is expensive!

You've gotta be creative with funds out here. I go through phases of being good at that, and then not being so good.

Something I think to myself almost every day:

You get what you pay for.

Best example is our Rent a Wreck parade. You can read my earlier entry on that, if you like, and since writing that entry we had another incident with the Shaggin Wagon minivan, where the front left wheel of the vehicle almost fell off (literally) while we were driving around Waimea Canyon (not a good place to lose control of a vehicle). We're all fine, ofcourse, but now when somebody tells us about a good deal on a rental car, we ask a list of questions... Do all the doors lock? Do all the windows work? Does the car run? Make any funny noises? Are all parts securely attached? Haha, I jest (sort of).

To close this rather jumbled, but informational, entry, here are a few Hawaiian words to add to your vocabulary wherever you might be:

Aloha ofcourse, everybody knows that one, but take a minute and think about how this word means hello, goodbye, AND I love you. The I LOVE YOU meaning is always present, and out here people talk about the Aloha spirit of Hawaii, which despite lots of cultural tensions, Mikey and I have lived first hand. The spirit of Aloha is something we will take with us from Hawaii when we leave. Spread it around!

Mahalo I know some of you all must be tired of saying "thank you" your whole life. Try this word instead.

Pau (pronounced POW) means finished. I'm pau could mean I'm done with my dinner or I'm tired of working on this computer, but lookout if you go to Brazil. In Brazilian Portugese, I'm told, PAU means you are a man and you have a BIG you-know-what. Hee hee

Haole (how-lee) If you come to hawaii and you're white, you're a Haole. I've heard that this literally means "without life" because when the Hawaiians of old saw white people for the first time, they'd never seen their own people look so pale except in death. Haole is a derrogatory term also, a racial term here. Sometimes it is used in good humor, sometimes in a hateful way.

Pono This is my favorite, even though I'm not sure I have a good grasp on this word because I've heard many different definitions. I've heard that the word means balanced, but the overarching meaning seems to be: do what is right

Hawaiian is a beautiful feminine language full of vowels.

And Kauai is beautiful today, so enough computer time, I'm PAU!

(In Hawaiian, not Portugese, ofcourse ;)

Aloha,

Kristen