Log 66: New Arrivals
Today, Lucas has been here for exactly one week, and Anne for exactly two. At Ululani's, Lucas is currently in training, and Anne, having finished her training, is now a shaver three. The two of them are settling in, and it's been lovely to have familiar faces around the hostel. While we’re still coordinating to get our work schedules aligned, there have been a few days where we’ve all been off, and I’ve been able to show them around to some of my favorite spots on the island. Just yesterday, we made a trip down to the Ioa (EEE-yao) Valley for a little bit of hiking and a picnic by the river.
You know, that actually made the whole thing sound way too whimsical - let me re-paint that picture. Yesterday morning, Anne, Lucas, and I were languishing in Hakuna Matata’s front yard, unable to formulate a plan for our shared day off. Anne and I were watching a Netflix documentary on the lives of children who grew up as fundamentalists in the Church of Latter Day Saints. Lucas was watching us watch said documentary. I don’t think any of us was thrilled with that plan. So, I made a new one.
“Want to go to the Iao Valley?” I asked. Anne looked up from the doc. “You mean, today? Like right now?” I nodded. “Yeah, let’s go. I’ll call a Lyft.” I called a car for us that was somewhere around 15 minutes away according to Lyft’s tracking system. The three of us went inside our respective hostels and prepared what we needed for the outing. As I packed towels into a hiking pack, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. “YOUR LYFT IS ARRIVING IN 1 MINUTE,” a message on the screen read. I yelled for Anne and called Lucas’s phone - we needed to hustle. Thirty seconds later, Anne and I were headed out the door. The Lyft was pulling up. We made it! Then my heart fell. “Lunch!” I cried, defeated. “We don’t have any food!” We were planning to spend the majority of the day in the valley, which has no shops/restaurants of any kind, and is a good five mile walk away from Wailuku. The two of us turned back inside and made the fastest bag lunches of our lives.
Unfortunately, we also made the worst bag lunches of our lives. We ended up preparing 3 microwave plant based chicken patties, each sandwiched between two pieces of sliced bread, with no toppings whatsoever. To complete the meal, we threw a macadamia nut Clif bar into each bag. Satisfied, we hurried back outside. Our original Lyft was actually long gone at this point - we had ordered another one, and that one was also arriving earlier than expected. The three of us piled in, and honestly had a really fun ride with our Lyft driver, Sherman.
When we arrived at the valley, we hiked upstream until we found a secluded spot and jumped into the freezing water. After our swim, we jumped back and forth across the river, balancing on the dry rocks. Almost immediately after we started, Lucas missed one of his landings and stepped right into the river, tennis shoes and all. As we went on up the river, this happened to Lucas a few more times, and each time it did, I laughed uproariously, feeling so nimble as I avoided the water completely with each jump. Anne, who was notably more cautious than Lucas or I, fared much better, managing to stay dry throughout the entire activity. I also managed to stay dry throughout the entire activity. Almost. Eventually, we got tired of climbing up the river, and started retracing our steps to the hiking trail. As I jumped between the last few rocks, I will admit that my form may have gotten a little sloppy. And when I jumped to that very last rock, I may not have been entirely looking where I was putting my feet. I may have scraped my leg on the side of the rock, slipped and splashed gracelessly into one of the river’s many shallow pools.
Highlight: As I recovered from my spill, a couple emerged from the end of the path onto the riverbank. “Is there an actual trail going back here?” They directed the question at Lucas, taking a cursory glance over at me struggling behind him. If there is a trail, that girl clearly doesn’t know where it is. I laughed as I stood up out of the water, soaked from head to toe, with a little trickle of blood running down my right shin: “What do you mean? The trail’s right here!” I called, gesturing back in the direction I came. They thought it was funny.
