OUR FIRST DAY IN HILO

So..... after a very long day of traveling, we finally arrived in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai'i! This blog will be dedicated to describing our travels around the islands of Hawai'i over the next three months while we are here for work. For those reading this who don't know.... we were married on Sept 6th in Boston, MA, ran away to Aruba for 10 days for our honeymoon, and then ended up in Hawai'i. We are both here to work at rehab centers in the city of Hilo which is on the eastern side of the Big Island.

First, a little about Hilo: This is the rainiest place in the United States and we are here during the rainy season! Hilo can get 75 to 125 inches of rain per year!!! But, it doesn't rain all the time (so they promise us). According the research we've done, and what we've experienced so far, it's mostly sunny and rains at somepoint every day. The rain keeps everything lush and green and very tropical.

We arrived on the Sept 23rd, exhausted from the trip. We stayed up as late as we could but were in bed by 8pm (2am eastern standard time). We awoke at 4am the next day to roosters and were wide awake. We got out of bed, got ready, took showers, went to breakfast, grocery shopping, and to Walmart and were home by 9am! We had to check into work for a bit and then decided to do a bit of site seeing.

Here is Adam carrying some of our luggage into our new house. We have orange trees and avocado trees in the back yard and the people next door have a pet goat!

Our first sight seeing stop was along a scenic route along route 19, in a rainforest, right outside of Hilo. Everything was sooo green and tropical and it was, of course, drizzling here and there. We were told not to leave our rental car in any secluded areas because there is a good chance it will get broken into. This area was pretty secluded so we didn't wander too far. But we did stop long enough to see the beautiful views and snap a picture.

Here I am at the scenic overlook:

Next, we decided to drive over to Akaka Falls, also just outside of Hilo. The waterfall here is 442 ft high. We didn't have a long time to explore the area because we had to check in at work. We had just enough time to check out the falls and head out...... here we are:

Our next stop before having to go do our pre-employment screens was for something cool to drink - we were thirsty! All I really wanted was water, but when we happened in to this little coffee shop called the Bayfront, they had all these different types of something called Kava. I had never heard of Kava and asked the man working there what it was. He told me "Kava makes people happy and it's completely legal!" He said he has it every day and is always happy. He brought us outside and showed us what the Kava plan looks like. Here it is right in front of the shop. It's made from the root of the plant.

So I thought, what the heck as he scooped some up with a cocunut shell for me to try. It tastes pretty bad! Then, he said we needed to taste it in it's concentrated form and dropped some into our mouths using an eye dropper. It was gross! Not only that, but it made our tongues and throats go completely numb. I started to feel a little funny and it seemed Adam was feeling the same. I grabbed the bottle off the counter and read: "Do not drive or operate heavy machinery while taking kava".... then we got really nervous because we had to take drug test in about 30 minutes. The man working at Bayfront assured us we would pass. So we left after buying a bottle of Kava and an iced coffee for Adam. Here's what it looks like when you buy it:
When we got home (after passing our drug tests - thank God!) I did some research to see what Kava is all about. Apparently it's used by Polynesians as a sedative and according to Wikipedia "without disrupting mental clarity". One study did find that it was more effective than placebo for the treatment of social anxiety, although there is concern over liver toxicity. I'm glad we tried it, but I think I'll stay away. There are enough recreational activities we partake in that taste good and help with social anxiety that are also bad for the liver!

Anyway - we went to go get Kim for the airport. We decided to keep her up as late as possible to help her with her jet lag. We went to a sports bar in Hilo called Cronies. Here we are:

Kim looks a little tired, but it could just be the mai tais! That's all for now. We are in Kauai as I'm writing this..... but more about that later. We miss you!