Saturday, October 29, 2011

Kona: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

So. Kona. If you have looked at my Facebook, you would know that I haven't been having the best of time here. But that isn't to say that it has all been bad. Just a lot of it has been, and it's only been a few days.

The Good:
  • Saw 3 sea turtles on Black Sand Beach. They were huge and gorgeous. I wanted to pet one, but it's illegal too so I didn't.
  • We kayaked and snorkeled. It was a beautiful sunny day and there were hundreds of fish! My favorite were the parrotfish. There were hundreds of yellow fish, some beautiful black fish, and we even saw a huge sea star! but it looked like it had spikes and had a bunch of legs so we stayed away from it. 
  • We made dinner the first night, which was a beef teriyaki stir fry. We used a local vegetable that was similar to a zucchini, but I forgot it's name. It was very good. And the next day one of the guys who works here made burgers for everyone. Mine had blue cheese, bacon, sauteed mushrooms and onions, and avocado. Needless to say it was fantabulous. 
  • The owner Annie has been very sweet, and helpful during these buggy times of mine. She is parinoid about bugs and quickly evacuated the room and fumigated it. Which was nice to see.
  • I figured out my Halloween costume. I'm going to be a water nymph. How? Lots of blue fabric with turtles on it, sequins and light blue chiffon.
  • The nurse at the hospital was really cool and he told me to live on Oahu because that's where he moved too when he was 22 (In 1973) and loved it.
  • I might have a new place to stay, and if not, I'll be able to explore the island tomorrow with one of my friend's friends.
  • Australian boys saved me from the pharmacy. 
  • The Aussie boys caught a Mahi Mahi fish on their deep sea fishing trip today. They cooked it up tonight with breadcrumbs, basil, hot pepper and we added a bit of lemon juice at the end. IT WAS SOOO GOOD! The best fish I have ever eaten. Hands down.
The Bad and Ugly:
These two categories have to go together.
  • I got either bed bug bites or flea bites. Not sure which, they itch like hell. And some of them are blistered. I have at least 100 bites on my inner elbows, feet, legs, back, shoulder and kind of the collar bone area. They didn't get my butt, which is why I'm now thinking it was fleas.
  • Where I got these flea bites from. I have no idea. But there was a bug in my bed when I first got to the hostel, so the owner moved my friends and I to a different room. And these bites turned into welts which swelled up my upper right arm.
  • The rental car got into a fender bender. It was parked and some girl hit up the side of it. No one was hurt. But we had to go through a police report. The officer was a bit cute though.
  • My friends left for New Zealand/Australia.
  • I went to drop off my friends and car at the airport. I asked the Thrifty people about the bus. They said there wasn't a bus. (Luckily we asked some security and they told me one was coming in 20 minutes!)
  • I missed the stop for the hospital and had to walk .5 miles.
  • I got to the ER, waited, told t hem what was wrong, showed them what was wrong and when I asked the doctor what it might be, he replied, "You should probably wash all your clothes and go somewhere else." I told him I did and got a new room at the hostel. I wanted to tell him to F-off, that I am a poor post graduate who has no money to stay any where else but if he was willing to pay I would love too. I asked again about what the bites came from and avoided answering it. He prescribed some Prenizone and antibiotics. Said I should follow up with another doctor on Oahu since I don't have a primary care here. 
  • Had to walk 1.5 miles back in  the dark on a highway back to the hostel. I ended up twisting my ankle with .25 mile left. 
  • Have used a lot of anti itch gel and it doesn't help. Trying the cream now. Benadryl capsules work, but they make me sleepy.
  • Had to take Benadryl twice last night when I woke up due to said itchiness.
  • The antibiotics suppresses my appetite and the steroids increase it. This will be interesting.
  • I was told today that I am unable to stay out in the sun for longer than 30 minutes, drink, or swim in the ocean. Kinda wish a blizzard would come to make Hawaii seem like less of a tease.
  • I was at the pharmacy for 4 hours waiting for a bus. Mind you, it wasn't in the city, it's on the street next to 5 other shops. The restaurant was closed on Saturdays. I would have walked home, but it takes 3 hours (according to google maps) and I'm not supposed to be out in the sun for long periods of time. 
  • As the Aussie boys picked me up and drove off, the bus came by.
  • Did I mention that I CANT FUCKING STOP SCRATCHING!!!!???
  • And I have to pee all the time from the Prenizone.
  • The other hostel in the area has bed bugs too. :(
  • And I think I killed them all but I can't be certain.
So I think that's about it.
As Tom so kindly put it, "At least you have food."
My hunger better stop suppressing itself or I won't have anything, besides Hawaii.

So that's my vent. A lot of you have heard it. I'm attempting to make the best out of it, but I leave the second of Nov and I still have nowhere to sleep for tomorrow or the next 3 nights. (Damned if I'm staying here, I should have left already.)

I'm trying to stay positive, but honestly, it's pretty hard.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

day two/3 in Hilo

Maui's in the background. Photo Credit Julia
Yesterday was a relaxing day.

We woke up and hung around the hostel for a bit to decided what we wanted to do for the day. At night we had planned on going to the observatory at Mauna Kea to watch the sunset, but before that, we wanted to see something nice. Some people at the hostel told us to go to Rainbow Fall, and if we went early enough, we could probably see a rainbow. So we headed out for Rainbow Fall, took an extra long scenic detour, but we finally made it. My camera decided to be a little bitch and stop working for me (the lens goes in and out when I turn it on and tells me to turn off and on my camera...) So I have to steal some photos. But it was a larger waterfall with some small paths. There was no rainbow though.

We got back to the hostel shortly after, where I did some laundry, and we made some lunch. Realizing that I was going to be cold, we had to pack sweaters, pants, and other warm clothing. I never thought I would need these pieces of clothing, but I'm happy we brought them!

The drive there was easy and we reached the Visitor Center very easily at ~9000 ft. After taking our thirty minute rest stop there to acclimate to the altitude, we realized that our car was not going to be able to make it up and we would not be able to hike up. So we decided to ask someone to join them on their journey up. We decided to ask this older couple who had a Jeep Wrangler who was more than happy for us to join. Mike and Loretta are from Oxford England and they were here on a two week holiday. Liz, Julia, and I explained our situations to them; about where we came from, how we got to Hawaii and how we all met. People are still surprised when they see an American with two Austrians. But we explained that we met at a hostel and got along and people seem content after wards. So after a very scary drive up to the top, we split up for a bit until after the sunset.

We went to the very top of the Mauna Kea. So we were 13,700 some odd feet above sea level, but it's technically the tallest mountain in the world because part of it is under water. Click on the link if you don't believe me! Wikipedia never lies... mwhahaha!
But anyways, there was a beautiful sunset, and it got very cold after the sun went down, so we went to the visitor center again and we looked through telescopes and saw stars, planets, nebulas and the Milky Way. It was a pretty awesome way to begin our trip on the Big Island. So enough rambling, here are some picture from Julia and Liz.

Photo Credit Julia

Photo Credit Julia

Photo Credit Julia

Photo Credit Elisabeth

Photo Credit Elisabeth

VENUS! Photo Credit Julia   
Today we drove around and saw some things. Here are photos from that. **All photo credit goes to Elisabeth!

A pink quill






Orchid Garden. I have more photos I promise Ron!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

OMG ELISABETH RULES!

So. These are all the photos I have taken so far on this trip using my camera because my memory card works in my friend Liz's computer. HOLY HELL YES! EDIT*** So it was crashing using all of the photos and I didn't re-size them, so they are just of Hawaii and they are in a viewable size. Sorry if I crashed your computer! : / I'll caption them later. enjoy!