Time is precious. Waste it wisely.

 

More than a week has now passed and we are halfway through our stay on Oahu. We are feeling so good that we were finally able to start the activities we thought about. I deliberately do not call it "planned" because I find chasing after any kind of plans on vacation far too exhausting and, in my opinion, misses the point of a vacation of this kind. In any case, I have a lot to tell you.

After our trip to the west coast, we took a short tour to Waimānalo the next day. Waimānalo Beach is known for its white sand and wonderfully turquoise water. The colors are an absolute feast for the eyes! But despite the overcast sky, you can quickly feel the Hawaiian sun on your skin. 🌊🌴☀

And what you also see in Waimānalo (not only there) is the other side of the so-called paradise. Five years ago there were already many homeless tents along the road in the same place - and unfortunately there are now significantly more. You can now find them all over the island, preferably near the beach parks because there are public restrooms and showers. Believe me, it hurts to see this misery. Such a wonderful place, and yet so much poverty and suffering. The state is currently trying to take action against these people with a controversial bill. In my opinion, this is the wrong approach. 😥

We spent the next day very relaxed again and outside our holiday apartment. Cozy in the shade under a large parasol, or rather in the shade on our lanai (terrace), with an ice-cold drink by our side... That's a great way to bear almost 30°C. And what can I tell you? We got sunburnt despite the shady spots! That was to be expected, but I was still hoping to avoid it in the shade. No matter, we know enough home remedies that can quickly soothe a mild burn. ☀

And now I want to tell you about an experience that means a lot to me. ❤ You've already read about my friend Mary, the Kumu Hula, in my blog. She lives on the North Shore and has 3 children who are now grown up. The youngest is Tani, whose full name is Sitaniselao Kukalamaulaikalani Kupau Mikaele and who has just finished high school. He has been a sought-after young football player for some time and has had a sports scholarship on the mainland for the last five years. Mainland in this context means that he played for a while in Las Vegas and also for a certain amount of time in California for a high school team. I think that's pretty cool for such a young person. Especially when you consider that you can finance your education here with a sports scholarship. In any case, Mary invited us to his graduation party, which was held in her garden at home. Family, or Ohana, is very important here and that includes friends. We met a lot of different and incredibly friendly and open-hearted people of all ages there. Mary introduced us all as “Auntie and Uncle from Germany” and admittedly that felt a bit strange, but we are not the youngest anymore and belonged to the “upper third” of the age group at Tani’s party. 😆

Nevertheless, it was a wonderful experience, especially because the warmth was so great. There was lots of homemade Hawaiian food, from pupu’s (appetizers/starters) to main courses and desserts. I admit that I don’t know what I tried, but it was super delicious! 😋 I really like Hawaiian cuisine; it is a mix of many different cultures. There was live music from various musicians and bands and quite a few of them were former students of my friend Mary. There was singing, laughing, dancing and lots of talking. I really enjoyed it and when we said goodbye, my friend Mary hung one of her leis (flower necklaces) around my neck and it touched me very much. 💕 Leis have a variety of meanings in Hawaii and I could probably write a whole post about it, but I'll spare you that, because others have already covered it much better than I could. So here's just a quote from another travel blog about it and the link if you want to read it in more detail. 😉

“The closed lei symbolizes deep love and the embrace of a loved one.”

https://www.kultreiseblog.de/bedeutung-der-lei-blumenkette-auf-hawaii-kultding-des-monats/

That's Tani.

I'm slowly realizing that it's not that easy to summarize the past few days. I've probably taken a little too much time before writing everything down.

We spent Sunday comfortably in our vacation apartment and took the opportunity to chat with our hosts outside by the water. Bernd ventured out on a stand-up paddle board and I looked for a shady spot to chat with Reece, Thom's wife, who moved from the mainland to Hawaii just a few years ago and then met and fell in love with Thom here.

On Monday we saw a lot and were out and about practically all day. Starting with the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden here in Kane’ohe, which I love very much. We were there for the second time and it is and remains simply impressive. This rich plant world is incredibly remarkable; especially against the backdrop of the island’s indescribably beautiful green mountains. Ho’omaluhia means protected, by the way. In this 160 hectare park there is a lake called Loko Waimaluhia. This means “peaceful lake” and that hits the nail on the head. Entry to the park is free and when you drive in, you are told at the gate that you are not allowed to take photos or videos from your car. At first we were surprised and did not understand this instruction. You must not take a lot of things here too literally - in the truest sense - but rather make an effort to understand the context. You should not film or take photos from your car so as not to endanger traffic! As soon as you stop and get out, you can record everything. There are tons of parking spaces on site, which also have free restrooms. There are picnic areas and benches throughout the park that invite you to linger. We also saw many families taking advantage of these opportunities. With special permits, you can even camp with a tent in this park.

In the late afternoon, we decided to end the day with a sunset from Tantalus Drive and headed to Honolulu. If you are a little interested in Oahu and Hawaii, you may have heard or read about it. Tantalus is a mountain above Honolulu and there is the “Round Top Drive”, an 8-mile long historic road that winds around the mountain and leads up. In many places you have a wonderful view down to Honolulu, Waikiki, Diamond Head and some other districts. 😍 It is a popular place to watch the sunset. If you want to find out more about it, you can follow this link.

https://tantalusoahu.com/about/national-historic-road/

Otherwise, I'll let the photos and videos speak for themselves. If you know me a little, you know how much I love sunrises and sunsets. 😉

Adventurous as we are, we finally wanted to swim in the sea on Tuesday, so we put on our swimwear, packed towels, a mat and a bottle of water and set off. It won't surprise you that we don't prefer beaches like Waikiki, so we headed north and soon found a beach that wasn't very busy. We ended up in Ahupuaʻa ʻO Kahana State Park on the North Shore, and while one of us frolicked in the warm water (you can't really call it cooling off in the shallow water at these temperatures!), the other watched the shore crabs, which scurry around there in droves and dig sand out of their holes. I could watch them forever! 🦀

Later, back in Kane'ohe, we both walked a little way out into the bay. Yes, that's right - walked. 😂 The bay is so shallow here that it's not easy to swim. We just started walking from the property and after about 200 meters the water was still only up to my belly button. 

That was quite a lot up to this point, wasn't it? And I'm already two days behind on my reports. I have to admit that I go to bed early in the evening and am really exhausted by then. Interestingly, it gets dark much earlier here than at home. It's already pitch black at 8 p.m., but the day starts much earlier. I know that has something to do with the proximity to the equator, but details? No idea! 😂 It's not that important. People just go to bed earlier here and start the day much earlier. It's actually pretty cool that way, I think. 😎

Aloha! 🤙🏼