Our second and third day have been full of fun and some very wet adventures! Yesterday we played in the ocean for a long time, acting like we were little kids again. Juanjo of course tackled me right away, throwing me down in the water before I could get timid about the cold. Good thing, because it wasn’t cold at all—it was warm enough to play for as long as we wanted, despite the clouds and light misty rain.
Today we hiked through Hawaiian rainforest where we saw a couple of wild boars, and fought our way through tall undergrowth on a sometimes invisible path. What began as a manageable rainstorm turned to torrential downpours after we’d waded through a manageable river-crossing. The air smelled of vegetation and freshly fallen rain. We hiked through a narrow rainforest path to the second river crossing and found ourselves face to face with a roaring body of water that there was no way we were getting across on foot. So we walked back through the forest, jumping over puddles and trying to avoid especially muddy spots, until we got to our first crossing spot. But the water level had risen! I went first and then Juanjo followed, clutching sticks and slipping our feet along the rocks trying not to fall in the strengthening current. Juanjo did lose a shoe briefly, but I was able to recover it downstream. Good thing, because he would have had to walk barefoot through pouring rain for almost an hour to get to the car!
Now we are at the second rental house in Kailua, a charming 1930s place with dark, hardwood floors and wicker furniture. The beach is a few minutes walk away—a long sandy beach that looks delightful. If it weren’t for the rain! The rain is just amazing. On our way to the house this afternoon we took a wrong turn because it was pouring so hard I could hardly see the road. Then I had to slam on the brakes a couple of times because there were flash floods and the water was rising on the road! It keeps raining now, as I sit here writing this, and the weather report is that it will keep raining all week.
In a couple hours we’ll leave to go pick up Iliana at the airport, and tomorrow the work of the trip begins for me with the Comparative International Education Society conference. I feel so lucky to have the job I have that gives me the opportunity to travel like this, and to have Juanjo with a job flexible enough to let him come with me! Where will our next trip be?! For now, we have nearly a whole week left to keep exploring Oahu (perhaps indoors, unless we want to get soaked like we did today!). More soon.
One thing I forgot to mention in this post was the mosquito bites I got from the rainforest walk!! I counted them and had a grand total of 89 bites covering mostly my legs. The hike was still worth it because it was such great fun, but I have never had to exercise such self-control not to SCRATCH SCRATCH SCRATCH!! Now it’s Friday and they’re mostly going away, thank goodness. At least, I can wear skirts again. 🙂
We have two more days here. The past few have been a lot calmer because of having to work, but hopefully we can enjoy some more adventures before we leave Sunday night. The weather seems to be looking up a bit-still cloudy, but there are actually patches of blue sky. With a bit of luck we’ll have some sun for our last Hawaiian weekend on Oahu.