Day 7: Waterfall Hike

Met up with Sara and John again pretty early because we had to return the scooters at 1130. We hit the road around 8 and drove straight to Monoa Falls. It was good to be out on the bikes again and where we were going was up in the mountains a bit so there was this wet fog that hung in the air. It was like a natural shower of sorts and helped wake you up.

Upon entering the entrance to this place we were met with an immediate rainforest setting. The greens were overwhelming and it was even green on the pavement. Ha and there were chickens everywhere in the parking lot. We ended up chaining all our bikes together andthen around this one pole since we all couldnt reach it. Made for a nice teamwork picture.

The hike started for the waterfall and it was this narrow path through the woods. First up was one of the biggest trees Ive ever seen in my life! Huuuuge. Sara climbed it real quick but its on my camera =\ Also there were these really blue fruits of sorts that were on the ground. Ive never seen that color in nature before. Continuing on up we were totally engulfed by this extremely green, wet foilage of all types. Massive ferns with leaves taller than me. Around every corner was something new. A bambo forest even popped up. And the trail just got muddier and muddier due to the 1000% humidity and number of people on the trail. Yea we think our humidity is bad in the south, well it has NOTHING on this place. But it was rather a clean humidity. There was so much it was basically like walking through a mist machine and you had to wipe off the water every other minute. I thought it was sweat a first but no, just water from the air.

Finally we get to the falls and Ill be honest, I was completely disappointed. It was really tall but narrow and fell down a rock face into a tiny pool. Worth a glance, maybe even a stare but definitely not a hike that steep, long, and dangerous (for older people moslty but it WAS muddy rock so anyone could slip to be fair). But regardless the hike itself was easily worth it. I just hope the pics turned out because the light was really low.

After making it down in one muddy piece, we rode to a neighborhood area called Round Top. They dont really have neighborhoods here like we are used to. They refer to where they live by valleys and beaches and bays and the like. So this place has these twisty roads that are really steep and go up a mountain that has a sweet view of the city. After taking that in we headed back to turn the scooters in. But we ended up talking to the guys there and them letting us take a trip to Walmart first. We got snorkling gear and some snacks and headed back again.

Next it was beah time since Sara hadnt seen the beach during the day time yet. The waves were decent so that was fun. Soon Sara's flight was here and she took off. John and I went back to the hostel where we ate dinner and met some new people from London, Australia, and the states. We ended up going out to a nearby bar where they had this amazing live reggae music by these two dudes. I only had a dollar in my pocket but somehow ended up with free drinks all night. And this one guy at the table next to us even felt inclined to buy me some nasty pickle juice shot. It was a whiskey shot chased by a pickle juice shot. I took it to be curteous but it was so disgusting lol. A successful night for sure nonetheless. After getting back to the hostel some of us went upstairs and I ended up passing out on an empty bed. Oops.