Day 18: Salvation back in Hilo

Our wetest night was now over and the horses are back by our tent grazing. Sara has the sore neck for a change and her phone got a little damp from all the rain last night. But we both have extremely sore ankles and glutes from the hike. Guess we climbed harder than we thought. At least food and drinks are something we have plenty of today. 

We take our time getting up and eating because its still drizzly outside. Ive noticed almost every morning here its cloudy and rainy and then like clockwork the sun comes out around 7-12. Then its fair game after that. 

So the sun finally comes out and we get all our tent stuff dry minus our shoes. And then these people pull up next to us in a truck and offer us fresh coconuts. The amount of juice in these is staggering. We drank ourselves full and THEN had enough left over between the 2 of us to fill up a water bottle. Crazy cool. We also scooped out some meat but it doesnt have much flavor and leaves your mouth feeling kinda greasy almost. But it could fill you if youre hungry. Glad to have some water finally as we were out, we thanked them with a machete we found and headed out.

On the way out we ran into our favorite horse again and fed her a last snack. She wouldnt stop following us afterwards. I secretly knew she wanted to give us a ride up but we were too proud to take her up on the offer. We ended up hitching back up the mountain thankfully and from there hitched to an intersection 9 miles away to try to catch a ride to Hilo.

It took a minute this time but we got the thumbs up from a nice family who took us about 10 miles. Now would prove our hardest hitchin yet. Sun beating down on us we had a sign drawn on a piece of typing paper and we were jumping up and down catching peoples attention. Most laughed and kept driving. Just when we were Starting to wonder where our amazing luck with quick rides so far had gone, a real nice girl picked us up in her truck of sorts. We actually got to ride inside for once. Good thing too since we were headed around 30 miles to Hilo. 

She dropped us off right where we thought we would stay tonight. Pretty awesome this hitching thing. We've been so lucky with getting rides from nice people but I know how hard it is back home with more conservative folks. Definitely would not be the same stories.

We walked to a nearby beach park, a new one instead of our old one. Actually we were deciding which one to go to at an intersection and had a tiny tiff. To make a short story short we went left to the new one and it made all the difference in the world for our last day/night in Hilo. This one was a lot nicer and had a nice little wave break around a shallow beach. Very kid friendly and there were tons. A birthday party from what we later found out. 

So Sara and I pull up some bench and start charging our life lines. There are some people next to us with what looks like a soon to be party of sorts. We just do our own thing and I made a joke about coming to the right place for the food to one of the women there. Sara and I then start eating our own food and conversing as normal. Then somehow we strike up conversation with the people there as we normally do. We tell them where we are from and that we have been backpacking Hawaii and all over Big Island. And theeen the next thing we know these extremely nice women start offering us these very interesting local dishes they made. And then more....and more! And it just...keeps...coming. We are blown away not only by having something other than dry food, but how amazingly these people are treating complete strangers. And the food was great. Korean fried chicken was devine. Different kinds of Sashimi (its Hawaiins version of sushi but with more rice and nothing raw I dont think. Correct me if Im mistaken Sherry/Nana/Ilene!), a vegetable dish, a cucumber and carrot dish, short ribs I think, tator salad, these friend PURPLE sweet tators and something else (apparently sweet tators are purple here! Did not know this but this excited me), and loads more. 

Turns out they are caterers on the side. They catered the birthday party next pavilion over and decided to just have their own party. And now we were invited and were in heaven after managing to hitchhike across the entire island. 

We ended up hanging around for a few hours just talking and watching everyone play cards. Went for a brief swim too. One minute it was bright, sunny, and hot and the next it was rainy and cooold due to being wet and the winds were strong. Not a good combo but Sherry, one of the women who owned the catering biz, later loaned me a sweatshirt. Im telling you these people are just awesome. We really did feel a part of the family and after so much traveling and being away from all yall back home it was overwhelming at times to be around such a nice tight knit family. The oldest brother who everyone calls Papa was sorta a ring leader, always making jokes and getting people to laugh. Yep, a regular Uncle Bob (for those we met, Uncle Bob is my godfather and a long time friend of the family. He cuts up and is the life a party wherever it is. Very much like Papas personality). So Mom, no worries about us here in Hawaii, we made new friends and family who took unnecessary great care of us. Our families HAVE to meet if there is ever an opportunity. They do a lot of creative stuff too and reminded me exactly of the woman gang back home. Shame everyone is so far apart. 

So to name a few members of the family you have Papa and Nana. Sherry and John (thanks again for the drinks and good food convo! Make sure to try out the etouffee recipe when I send it to yall!), Ilene who was most gracious and helpful by driving us around as well as Sherry. There were many others but the names are hard to remember now. Im sorry! My memory for names is terrible. 

After we were MUCH too full, we helped load up the van with everything and then the most meaningful act of kindness on the island presented itself. Sara and I were offerred a real live bed to sleep in! Nana house sits and said we could stay a night since they didnt want us on the streets or in the parks illegally. We didnt even know what to say with all our bruises from the hard grounds we have been sleeping on the past two weeks. We accepted of course. 

Sure enough we had a bed tonight and a dry place to sleep. Turns out it couldnt have been better timing because it rained that night almost as hard as it does back home on a good rain. By far the hardest rain we have seen in Hawaii. I still cant get over how everything turned out today. 

So THANK YOU again Sherry/John/Papa/Nana/Ilene/and the rest for taking us in and treating us like family. It means the world to me and Sara amd we will never forget your kindness. I only hope we can return it if yall should ever find yourselves in the south. And we will definitely be dropping in for a good visit when we come back to Hawaii. Hope yall will be ready for some cajun cuisine because itll be coming back with me!

Absolutely could NOT have asked for a better last day and night in Hilo. And after seeing what Sara and I saw on the road, Big Island does have a ton to offer that will make another visit necessary. Just could do with a bit more sunshine and less clouds :)