HAWAII!

ALOHA!! Lets just say that Hawaii is AMAZING.
Monday: got to Hilo and went right to Walmart. There was actually a shuttle to take us all there which was convenient because everyone on the ship was dying for some SNACKS! Dood is tough on the ship because if you eat lunch at like 12 then you have to wait about 5 hours until dinner. There is a snack bar but obviously you have to pay for it so everyone tries to avoid it. Anyways, Hilo was great we walked around downtown. There was a farmers market with lots of cool homemade jewelery and then like fruit and veggies. After that I met up with Will (my friend from home that transferred to Hawaii in the fall)!! It was so nice seeing and catching up with him and i know he enjoyed seeing a face from home. We walked all around town just checking the place out. it was beautiful! We ate some really great Thai food and then got some amazing smoothies from a local place where his friends worked. I then saw his apartment and campus which was so sweet. Way cooler than Mason (no surprise there of course). We hung out for a while then i went back to the ship to lay low.

Tuesday: Day two in Hilo was very exhilarating. I woke up pretty early and made some phone calls since this is the only port i will have my phone :(. Then, after eating breakfast on the ship, i went out with some friends and went to Rainbow Falls. IT WAS AWESOME. When we got there we climbed these huge trees and swung from vines and stuff. It was super cool there. We then continued to hike and came across the water. There were cliffs and rocks and waterfalls there, it was so beautiful. You weren't suppose to get in the water but it was way too nice not too. We found a nice spot to jump from and all took turns plunging into the water. The water was so fresh and blue. There were no animals other then some very small fish (THANK GOD because i HATE animals touching me in the water). We then swam across the water to another part of the rocks and climbed up this waterfall and around some other places. It was tough on our feet because we didn't have shoes on and were climbing on what looked like volcano type rocks. Some parts were way scary because the rocks were so slippery but we all got our workout for the day. There are amazing pictures to come. The best part of the day was lunch. My two friends, Tolan and Sarah (from San Diego), and I went to the farmers market and bought tomatoes, avocado, papaya, mini bananas, some weird Hawaii fruit that looked like a red spikey circles, and tangerines. Then, we went over to a park and just almost ate all of it. Now that i think about it we ate ALOT. We got four papaya for two dollars and seven tangerines for one dollar. But, it was such a refreshing lunch! Afterward we headed over to the black sand beaches. I would say we just laid around but we really didn't. We went right into the water which was so clear. You could see the coral underneath you and fish swimming around you. I was kinda freaked out but it was worth it. When we got out we saw whales about a hundred feet out jumping out of the water and later saw two turtles chilling. It was really sweet. That was pretty much the end of our adventurous day. We hitched a ride back to the boat and now we are just chilling until tomorrow when we get to Honolulu!!