so i think i mentioned that our main mode of transportation is hitch hiking, which is a fairly new experience for both of us but happens to be extremely common here in hawaii. for the most part we've had good fortune in the world of hitching, with the average wait being about 5 minutes or so. there have been the discouraging instances where we're a good 10-15 miles away from home and the sun is setting and we're still waiting for a ride after about 20 minutes or so. morale not so high at those times...but then something always works out miraculously.
hitching is certainly a good chance to meet some of the local folks and most people are happy to chat and find out what on earth we're doing in hawaii. we've met some real characters and get a good laugh out of some of the wacky conversations that ensue. turns out there a good number of chilled out older folks who have gotten out of the rat race and moved to hawaii to start farms and surf and whatnot. we've gotten some good suggestions from these people about places to see around the island. so some rides are from locals, but a surprising percentage of people who pick us up are visitors in oh-so-obvious rental cars (we can spot 'em a mile away) and apparently these tourists just love to pick up strangers, which we can't quite figure out but from whom we are more than happy to accept a ride. sometimes we even end up giving them advice on places to visit even though we've only been here, what, three weeks :)
this one young woman picked us up one day and we were doing the typical chit-chat "so where are you from? what brings you to hawaii?" yada, yada... but this time she said that she too was from indiana...bloomington, in fact...knows where paoli is and happens to know my friends darren and esprit who have a farm in paoli...and has actually been to the farm. weird to say the least. she wasn't going in exactly the same direction as we were but once she knew we were fellow hoosiers she demonstrated that winning hospitality and took us right home. we hope to meet up with her again before we leave.
we've noted how different our concept of time and space is without a car to rely on. our pace has certainly slowed down significantly and we comment much more on our surroundings than we might if we just hopped in a car and found our destination in five minutes rather than a half hour of meandering down the road--we find ourselves checking out coffee trees along the way(now that we've picked coffee a couple of times), or mac nuts on the ground, or noticing the sun setting or the clouds rolling in...we've been surprised by the homes we pass by, as a good number of them are pretty run-down with cars rusting in the front yard. at times we really do feel that we're in another country, such as the ones we visited during SST. but life really is fairly simple here, people don't seem to exhibit a lifestyle of excess or extravagance.
we have about two more weeks to explore this area and there are certainly more things to see and do than we have time to accomplish. our stay here will be over before we know it. i'll try to post more pictures soon. i hope all is well at home and that you all are staying warm!...much love, jill
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