I forgot this all important picture from the night of day 3. After Nickle came home from his day of work at the dive shop, we went to a delicious local fast foodery, L&L. When we got back to the property it had cooled off just enough for a fire. The guys built a fire while I sat and watched. . . uh supervised. After the fire was roaring Nickle grabbed his guitar and my Beloved grabbed a drum.
I will always love the memories of these little concerts we had most nights. Nickle is a fantastic musician, and he is a darn good song writer too. I'm still humming the two songs he wrote that he played for us.
Day 4
This was undoubtedly one of the "perfect vacation days". Nickle took us to a fantastic beach. To get there you have to hike through one field of lava rock, over one beautiful beach, through a second field of lava rock, before you reach the most ideal beach I have ever seen in my life. Up till now my Beloved and I had been commenting that we weren't particularly wowed by Hawai'i. The sea turtles were awesome but nothing else was a take-your-breath-away-awesome-vacation moment. We were having a great time but that had more to do with the company than the location. That is until we came to Makalawena (w is pronounced as a v. a's as in ah).
The sand on this beach, as my Beloved said, is like walking on powdered sugar. I also attribute the less salty water to the sand being so fine. I don't know if that makes sense. It seemed to me that the water in this location was not near as salty as the other beaches we went to. My skin is a little extra sensitive to salt water.
Since you have to do some walking not many people come here. Which made it that much more relaxing. I sunbathed on the beach until I got nice and hot, before going into the water with snorkel gear.
The snorkeling at this beach is nice, there are some huge, colorful fish, and some small near translucent ones. But mostly we just relaxed and rode the waves in and out, a "sport" that Nickle invented called Listing. So relaxing!
Although one man came and asked me if they were doing? Apparently he thought they were either dead of finding pearls.
I took a few pictures on our hike back this is the first lava field we hiked over. This is not a fantastic picture of us, but I wanted you to see the desolation we hiked over to get to the beauty of the beach.
Nickle laden with our dinner and his guitar.
The first beach we hiked over
Beautiful but a little more rocky than Makalawena.
On our way back we stopped at another part of the beach that had BBQ pits. We had purchased some marinated chicken earlier and Nickle seasoned and grilled it up for us.
Apparently people come alone and arrange the coral on the lava rock to say things, like graffiti but more socially acceptable.
Just as our food was ready, the sun set.
Day 5
Nickle had a grand plan for the fifth day of our vacation. We were to go to Pololu, at the top of the island I believe, and hike down to the beach. First we had to find a beach so we could get wet.
This picture sums up the whole of our vacation. I call it "Where's The Next Beach." It seems most mornings started with the guys saying this phrase in one way or another.
My Beloved loves the water. There is one thing I can always count on when we go to the beach, he will never lay on his towel. Which means that if I don't lay his towel out, I will have a sand free towel to dry off with if I get into the water. He doesn't mind, he prefers to air dry anyway.
We ended up dipping in at Kapuna.
There is a gorgeous hotel right on the beach there (that I didn't take a picture of). I decided that if we ever come back in a more tourist capacity that I want to stay there. The beach is beautiful, not as beautiful as Makalawena. It's easy access, so there are more people, but the sand is white and not too dirty. The water is beautiful but a little more salty than Makalwena. We swam for a bit layed in the sun, washed up in the showers and then headed on our way.
Most of our pictures turn out like this. I can't tell you how many pictures I have where I look exactly the same and my Beloved is making some terrible face. I have often taken twenty or more pictures at a time just to get one good one.
We stopped at a town called Hawi (once again w as a v). They had a great little shop there called As Hawi Turns. There were several things I wish I would have bought there. The guys went across the street to this little shop, I don't remember the name. They have a great bathroom. I realize this is a strange thing to notice but when you are using a composting toilet and showering from a garden hose you notice these things :). One wall of the bathroom was chalk board so you could sign it or write a little something if you so desired.
Nickle the Barbarian.
We made it to Pololu a little later than planned and since we were wanting to make tacos for dinner with home-made tortillas we decided not to go on much of a hike.
We went down the path a little ways and decided this is definitely a place we want to come back to with more of the day ahead of us to explore. But it will have to wait for another trip since we didn't make it back to it this time.
The view from the path is breathtaking.
We got back to the property after dark but with the help of a few lamps we had no problem making our tacos. My Beloved built a grand fire, Nickle seasoned up a beautiful slab of beef and I showed Nickle how to make home-made tortillas so that he can live a richer life :). All in all we made some delicious tacos/ burritos to complete perfect vacation day number 2.
And, so you too can have a richer life, here is my recipe:
Tortillas
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup warm water
*It is very important that your water be warm.
Mix your dry ingredients and then add your shortening once that is mixed throughout add the water and mix again. Knead it for about 4-6 minutes until it is smooth. divide into 8 even balls and cover with a towel to rest for 20 minutes. Heat a cast iron or whatever skillet on the stove over medium high heat. Roll out your tortillas till they are about 1/8 inch thick. cook them in your skillet one at a time wait for the bubbles to form and grow a bit, flip the tortilla and give it another 30 seconds to a minute longer pressing the bubbles down gently with a spatula to pass the time :). Remove from heat and let cool, only slightly, on a wire rack or if you are going to eat right away toss them in your tortilla warmer. Or onto one plate and then turn a second plate upside down on top of it to keep it warm, if you don't have a tortilla warmer.
Enjoy!
~And So That's What She Did.
