Hallo everyone! I've been back for a few days now, but in the process of getting readjusted to the oppressive heat of the lovely Santa Clarita Valley, I've decided that all I am capable of doing is sitting on my ass, drinking iced tea, and finishing off the 4th season of Buffy. And since my parents decided that air conditioning is an unnecessary luxury, we are all forced to turn on fans to create some sort of air circulation. I wonder what the difference in electricity usage is between 2 hours of central air-conditioning (which is all I ask, from the hours of 2pm to 4pm) and 4 oscillating fans which are constantly on. But I shouldn't complain. Speaking to people from Berkeley and San Jo, the entire state of California is enveloped in a stifling heat wave. My condolences to my fellow NorCal buddies; I share your pain.
But the weather is not what's on my mind right now, although it is a great way to make small talk. What I really wanted to talk about is MANGOES. On the last full day that my family spent in Hawaii, we discovered a farmers' market. While most fruit was strange and foreign looking, there was standard tropical fruit fare: papayas, bananas, and of course, mangoes. My mom was the first to go instantly insane. I think she bought every ripe mango that one of the fruitsellers had. Something like 10 pounds. I was not terribly excited, having found about five years ago that I had suddenly and unexpectedly become allergic to mangoes. But when everyone else started eating them and saying how delicious and juicy and ripe and perfect these Hawaiian tree-ripened mangoes were, I decided that I'd risk it. Good news all around. I found that just as mysteriously as the allergy had appeared, it had disappeared and for the first time in years, I got to enjoy the yummy goodness that is mango.
On the other hand, Hawaii did have some unpleasantnesses. While islands like Oahu and Maui are highly developed and people friendly, we stayed in a hotel on the windward side of the Big Island which is one huge underdevoloped rain forest, complete with giant man-eating mosquitoes. OK, maybe they weren't giant, but they were definitely man-eating. I'm still suffering the aftermath of their collective midnight feeding frenzies.
Summary: Mangoes = good. Mosquitoes = bad.
And in between eating mangoes and getting bitten by mosquitoes, we went hiking, snorkeling, swimming, and sunburning. You can see pictures of these various events here (#8 is for you guys, Isabella and Slow n Steady!). The coolest thing by far was hiking over old lava flows to get to actual red lava flowing from Kiluea crater. It was definitely worth the two and a half hour round trip. There are no beaches on the Big Island (save for maybe one or two) so while this trip didn't turn out to be quite how I imagined it would be, I still had a great time and it was definitely worth it.
And Eva, I am sorry. I could not bring you a Hawaiian man. It's illegal to bring Hawaiian produce or live animals to mainland. I do have a lei for you, though.
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