I apologize for taking nearly a week to write my new post. Just as a reminder, I'm writing all of my blog posts between one and two weeks AFTER these events have already taken place. That way it's easier for me to keep experiencing things so I have more to write about! Currently, I'm sitting in my hotel room in Jakarta, Indonesia listening to the Muslim prayers blaring in the street outside and watching fireworks out of my window. I got a VERY bad stomach bug in Bali a few days ago and I'm desperately trying to recover. But that means I get to update y'all! So here we go...
I wish I had more super positive things to write when it comes to Polihale Beach...but after three days there Phil, Maisha, and I were more than ready to get out.
I was told by everyone that Polihale Beach is one of the hottest places on all of Kauai (especially in the summer) but our second day there it rained for nearly five hours straight. And apparently it never rains for more than an hour anywhere on the island during the summer. So that day was spent either huddled in Phil's tent, in Phil's truck (that Matt had brought the day before) or under the tarp we rigged up above the picnic table in our camping area. Not the best way to spend a full day camping on the beach. I think at that moment we were all wishing to be back in our cave at Kalalau.
The next day most of our friends had to leave us for the real world leaving just Phil, Maisha, Mike (the local we met in Kalalau) and I behind to adventure alone. We just lounged around on the beach and hung out, taking some more Hawaiian medicine because we were bored. We were all just ready to leave the beach the next morning and drive up to Koke'e to camp and hike the mountains for the last few days of our trip.
Late on our last night at Polihale we had a couple from Canada drive up to our campsite and ask to camp next to us. We had no problem with it, but they were...a little strange. And not just in a French/Canadian way (no offense!) but in a just born strange kind of way. But we continued enjoying ourselves regardless and headed to bed really late in the night.
I was the first person to wake up the next morning (because the Canadian couple had been so loud packing their things back into their car before they left). I wandered over to our picnic table to snack on some fruit for breakfast before making the fire for our oatmeal...when I realized that two of my personal items were missing from the table.
Phil's portable, phone-charging, solar panel was still on the table, along with our food and other items...but my underwater video camera, and Costa sunglasses my father had bought for me were gone. I had left them on the table since the first day there, so that they could be within easy reach whenever I needed them. My camera I had used for our first week was very low on battery so I had pulled out this cheap, underwater camera my father had bought for me a few months ago to take pictures and video with instead. And I have never owned a pair of expensive sunglasses in my life, but the day before I left my daddy had taken me out to buy them for me. The only large item I let my parents get for me. And now they were gone.
I think it was a combination of the exhaustion of almost two weeks of camping, change in my diet, the heat, the weather, the no-showering, and the homesickness that wore me down...but it was having those two items stolen that made me break down. I've never had anything stolen in my life. And those glasses were from my daddy...man, I lost it.
Phil and Maisha woke up and tried to help find the things, but they were gone. We didn't know if it was the Canadians that took them on accident with the rest of their stuff, or the guy that came around in the morning taking out the trash. But no matter what, they were gone.
But after a good cry, and Mike coming over to cheer me up with a good pep-talk and then pancakes and sausages for breakfast, I was feeling better.
I had to suck it up.
They were gone now and no amount of anger or tears was going to bring those things back. My only choice was to brush it off and move on.
And that, my friends, is why I don't have any pictures of Polihale to show you. Bummer, I know. But there are plenty of pictures in posts to come...I promise.
~Little Blonde Traveler
