A Native American Sweat Lodge in Hawaii

Sorry for the wait ladies and gentlemen! Did my little cliff hanger on the last post totally leave you wanting more? :] GOOD!

...While we were washing dishes in the darkness, three people came walking down the beach towards our very isolated little cave camp. Our friend Maisha is a local girl born and raised in Kauai and she knew of a few other locals who were going to be camping Kalalau the same time as us. Mike, a very sweet and relaxed 22 year old, and Eric an 18 year old boy with the kindest heart imaginable. Along the way to our cave they met a vibrant girl named Roquel, who's from the Big Island originally. The three of them  came into our cave with a big water drum Eric and Mike had just made, and Roquel's incredible voice. We all sat around the campfire, pulled out the ukulele and the drum, took some Hawaiian medicine and proceeded to dance and sing the night away.

Sitting around the campfire, seeing all these people that never knew each other before this point, sing and dance and enjoy life to the fullest under the most beautiful sky and on the beach...truly incredible. We all ventured out to the beach in the middle of the night and started running around and screaming and laughing when we realized that photoplankton were all in the sand and giant green trails of light lit up whenever you shuffled your feet. It was so beautiful! Then we all went to one of the wet caves near by and floated in the freezing cold water, singing into the cave and using our headlamps to have little shadow dance parties.

Just before the sun came up we all went to bed, and the night of magic and wonder ended. I wish I could better describe that night, but you truly had to have been there to understand it. There's a whole different energy in Kalalau, and the people I was with only amplified it all the more.

Perfection.

The next few days were a blur of activity and lounging around and just living life. On Monday morning Matt, Kelsea, Andrew, Nicole, and Sean packed up to hike back out and back into civilization, leaving just Phil, Maisha, Mike, Eric, Roquel and I on Kalalau for the next week. Sean had kayaked in with me, but had been honest with us that he wasn't interested in camping for another week and then kayaking an even longer distance to the next beach. So he hiked out with the group, but we were gonna be one person short for the kayaks! But Kelsea volunteered to hike back in the 11 miles on Friday night and then kayak the 20+ miles to the next beach with me. What an angel!

After everyone left it was a much different experience camping, but the three of us (Phil, Maisha, and I) quickly became a solid, little team.

A few days later Mike and Eric and Roquel invited us up into the valley for an authentic Native American Sweat Lodge that Mike and Eric had been building for the past few days. Now I don't know about you, but I've never heard of a Sweat Lodge before, so Maisha and Phil had to explain it to me.. The basic concept is to use the sweat lodge for religious purposes, but also for physical and spiritual cleansing as well. You apparently sit in a small hut with a bunch of burning hot rocks from a fire in the middle of the ground and they pour water on it, increasing the intensity with each round. And each round lasts anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes.

I'm not going to lie, I was beyond freaked out about it. I'm not good with saunas so I wasn't all that confident about an even more intense version of it. But I quickly set aside my fears and trepidation and put my traveling face on. This is why I'm traveling, dang it! TO EXPERIENCE NEW THINGS I WOULD HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE. I need to keep telling myself that.

So just before sunset we hiked up about a mile into the valley and walked straight into heaven. This beautiful river flows directly into the ocean and as you follow it up suddenly you're in the most lush and dense forest! Mike and Eric built the skeleton of the lodge right next to the Ginger Pools and when we got there there was already the biggest fire I've ever seen burning away in the middle of the clearing. Roquel was there, along with a new guy Quinn, who's been living in the valley for the last two or three decades. He wears a loincloth almost everywhere and has participated in a lot of sweat lodges back in the states. So Mike and Eric (who are members of the Native American church in Kauai) invited him to the ceremony to help them out as they lead it.

So we all stripped down to our bathing suits, took some more medicine, and then piled into the very very small hut that we had draped with a dozen or so large blankets to try and keep the air from escaping. They had dug a big hole in the middle of the hut and we all sat around it. Mike sat near the front of the tent with his drum next to him, and two deer antlers in his hands. Eric had a hand-made shovel that he used to bring the rocks from the fire towards the tent, which Mike then picked up with the antlers and placed in the hole in the ground in front of us. Quinn had a bag of cedar and a bundle of sage that he sprinkled on the burning white rocks, which caused them to light up like the sky. It was beautiful! And already getting a little hot in there...

So 9 rocks are placed into the hut for every round. There are four rounds and the length for ours were only between 5 and 10 minutes...not bad for a first-timer like me and Phil! Everyone else has done something like it before so they were all a bit more prepared than me.

But once all the rocks were in, Eric filled a very large metal bowl full of water from the river right next to us before climbing in and closing the flap...and suddenly it got HOT.

That's when Mike explained to us that the point of the sweat is to better communicate with our ancestors as they rise as steam from the rocks. To thank them and/or ask them for forgiveness or guidance or protection. And also to use this as a way to open your mind and body to Mother Earth as we sing and pray to her. I was really excited for it to begin!

Mike began to beat on the water drum he had made and as he began to chant a Native American song, Eric singing along as he started throwing handfuls of water onto the rocks...AND OH MY GOD IT GOT HOT. The air quickly turned heavy and thick and the steam was already burning my face and the front of my legs. As the rounds continued, 9 rocks being added on for each round, I saw so much water sweat out of me that I had no idea my body could even hold! And everyone in there was the exact same, mud caked on our arms and legs and our bodies covered with sweat, our eyes wide, but our bodies and mind totally open to the experience we were all going through.

In between each round Mike asked us to speak whatever came to our minds. To thank or to pray or to just talk. And by the end of the third round I was finally ready to speak from my heart. And I let it all out. All my thanks, all my fears, all my amazement...and I felt so cleansed. But the last round was beyond painful. The air I was breathing felt like it was burning my lungs and the steam was burning my face so I had to cover it. But I sang along with the chants, and relished in the heat and the experience.

As soon as it was over all of us poured out of the tent and straight into the freezing cold river, just as the sun was setting in the sky. It was simply magical. When we all went back towards the fire, two nude people (a boy and a girl) walked out of the forest and sat down with us by the fire. They had heard the drum and the chanting and had come to investigate. They also live in the valley and just wander around naked all day and night. Welcome to Kalalau!

A few hours later, the medicine fully kicked in and our spirits were so fresh and bodies so rejuvenated. We packed up our things and all 7 of us began our trek in the darkness back to the beach, letting the moon guide our way.

By the time Phil, Maisha, and I made it back to our cave at the end of the beach we were exhausted. But I've never felt so open to the world around me as I did that night.

Definitely an experience of a lifetime.


~Little Blonde Traveler

So Much to See and Do in Kalalau!

It was only our first full day camping at Kalalau when I realized just how freaking much there is to see and do there. The cave we were staying in was surrounded on each side by two wet caves that four of us instantly demanded to explore. Like the kind of caves where you wear your headlamp and slip into dark, freezing water to swim in just to see what’s at the very end? Yeah, I was screaming like a little bitch the whole time (excuse the French, but it’s true. Ask Phil, Kelsea, and Matt. I was pathetic AND the only one with a headlamp.) But we explored the crap out of those caves that are usually completely underwater during the winter time. And I got a refreshing dip in some ice cold, semi-salt water. 

After the cave exploration and a little lunch me, Phil, Maisha, Matt, Andrew, and Nicole all headed around the end of the Kalalau Beach to a sacred beach called Honopu. But because it’s so sacred to the Hawaiians you aren’t allowed to beach any sort of vessel on the shore…which means you gotta swim. Which was no problem for me, but the current was a little tough to fight and there were some gnarly rocks at the tip of it. But it was 100% worth it. Watch this video to see first-hand how incredible this place is!

At the end of the first stretch of the Honopu beach is a huge arch/cave that leads into another secluded, sacred beach with a stunning waterfall nestled in the very back. Maybe it was a combination of hearing about all the supposed magical powers and energy about Kalalau, but the moment I slipped underneath that waterfall, I felt like I was being purified by Mother Earth herself.

Now, I know that sounds crazy hippy, but I’m serious! I felt something there that I haven’t felt before and after just a little dip under it I felt beyond refreshed.

The 6 of us spent the next few hours playing around in the waves and mooning the dozens of giant tourist boats and helicopters that zoom by every ten minutes. Yeah that’s right, we mooned them! Well, I didn’t that time. Not yet at least!

But after a full day of exploration we were all pretty tired and ready for a big dinner. After we cooked a huge pot of pasta and tofurkey dogs for dinner, Phil, Andrew and I were laughing as the waves pounded us while we tried to clean the dishes when three new people approached us from the darkness…And the night quickly turned into one for the record books…

Stay tuned to find out why ;]

~Little Blonde Traveler

How I Discovered the Moodswings of Poseidon and His Ocean

Our 14 day kayaking/camping trip officially began the night of Thursday, July 19^th, 2012. All day Thursday the three of us (me, Phil, and Maisha) drove around the island picking up the kayaks, more food, more gear, and dry bags to get ready for the big trip. Later in the evening we picked up three very special people from the bus stop: Sean, the guy from Australia that I had met the day before/my kayaking buddy, and Matt and Kelsea, a couple from northeast on the mainland who were also living and doing work trade on the farm with Phil.

We waited until the lifeguards had left Ke'e beach before dragging all of our gear (and the kayaks) a ways down the beach where we could camp without having to worry about getting in trouble for it. We lit a fire, made some yummy dinner and enjoyed each other’s company, singing and talking about literally anything and everything under the sun before all heading to bed since all 6 of us were going to be waking up pretty dang early. But check out this view at Ke’e…that's the very beginning of the famous Nepali coastline.

So on the morning of Friday the 20^th at 6 am exactly Phil, Maisha, Sean, and I headed out in our kayaks for Kalalau Beach (which is only about 6 miles away by water). Matt and Kelsea started the grueling 11 mile hike in at the same time as us but won’t get there until much later in the day since it will take between 5 and 6 hours for them. So our plan was for the four of us to kayak in and set up camp before meeting back up with Matt and Kelsea in Kalalau. Sounds simple, right?

From the get-go Sean and I were obviously the weaker kayak team. It was my first time ever kayaking on the ocean and only my second time kayaking in general. Sean said he had kayaked a bunch before but we didn’t have a rudder in the back which made steering in the waves an absolute chore for Sean. Luckily, it was still really early so the waves weren’t too bad and we were going with current the whole way down the first chunk of the Nepali coast towards Kalalau. But Sean and I weren’t keeping rhythm near as well as Phil and Maisha were and after two hours we were super excited to finally spot the beach.

But then I realized we’d have to beach our kayaks on shore…and I’ve never beached a kayak before in my life, let alone with big swells crashing all over the place. But Sean told me to relax and we’ll just ride the little waves in and all will be fine.

Phil and Maisha were really far ahead of us so we watched them beach first without a hiccup. So I thought to myself, oh we totally got this…

NOT.

It was like a scene straight out of a damn movie as Sean and I approached the shore line. 

Phil and Maisha were trying to signal for us to stop but we were paddling full speed right as the wrong wave crested in the wrong place…and sent us both tumbling out into the water as the kayak rolled over us, spilling our dry bags and huge tubs of food and supplies for the next two weeks everywhere. 

I immediately got to the surface and started running after all of the stray items with Phil, grabbing the box of food and a flipper and water bottle. But as Sean and I stumbled onto shore, I realized that the mask and snorkel I had gotten in Australia last year was long gone and in Poseidon’s grasp now. I immediately jumped back in to try and find them, but to no avail. We were all tired and exhausted, and pissed at losing things from the kayak flip, not to mention the embarrassment of flipping a kayak in front of an entire beach. (Sean lost sunglasses and Phil lost a flipper and a cooking pan, but everything else we managed to salvage).

Then Phil and Maisha spotted a huge empty cave at the end of the beach that they wanted to set up camp in…nearly a mile down the beach.

After we walked all of our dry bags, pots and pans, and boxes of food down to the cave, we had the horribly daunting task of dragging the kayaks down to the cave as well. All four of us were too spooked from the crash to try and brave the increasingly growing surf to just paddle them down so we did the next logical thing: pull them down the entire freaking beach.

There have been only a handful of times in my life that I’ve been that exhausted from something, and that lugging those waterlogged things for a mile down a beach just catapulted to the head of the list. I was so exhausted in fact, that all I could do was nap and tan for the next few hours until Matt and Kelsea arrived from the trail to see our new home. But I quickly realized that all our labors were definitely worth it.

Absolutely breathtaking, right?

So it was just the 6 of us before we met an amazing brother and sister team from San Diego and New York (Andrew and Nicole) and we instantly adopted them into our group which meant that 8 of us were now staying in the cave…and we still had plenty of room.

But here’s the new dilemma: getting fresh water from the waterfall to drink and cook with is a mile hike back down the beach. And to get firewood to cook with is also a mile down the beach around the waterfall. Yeah, we were in store for some serious exercising.

But all of this was just the start of the most incredible journey in Kalalau.And at least after the fiasco of this morning, I now better understand just how moody Poseidon can be. 

~Little Blonde Traveler 

My First Impression of Kauai, Hawaii

So, first off I want to apologize for taking so long with updating my blog!

After my first week in Oahu I headed up to the mystical island of Kauai, Hawaii and ended up camping for 12 days straight. Needless to say I wasn’t around “real-world” amenities until just the other day. But don’t worry, because boy do I have some sweet blogs in store for you!

At the moment I’m sitting in Manilla, Philippines at the airport watching it pour down rain outside, munching on some banana chips and a big ole can of Coke. I’ve got a few more hours to kill until my flight to Jakarta, Indonesia so I wanted to take the opportunity to put up a few posts for y’all to drool over. Here we go…

I was pretty excited to leave Oahu for Kauai, seeing as I had been wanting and expecting a much more traditional “Hawaiian” experience than Oahu is capable of giving. Unless you like the super cheesy, touristy crap. Then that’s definitely the place for you!

I landed in Lihue, Kauai on Wednesday, July 18^th completely ready to embark on the new leg of my journey. The person driving an old ’92 pickup truck to come pick me up from the airport is an old friend that I had not seen in almost two years.

I've known Phil since I was in high school, but we really didn't become better friends until we attended the same University outside of Nashville, Tennessee. But as most friendships go, we ended up falling out of touch for a bit until earlier this year when we both realized how similar, yet different our new life paths had taken us in the past two years. While I graduated and packed my bags to backpack the coast of Asia and Oceania last year, Phil packed everything he owned and moved to live and work on a farm in Kauai. 1) I was shocked that Phil would ever do such a thing and 2) I was shocked that such a thing was even possible! Needless to say we ended up getting in touch again and began rekindling our old friendship into new levels we never would have been capable of before. In fact, he’s the reason I decided to stop over in Hawaii in the first place!

He greeted me in the back of his pickup truck with a beautiful Hawaiian lei (but please ignore my horrible hair in the photo. It was raining pretty hard that day.) His two friends Maisha, a beautiful local island girl and Sean, a traveler from Australia stayed in the cab of the truck while Phil rode in the back with me and all my stuff. And we immediately went to work going on errands to pick up food and supplies we were going to need for our 14 day camping trip we were beginning the next day. It was going to be the four of us kayaking and camping along the famous Nepali Coast: Phil and Maisha in one kayak, and Sean and I in the other.

After a few hours of running errands Phil swung me by the local farmers market that happens every Wednesday in order to show me the stuff he’s been doing for the past year and a half. I was able to meet the owner of the farm Phil works on and another girl and got to sample a bunch of delicious, locally grown fruit and veggies from all over the island. After that he took me up on a quick hike to Sleeping Giant which gives you an incredible 360 view of the eastern part of the island.

And I was in for a big treat that night because all the people living on the farm were having a big pot luck. Phil and Maisha are moving to California the second week of August to work and travel over there for a few months so it was also kind of like a going away party for them as well.

When I arrived at the place Phil has been living for the past two years I was instantly shocked. He literally lives in a tent on the middle of the farm. No electricity, no bathroom, no hot water (but at least there was running water). I was instantly blown away. This did not seem like the Phil I remembered from school!

But the more he explained about his lifestyle, and in fact this whole concept of the lifestyle in general, the more I began to embrace it. That’s what I’m traveling for in the first place, right? To learn about all new kinds of things, and especially new ways of living life. I just had no idea I would find such radical changes still in the United States!

So here’s a little list I gathered of the major differences I noticed from my way of life back in Tennessee:

-No electricity. Phil and Maisha have a portable solar panel/charger/outlet they use instead. They also have a super portable solar panel to charge phones and cameras on the go while camping or traveling. REALLY handy. This also means no radio, no tv, no microwave, and no fridge.

-No hot water. Which means they're just lacking the comfort of a hot shower. Not bad when it’s a hot day on the farm. But I’m too much of a pansy for cold showers most of the time.

-No bathroom. The shower is totally out in the open. You pee in bushes and poop in a bucket that you layer with dirt before and after you do your business. But the bucket has a little toilet seat on top and by doing it in a bucket, it turns into its own kind of compost/fertilizer.

-They have their own private gardens around each little tent or yurt in addition to the main garden everyone works on for the farm. Being able to have your own plot of land to do whatever you want with in exchange for some manual labor during the week is a pretty cool little concept.

-Picking food straight out of the ground (or tree) and putting it directly into my mouth was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced and I am for sure now going to have my own garden whenever I decide to settle down.

-The idea of composting is a little foreign to me. Not a lot of people I know do it, but I don’t see why not. It’s so simple and good for the environment and your yard! Another thing I plan on adopting in my lifestyle.

The potluck was an absolute hit and getting to meet the other people on the farm (and some people from other neighboring farms) was incredibly cool as well. Some of these people have lived like this their entire lives, never owning a microwave or a TV. And others used to be corporate hot-shots in big cities that absolutely hated their lives and now want to do life as simple as possible. And then there are the people who are just doing it for the experience and the freedom.

It was a lot to comprehend for my first day, and a lot for me to force y’all to read about on my first post back after two weeks.

But wait until you hear the rest of this stuff…

Until then,

~Little Blonde Traveler

My Week in Oahu

The first week of my Epic Adventure of a Lifetime has been absolutely crazy, to say the least. I've had some serious ups and downs, but that's what this is all about! I embarked on this trip to learn, to change, and to experience...and I've already checked off all three. 

I have a lot I want to say and write about, but a lot of it is a little too personal to put on this blog. Sorry guys, but I'm gonna keep some of the juicy stuff to myself and my little leather diary. BUT, I will tell you a list of things that I liked and didn't like about my week here on Oahu, Hawaii.

Enjoy...

NEGATIVES:

-The worst traffic in the history of the world is on this island. Seriously, LA traffic is nothing compared to this      stuff here.

-There are some hardcore locals that aren't too friendly to white people outside of the touristy areas.

-Japanese people flood Honolulu like a plague...not necessarily a problem, but really eerie to me since they were the ones who...oh I don't know...made international history for bombing the hell out of this place just a few decades ago. 

-Definitely make reservations for places to stay BEFORE getting to the island. Just to set up hammocks you need a permit and hotels are generally out of the question. That whole "spontaneous trip" thing went out the weekend after the first day on my own. 

-The famous Northshore hardly has any waves at all during the summer months. 

POSITIVES:

-It's freaking Hawaii!

-Lychee fruit is seriously delicious.

-Spam musubi is a lot better tasting than you would ever think.

-The only fast food places you see are McDonalds and they are very far and few between.

-Tattoos are everywhere and widely accepted. 

-The local girls and guys are super in shape and wear some pretty gnarly, revealing bathing suits.

-The beaches are incredible no matter where on the island you go.

-Sea turtles and reefs are everywhere (though it's very illegal to touch either of them!)

-There are some seriously friendly people everywhere you go. Whether they've lived on Hawaii their entire lives or took a vacation over here a few months ago and haven't left yet...people want to talk to you always. They love having so many people from all over the world and all walks of life come through their shops or places to stay. Makes you feel pretty dang good.

I've noticed that Oahu, even though it's got a lot of the stereotypical "island" feel...it's still very touristy. From what a local told me, a little over 1 million people live throughout all the islands of Hawaii, but almost 900,000 of them live in Oahu alone. 

I'm more excited than I can say to head up to Kauai tomorrow morning to check out the Garden Island for the next two weeks. Frolicking in private waterfalls, lounging on secluded beaches, and getting to see an old friend that I haven't seen in years...seriously, what could get better than that?

Oh, and on a side note referring back to my earlier posts...I'm feeling A LOT better now. I knew it was just those "before the plunge" jitters that were getting to me before. Because now that I'm knee-deep in this trip, all my previous fears and emotions have practically vanished. Though I will say that I'm still missing some people quite a bit...and I don't think that will ever go away. 

Until next time!

-Little Blonde Traveler

My First Few Days in Ohau, Hawaii

So after some not so comfortable plane rides, I finally landed in Honolulu, HI on Wednesday, July 11 (aka the longest day ever).

Time changes will always mess with your body. I've been lucky enough to not ever get jet lag too frequently, but this one was a killer. I took off from San Diego at 6:00 in the morning (9 am from my local TN time) and then landed in Honolulu almost 6 hours later at 10:30am HI time (4:30 back home). An old friend from high school picked me up from the airport and we immediately went to the beaches where I learned that I'm not as good in the waves as I used to be.

After being pounded and washed up on shore half a dozen times, I finally got the hang of it...thank god! After the beach we drove around town for a few more hours, sampling local fruits like Lychee and other strange delicacies like fried spam wrapped in rice and seaweed...

...yeah, very interesting to say the least.

It was 4 in the afternoon when Grant had to go to work and I took a hour and a half bus ride down to Waikiki Beach to meet up with my Aunt and Uncle who happen to be traveling here the same time as me. I met them on the beach and then we all went to dinner and had a great time in the city. But around 10 at night (nearly 4 a.m. to my Tennessee time) I hit a very hard wall.

Grant picked me back up and we headed home and I fell asleep faster than I ever though humanly possible.

The next day, Thursday July 12, was much better though. And my emotions are starting to pick back up again. I had a really rough time on my first day of flying, but now that I'm in Hawaii and traveling and experiencing new things and meeting new people...my spirits are definitely getting higher.

Grant had to work all day but let me borrow his car so I could drive around and do the more touristy things. I took a lot of pictures, climbed a lot of rocks, and saw my first sea turtle! I literally rode the current with it for 15 minutes...and I wasn't even 20 feet off shore! It was absolutely incredible :]

It's Friday now though and I've got another friend flying in town to camp and relax on the beaches with me for the next few days..

Every day is a new beginning and the hardest part is always taking that first step. I still miss everyone back home and think about them a lot, but I can feel myself getting stronger with every new experience.

I'll be writing again soon!

-Little Blonde Traveler

Mixed Emotions

I woke up Tuesday morning, two hours before my plane to San Diego, balling my eyes out.

Last year when I backpacked Asia and Oceania, I had left Knoxville with a mixture of hate and revenge. It had fueled my traveling then, and by the time I came home, all that anger had practically vanished. And I realized on the plane ride to San Diego that this time, I'm not leaving a town full of people that I want to get away from...I'm leaving a town of people that I love and that love me back.

Monday night I invited close friends and family to dinner for a kind of going away party...and the turnout nearly brought me to my knees. So many people came to wish me farewell and good luck and it was the most beautiful night I've had in a long long time...which is why I was a wreck the next morning. How can I be so positive about my trip anymore if I'm leaving all these amazing people behind?

The reality of the trip I'm about to embark on really hit me Tuesday morning and the same mixed emotions have stuck with me on my plane rides. I can't even begin to describe the jumbled feelings swimming through me right now...

But this time, on this trip I'm forcing myself to shed my "comfort blanket" and keep traveling. I'm weak at the moment, but I know I'll get stronger as my trip continues.

*Takes a deep breath*

I can do this.

-Little Blonde Traveler