A Fish, Big Hike #2 (mit Waterfall), and Divide and Conquer

I forgot to mention an event with the fish last night. So after we finished, they were gesturing to Mikey and asking him a question, and we tried to get across “yes, the fish was good, no thank you, don't bring us another one.” Well, it didn't work... they brought another whole fish, Mike had to turn it down, it was so sad.

So today. The Big Hike #2. (Denny apparently doesn't know how many hikes we have. I find that suspicious at best.) Interruption for shower, back to typing. We drove out in those trucks in the backs again, Nate, Becky, Matt, Clay, Anh and I. The wind whipping by was cold, it was dark, it was 5 in the morning after all, but I had long sleeves and my hat, so I was alright. Preparation for the win. So we had that drive, talked a bit, froze a bit, shifted positions a bit, I tried to write observations but when we hit the dust clouds it got a lot harder. (CUT THIS Poor Nate needed to piss the whole time, ended up trying to pee off the back of the truck while we were moving. He got a little bit out before he had to sit again because the next truck rounded the curve, but it relieved the pressure, I guess.) So we got there, had a little break for bathroom and breakfast, which was fried egg on rice, pretty good. We had LOTS of water this time, fortunately, we brought our own, and then they gave us even more. And oh hey dinner so I'll have to wrap this up later.

Saturday, January 30th, roughly 5:35 PM local time, break, 5:50-5:55 PM

So we get back in the trucks, head down a little ways, and start our hike. This was a true tropical wet forest, not like the one Denny lied to us about back at Haleakala. (Supposedly there was one there. We saw no such thing. Dry as a bone.) Lush, verdant, green, so on and so forth. Beautiful. It was very steep at points, but there were lots of trees and such to hold onto, so long as you were careful about what you touched. I was actually surprised at how few things tried to kill me. We hiked down and down, heard gibbons, saw elephant dung, lots of lianas, epiphytes which just created beautiful colors and patterns. Eventually we reached a river, crossed it, got a bit lost, lost track of each other, found each other, guide realized he had gone the wrong way, headed back, crossed the river, walked up the river (boots in hand), the water felt great on my legs. Very warm, very humid, luckily the humidity meant we lost less water than on Haleakala, but I sweated like a dog. My clothes at the end of the day were... interesting. Eventually we got to a waterfall, ate lunch (rice and meat and a tangerine), and swam a bit. Nate got in first, unsurprisingly, John swimming in his WHITE skivvies was... interesting. Eventually I joined, it was cold, what you might call “crisp and refreshing,” but just what we needed after hike. Even climbed up a bit and jumped into the water. Got out, surprisingly no leeches, tried to dry a bit but eh, got dressed, crossed the river again, put boots back on and continued. Now we were going up again, we went on a couple side trails for our guide to show us scenic views of the river and more falls. Pretty stuff, lots of butterflies. Also a lot of bees, especially at the first waterfall, they were rooting around in the firepit, probably for some leftover food or poured out drink. A couple spiders, a snail, lots of ants. Eventually we headed back up the way we came, though I didn't realize this for an extended period. The way back up was... tiring. Not as grueling as Haleakala, but tiring nonetheless. I ended up hanging back and talking to Michelle and Denny about post-college plans, which was interesting. Denny suggested against working at any university, though I'm not terribly shocked. So we got back up, rested, water, went up the last little bit to the trucks, drove back up, and had to wait until 4 to leave. I guess the road is only open specific hours in specific directions. So we chilled there, dried socks and shoes (not enough) people journaled, I got a cricket of some sort of my arm and he climbed me for a long time, I took 65 pictures all told and most of them aren't too bad, either. Hooray for macro settings. The truck back was Caitlin, Matt, Anh, Nate, Liz, Brenna, Clay and I. Our driver was a little bit insane, driving very fast, passing people, it was kind of hilarious. We all got shifted around a bit, I nearly fell out once I think, but yeah. Unsurprisingly with that crowd, “interesting” conversation. I swear the ride back was faster than the ride there, sat a bit, dinner (fish, vegetables, rice [I used a lot of sweet and sour], some other meat thing and more fried egg. Oh, and they gave us pepsi this time) and then back here to write this up. All in all, an excellent hike, though the fact that Denny isn't sure how many more of these we do is... worrying. Liz told him he was “breaking her spirit.” It was amusing. Great shower when I got back, too. I feel like I'm forgetting so much, and it's horrible, but SO MUCH happens on a 6 hour hike, it's hard to know what to say when you get back. Beautiful, though. Well worth the sweat and gross wet feet.

PS at 7:45 PM I also had a chat with John while waiting to leave about his philosophy on life. I called him very Machiavellian, apparently, “divide and conquer” is the answer to every situation. Unfortunately, I was unable to present him with something that he couldn't apply it to. It was very amusing. Who knows, by the end of the trip he may win me over.

Saturday, January 30th, roughly 6:30-6:55 PM local time