So after four days in our cave/campsite, Phil, Maisha, and I
packed up all of our gear and hiked a mile back down the beach towards the
Kalalau Valley in order to get a new campsite closer to the waterfall and
closer to fire wood. We had been having to lug jugs of water back to the cave
everyday in order to purify it to drink or cook with it, and the same with
firewood. Needless to say it became a little monotonous. So we decided to take
over the campsite that Mike and Eric had been using. (They left in the morning
to kayak a few miles down the Nepali Coast to a new beach for the next four
nights.) Check out our new view…
The next day we all decided to hike a few miles up into the
Valley to take me to a place called Big Pool and show me around the Community
Garden and other little places in the valley. We were all excited to go hiking
surrounded by trees and a river instead of sand and rock for a change of pace.
The hike up was around 2 miles and not at all very tiring,
but by the time we made it up to Big Pool we were ready to jump in the freezing
cold mountain water…and the view was absolutely gorgeous from up there as well!
The actual Big Pool is separated from the other pools above
it by a 15 foot waterfall. Maisha and Phil found a little path down to a less
violent part of it in the middle that you can sit in and take some cool
pictures. So naturally, we climbed down and took some damn cool pictures.
However, I am nowhere near as skilled in waterfall climbing as I had originally thought.
As I pick up my left foot to set it on the dry part of the rocks, the water pressure takes my right leg out from underneath me...and I instantly go tumbling, side first down the rest of the 10 feet of the waterfall and land into the Big Pool with a huge splash.
When I broke the surface of the water all of the old people around the pool were staring at me, open-mouthed, and poor Maisha was gaping at me from the top of the waterfall. No one could believe I actually just fell down the waterfall...and didn't hurt myself!! I was so embarrassed and full of adrenaline that all I could do was laugh. Everyone asked if I was okay and I reassured them that I totally was. They didn't believe me. Then Phil came running over next to Maisha from the top of the waterfall and saw that I had fell down it. I reassured everyone that I had somehow managed to fall down the only slippery, waterslide part of the waterfall. And bless them both...Phil and Maisha immediately jumped down after me, laughing and screaming the whole way down.
I have the bestest friends ever :]
After they took a few more slides down (I was still too strung up to go down again) we made our way to the Community Garden in the valley. All of the people that live in the valley take care of a big Community Garden full of vegetables, fruits, and spices. We picked some spices and little tomatoes before pulling out a few taro roots from the riverside. I had never heard of taro before, but apparently it's been a delicacy with the Hawaiians for hundreds of years.
On the way back down to the beach we stopped at a place called the labyrinth.
Someone had taken the time and energy to build it next to the river and it's absolutely gorgeous. And very magical.We had taro root in our vegetarian chili and that's when I learned just how potent taro really is. You absolutely HAVE to boil it for about 30 minutes before you can actually cook with it, because it is covered in a very nasty acid. If you try and eat it without boiling it apparently it tastes exactly like eating fiberglass and will burn your mouth and throat. And probably really screw you up.
But the meal was delicious and taro tastes A LOT like potato. So naturally, I loved it. But we ended the evening with a special little treat...a bar of chocolate Phil and Maisha had packed away to break out on a special occasion. And me surviving falling down a waterfall definitely qualifies!
~Little Blonde Traveler
