Welcome to paradise

May 12, 2012

I am in paradise, no doubt about it.

I woke up this morning at 5am Hawaii time, and then every hour from then till 8. My body will take a bit of getting used to the time difference. However, that means I got to watch the sun coming up in stages. All I can say is WOW.

At 8 I got up, dressed, and slathered on the sunscreen. Considering I am a waking sunburn waiting to happen I brought 75 SPF. I slipped on my sandals by the door (we don't wear shoes in the house here) and headed off to the farmer's market across the street.

This is the first thing I see when leaving my house where my rented room is located. I just stopped and stared at it. All that out int he distance was ocean, it it goes on and on. The ladies here at the house say it is about a 15 minute walk to that beach.

So I tore myself away from the view and headed to the farmer's market. I still need to tour the outside of the house, but I can do that later. I walked to the corner and crossed the street, the farmers market is at the community college right across the street. As I'm walking towards it I stop to take this photo.

The portion on the right where the street starts to slope down is where the market is located. It is very nice. I wanted to take pictures but with it being Mother's Day it was WAY too crowded and busy to get a good picture. Everything is grown here on the islands and is organic. I got some stuff I am familiar with: broccoli, romaine, grape and cherry tomatoes, fresh mint leaves, and ears of corn. I got a papaya which I have never liked at home but have been told that fresh is completely different. I got a container of fresh farmer's cheese with herbs an another with delicious queso fresco. I also got a tub of fresh made butter with sea salt and another with sweetened coconut milk. I got a fresh loaf of supergrain bread (8 grain bread with figs and nuts also). Every vendor had tons of samples to taste and I was delighted. I also got an Asian onion dressing and a macadamia nut and sweet basil pesto hummus. YUM. I wanted to get some things I was unfamiliar with to try also: apple bananas (they are small and are supposedly very good), japanese cucumbers (I wonder if they taste the same?) and the papaya. Each week I want to try something new and there are a LOT of things I haven't tried before. A lot of things I don't even know what they are!

So I was loaded down enough and started back to the house. I did stop and get a pineapple smoothie to enjoy as my breakfast on the return walk. Here was my view on the way back.

I got back and unpacked my farmer's market goodies. I then unpacked my bags and got settled into my room. As of now I am officially set up here and good to go. I needed a bit of a rest and to cool down a bit so it seemed the perfect time to share these pictures and update everyone. I can honestly say the pictures don't do justice to the beauty of this place.

It is only 11:30 here, the day isn't even half over. I'm going to head out with the camera and see the outside of the house and yard, so more updates to come!

Aloha,
~Melissa