Day 1 and Day 2

In my opinion, traveling alone in a foreign country is truly one of the most soul awakening experiences you can have. Since I have left Kona, I have felt so many emotions that are not normally felt in you everyday life. From the empty nauseating pit that I felt in my stomach the morning after leaving my one and only, to complete and utter doubt that I cant actually do this, to inspiring hopefulness within myself. I felt happy people watching and talking to randoms and I felt completely terrified walking among unknown faces. I felt anxious to arrive and scared as anything to get there. This has been all in the first 24 hours...


Spending the morning in Santiago was awesome. I walked about 5 miles from my hostel to the top of Cerro San Cristobal which in the top of a huge mountain and has a beautiful huge statue of the virgin Mary on the top. The view is amazing and the walk was absolutely what I needed to clear my head. If you want to read more about it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_San_Crist%C3%B3bal

Something that I learned today is that being in a different country with a foreign language makes anything you do, no matter how small the task, to be a completely planned out mission.

For example: ordering food. Seems like a simple concept enough, however how innocent to think that. First you have to find somewhere to keep your giant suitcase because all the restaurants in Chile are the size of a bedroom. Second you have to try to figure out what the food is and figure out where and how to pay. Even though I know spanish well enough, a lot of the food names are unlike anything I have heard of. After you decipher the amount of money that it will cost you in your dollars, you wait in line and repeat in your head what you want to say so you don't sound completely ignorant. "Empanada marisco" Empanada marisco." sounds like your saying it perfectly in your mind. Then when it is your turn to order, you repeat it too quickly or too slow and the clerk almost never understands. Who would have known food could be such a high pressure moment.

About to be on my way to Vina and cannot wait to drop off my luggage and not be the girl in hiking shoes carrying the 50lb green duffle.

Mini Vaca on Big Island

 One of the most amazing things about living on the Big Island is although it is just a land mass floating in the middle of the Pacific, isolated thousands of miles from any other piece a land except for the sister islands, you can still go on a road trip and feel like you are away from home, in another state or even country. Since it was the holiday weekend and I had finished working before I leave for the trip, Scott and I decided to spend a  long weekend down at Volacano Village, just the two of us. Volcano is about 2 hours Southeast of our ohana and your eyes are occupied the entire ride there. Anyone who lives on the Big Island and has a car knows about the amazing scenery the island has to offer. From lush rainforest lined streets to  big  boulders of volcano rocks barriers to dark forests filled O'hia forests, the scenery changes every fifteen minutes.The weekend was AMAZING. Firstly, for some luck that was shined down on us we picked a weekend that was the most beautiful they had in a long time. The sky was vog free with real blue skies, like blue-blue, not pastel blue and anbig fluffy white clouds. That never happens. Also we didn't have to pay once to go into the National Park because it was a holiday weekend. double score. The place we stayed was so cute. We splurged, thanks to an amazing Christmas present from some awesome people, thanks m&d, and stayed at Kilauea Lodge a bed and breakfast. Kilauea Lodge was made in the 1930's and it has real charm. It really felt like we were in some lodge in Montana or Germany or someplace cold where they always have fireplaces roaring and hot cocoa always available. Stained glass windows, a fireplace, a common area, and a hot tub, the place felt so cozy. We spent the weekend hiking about 15 miles of trails, learning the names of Hawaiian botany, and sitting by our fireplace playing dominoes and board games. Side note, don't play Scrabble with Scott, he's known to cheat. We went out to the Lodge for one fancy dinner and it was incredible. We both ate things we've never had before. I had Duck L'Orange and you'll never guess what Scott ate....drumroll.. Antelope. (Montana I tell ya). I even got up the gumption to try it and I well,  everything was so good.  It such an incredible weekend and felt like we spent the weekend at a health and fitness resort.Going to Volcano had been absolutely an amazing trip and I'm so happy Scott and I got to spend a romantic weekend together before my trip. I recommend to anyone spending some time in volcano and getting some of all what the big island has to offer.

our morning ritual , sitting by the fireplace in our robes

The cottage




















zebra in hawaii