Back in the U.S.

We arrived in Honolulu on Sunday morning.  It is on the island of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands.  The first thing I noticed about it was how similar the mountains look to those in the background of LOST.  It's because they actually film LOST here!

Anyway, we only had two days in Honolulu, and I didn't do all that much.  The first day we went snorkeling in Hanauma bay, a nature reserve and world's first non-smoking beach.  The bay went to nature reserve status when the vast amounts of people that were visiting it were causing damage to the marine ecosystems.  They limit the amount of people who go in each day to keep it healthy.

We had around two hours to snorkel, and I saw some beautiful things.  Lots of colorful coral, many, many fish, some urchins, and a sea cucumber or two.  Me and Isaiah saw this huge blue fish with bright pink and yellow on it and when it noticed us it got scared and flitted away.  It moved so quickly!  It seemed like all it did was swish its tail and it was gone, leaving a trail of white bubbles in its wake.

The second day we wanted to go to the North Shore, where LOST is filmed but none of the buses go up there and we didn't want an expensive taxi drive so we walked around the mall in port and went to K-Mart so I could buy some duffel bags for overspill luggage.

It was really strange being in the US.  It was strange not needing my passport and it was strange not having foreign currency.  It was weird to get a little preview of what life will feel like when I get home: no wondering where an ATM is, no bartering, no trying to find a taxi to get anywhere, no passport, no money belt, no constant state of flux.  I will miss all that, I really will.

If anything, Hawaii was a break from classes, for which we have finals the day before and two days after Guatemala.  I'm just trying to soak up every last minute of being on the ship and being around all my new friends and this life style because it is all going end in a matter of weeks and I may never ever get a chance to live like this again.