White Islands boat tour

Started with breakfast at the hotel, where we had cold eggs and hot milk. The food here is definitely different than what we are used to. Then a two-minute ride to the dock for our boat tour to Balestra Island. But the seas by that island were too rough, so instead we went to the White Islands. These are named the White Islands because they're covered in bird poop, so kind of disgusting and interesting at the same time. There were a lot of different kind of birds there and neat little sea cave we went partially into. On the way there and back we saw a lot of sea lions. Unlike in the Galapogos, these sea lions were in the water, actually moving, not acting like bum sleeping all over town. On the way we also saw the Candelabra geoglyph, which was pretty cool. It was a quick tour. Then we got back on the bus for another 4 hour ride, this time to Nazca. We got to Nazca and Jose met us. He's a young guy who speaks very good English and really seems to know his stuff. He's the best representative we've had so far on this trip. He got us to the hotel in time for dinner, and after last night's food adventure, we decided to just eat at the hotel restaurant. Despite the waiter really not speaking English very well, we actually had a really good meal, sitting out by the small pool. We then went to our room and relaxed before bed. Tomorrow we see the Nazca lines.

Bus to Paracas

This morning we were picked up by a shuttle that took us to the bus station, where we boarding a bus to Paracas. At the bus station we were kind of lost. We did find our way to where they took our bags, but our bags were overweight, the limit is 20kg per person. After we made a futile effort to move enough stuff into our backpacks and generally looked helpless and confused, the agent waived the charge just to get us away from him. There were a few stops on this bus ride and after the1st stop we discovered we were in someone seats, who knew they were assigned? It does show the seat in very small print on the bus tickets. We definitely looked like rookie travelers today. After long (about 4 hours) bus ride a guy met us for the short ride from the station to our hotel-the Paracas Sunset. It was bright and sunny when we got there so we decided to go out by the pool. But when we got out there, the sun was now behind the clouds so we stayed out there in the overcast for a while then decided to get something to eat by the beach. We read up on a couple of restaurants and decided to go to El Galeon because they were supposed to have good scallops. As it turns out the way they make scallions here is kind of disgusting so that didn’t go too well. They serve the scallops on the half shell and you end up tasting their nasty parts, definitely not what we were expecting. The calamari and Spanish rice were good but the shrimp that came with the rice was not. I tried a Pisco and ginger ale drink, which wasn’t great either. It pretty much tasted like flat ginger ale. To complete the experience, we were “waited on“ by two girls who were more interested in their phones than actually paying attention to us. We had to wave our arms and say “Cuenta” so they would give us a check and we could leave. Very disappointing. We then tried to find ice cream, but there was a strange lack of ice cream places in the area, considering it was very much a beachfront/touristy area. The one that we did find wasn’t very good. The cream was just not creamy, so after we each had one sample we passed on the place. We bought a big jug of water and then headed back to the room. Another early night. The weird thing is the sun goes down around six here right now, because it’s almost their winter solstice, so it feels much later than it actually is.

Lima city tour

Today we were scheduled to do a city tour of Lima. They were about 10 minutes late picking us up in the morning. Once we were picked up, we toured the Mayor Plaza, Lima Cathedral and Museo Larco. These were all interesting in their own way. With the lava Cathedral was probably the most impressive. It was very ornate and cool to see. After the tour we had “linner” at Tantas in Larco mar, with a view of the ocean. Food was meh, but the view was really nice. Larco mar Is there a huge restaurant in shopping area. Were you saw a British couple with a 2 liter of water when he asked where they got it? They told us Wongs in the mall so we went back in and bought water there. We then ordered an Uber and waited until it showed up, which was also kind of interesting given the traffic in Lima. When we go back to the hotel Deb napped while I read the paper and listened to a book. We then went out for ice cream (also meh). We then headed back to the hotel to chill before going to bed.

Full day of flying

Highlights of our day flying to Lima: We had a small adventure on the drive to O'hare. We ran into construction traffic and got routed to a lane that was going nowhere. Meaghan and I realized we were in the wrong lane and she was able to get back over to a faster lane. So for a minute or two we thought we might be late but it worked out really well in the end. I think Meaghan was more worried about us making the flight than I was. As it turns out we had plenty of time, even with this happening... I didn’t have pre-check on my boarding pass. Met Deb at gate after going through normal security. I actually wasn't sure what I had to do, it has been years since I went through security with the common folk. At the gate, they were asking for people to check their carry ons and they checked our carry on through to Lima, nice! When I looked at my American Airlines app I saw that I never updated my passport information, so it was showing as expired. That must be why the TSA pre-check didn't get on my ticket. We had a three and a half hour layover in Miami., This allowed us to have lunch at TGI Friday's. All our flights were on time. We found our drive with no trouble. It was a pretty long ride to the hotel, and we got in a little before midnight. The lobby is being remodeled, but otherwise it was a nice hotel.

Last day in Hawaii and trip home

Our last day in Hawaii, Boo! We went back to the Hungry Hono for breakfast and another frappe. For some reason the thin mint frappe did not taste the same as before, we think because a different person made it. Since our flight wasn't until 9:00 at night we had a whole day to explore and generally relax. The first thing we did after breakfast was lay by the pool for a little while until it was checkout time so that Deb could get some color and I could just relax. After that we did a little shopping for souvenirs at Walmart and then went to the Sadie Seymour Botanical Gardens. This was maybe the smallest Botanical Garden in the world, unfortunately there wasn't a lot to see here, but it was free. We checked out the thrift shop right there, but it was a very thrifty thrift shop, everything there was at least 20 years old.

We then went over to a small beach and watched some kids body surfing which was kind of entertaining, we also just kind of relaxed and enjoyed the sea breeze. From there we drove to a farmers’ market where we bought some more souvenirs. From there we walked over to the Kona shopping village and browsed through some shops. It was actually pretty hot, and mall-itis was really starting to hit me. Because of this we decided it was time for early dinner. We ate at the Kona canoe restaurant right on the ocean where we made a meal of happy hour appetizers and finished everything off with mud pie, which was delicious. We lingered there a bit and watched the sun go down. A pretty good way to end our time in Hawaii.

Once we got done with dinner we had to head to the airport and gas up the rental car along the way. Our gate at the airport was open to the outisde on all sides, like a gate patio. Of course, a woman waiting by us told Deb how much she liked her nails. We got on our plane to Seattle on time with no issues, we had a 2-hour layover in Seattle, so we grabbed some breakfast at the airport and waited for our last plane home. Our flight home was interesting at the end as it was very windy in Chicago, so we had a pretty bumpy ride coming in but we got in on time and made it home to our house. 7 flights, 7 airports, 3 rental cars and 2 sons providing airport drop off and pick up, quite a trip. Oh and 4 people told Deb they love her nails, actaully a couple less than I was expecting.

Hawaii is a beautiful place; I am really glad I got to visit. I’m not sure if we’ll be back but if we do return, we will be sure to hit Kauai, as it is supposed to be the most beautiful of all the islands.

Volcanoes National Park

Today we started with breakfast at the coffee shack which is right on the way to the volcanoes National Park. Interesting place, you eat basically hanging over the side of steep hill that is covered in vegetation. Deb made friends with a lizard that was hanging out on the window frame, feeding it jelly from the little container it was in. Food was OK, my coffee was pretty good.

From there we drove out to Volcanoes National Park. Entering the park was a little confusing because the visitor center is being renovated and was closed. So, we had to drive down to where they have military housing to get any information. The temporary visitor center was packed, unfortunately there were a few tours stopping at the same time as us. So, we really didn't get much information there at all, just stopped for a minute, used the restroom, and then got back on the road. We followed the crater rim road to the lookout at the end so we could see Kilauea. The volcano wasn't doing much when we were there, just a lot of steam you could really smell the sulfur dioxide hey, it was almost too much. We walked around that area a little bit, getting different views and pictures of the volcano. We tehn headed over to an old crater and cinder cone formed by an active part of the caldera which has been dormant for the past 50 years. Here we hiked Devastation Trail through the cinder field by the cone. This was interesting as you can see the cone and also how vegetation is coming back to the area. We then we got back in our car and headed over to Chain of Craters Road, which ends where the latest lava flow rolled over it on the way to the sea. This road goes past several old craters (hence the name). It goes through miles of nothing but old lava. When we were there it was very misty/raining, which added to the atmosphere. I was reminded of Frodo and Sam going through the Desolation of Smaug. We stopped at several places along the way to see different views. The last place we stopped before the end of the road was the Holei Arch lookout. This is a great view of the very high vertical cliffs and a sea arch coming out from them. Eventually we came to gates closing off the road, but you could see that it continued for a while, so we decided to walk up the hill on the road to see where it ended. Once we walked about a mile to the top of the hill we were surrounded on both sides by new lava. However, the road just kept going as far as we could see. I'm guessing they blasted the lava flow and made room for the road.

After all this it was getting pretty late, so we drove back to the main part of the park by the old visitor center and went to volcano house. Volcano house is hotel you can stay at, and they also have a couple of restaurants. We ate at George's Lounge which has floor to ceiling windows overlooking the volcano crater really a cool view, we got some pretty nice sunset pictures out of this, unfortunately the food basically sucked. After dinner we headed back to the hotel with more winding roads in the dark, that seems to be our theme for this trip.

Coffee coast tour, coffee, farm tour, and luau

We started today with breakfast at the Hungry Hono, the food was pretty good, and we shared a thin mint frappe to go, that was really good. We then set out on the coffee coast Guidealong tour.

First stop on this tour is Kealakekua Bay, where Captain Cook arrived on the islands for the first time. Unfortunately, this is the same bay where, when he returned a month later, an incident where the natives stole a boat and Cook's crew tried to kidnap a chief, led to him being killed. In any case, it’s pretty little bay.

We then continued down the coast, mostly through a lava field, to the Place of Refuge. Place of Refuge is a spot where people could go to avoid being persecuted either for a crime or if they were fighting against the local natives in a war. The way it worked is they could stay there and not have to worry about being hurt until a certain amount of time after which the local Kahuna would set them free. This area was pretty interesting, and they had some really cool old tiki statues facing the sea. We also enjoyed watching the fish that were in the tidal pools and all teh goats that were wandering around the area. After that, we had some time so we decided to do be free coffee plantation tour. We found the Greenwell tour and we are really glad we did. We got there at 1:53 and there was a tour leaving at 2:00. Our guide, Nate, was really cool and really informative. He did a great job of showing us all kinds of different plants that were growing on the plantation and also explaining the whole process of turning coffee beans into coffee-from picking them from the trees to roasting the beans and packaging them. This was a great tour.

After that we had some time to kill before we had a luau on the resort property, so we laid around the pool for a little bit. The luau was OK; it was kind of cool to watch the dancing, especially the fire dancing, but it's the kind of thing that now that I've done it once in my life, I don't think I have to do it again. After the luau we were pretty stuffed and just went back to the room and relaxed.