Deepening chill

I used to welcome the return of brisk, frosty mornings -- or, at least, not be so troubled by it. In New Hampshire where one spends over half of each year in sweaters and sweatshirts anyway, dressing for the day properly, taking extra time to warm up and scrape the frost off of the car, and wearing socks indoors to keep your feet warm, barely register as inconveniences. I know that I'll come to appreciate the change of seasons once again, but having returned to the East Coast in August from my first year without a winter, the readjustment is noticeable. For 13 months, all I needed to wear outdoors were flip-flops (known to Hawaiians as "rubber slippers", "rubbah slippahs" or just "slippahs"), swim trunks and, if intending to dine at a sit-down restaurant, perhaps a t-shirt.

In June of 2006 I moved into a newly-renovated 2BR 2BA apartment in Waikiki that overlooked the zoo, Kapiolani Park and Diamond Head. I was 2 blocks from the ocean and a short walk to all of the shops, restaurants, hotels and clubs of Waikiki, yet I had almost nothing but trees, sky and a beautiful mountainscape to look at from my living room through the sliding glass doors which led to the lanai. I also had easy access on and off of the H-1 "interstate" (I'll discuss highway traffic on O'ahu in a later post -- it's not pretty). Now, anyone who lives in Hawai'i or has spent some time there might sniff at the idea of being a "townie", or living in or near the city where you have to deal with traffic and crowds when you could be surrounded by lush tropical rainforest or live on a quieter section of beach, since O'ahu's coastline consists of some of the best natural beaches in the world. Waikiki is not one of them: not natural because they've had to stave off erosion by pumping sand off of the ocean floor back onto the shore; and not all that beautiful, except perhaps for the Fort Derussy/Hilton Hawaiian Village end (west). However, for me, an introvert who often enjoys to be around people anyway, living in Waikiki was satisfying. That's not to say that I wouldn't have been happy living in a quieter, more natural setting as well. I'm a closet botanist. Frequent visits to botanical gardens, arboreti and going on nature hikes give me time to think and regain perspective on life while learning about the dizzying variety of life forms (still remaining) on this planet. But I also love cultural events and getting lost in the crowd from time to time, so for one year I decided to live in the city. Besides, in Hawai'i, you're never far from nature's beauty.

Nearly every Polynesian and Pacific Rim culture is well represented in Honolulu. Every couple of weekends there was some cultural festival going on in Kapiolani Park or in the city, and occasionally they would close down the main drag along Waikiki beach (Kalakaua St) and throw a street/block party. I didn't always keep up with the calendar of events and so some nights I'd walk out of my apartment just to look for something to eat, and I'd stumble upon some glorious festival with parades and musicians playing on several stages and booths offering tasty treats from around the Pacific Rim. I loved surprises like that. I'd soak up some of the atmosphere, enjoy the entertainment, watch some of the festival-goers, and then retreat to my apartment amazed that this New Hampshire boy was living in such a place. But even when there weren't special events occurring, every night in Waikiki offered street performers and artists and tourists to watch. For me, for a year, it didn't get old. If I had had the opportunity to stay for another year, perhaps I'd have looked into living on the North Shore for year #2, just to try something new, but I have no regrets in choosing 240 Makee Rd., 96815 as my temporary residence.

So while cold weather now closes in on me for the first time in 20 months, I'm going to try to reflect upon and articulate some of my experiences in Paradise. If you're planning on going to Hawai'i sometime and find something I mention interesting or useful, wonderful -- I'd love to hear about it. If you have a planning question and you can't find a satisfactory answer on the web, post it and if I don't have the answer for you right away I'll see if I can get it; I still have a ton of literature. If you're in a cold climate and reading these posts warms you up a little, that makes me just as happy. I'm hoping for a similar effect myself.

Aloha!