Once we got here, Hawaii started happening before us quickly. The car rental shuttle showed no signs of stopping for us, so we started waving. Once inside, the driver admonished us with a jolly "Good thing you move your hand!!" Hilarious.
Then a little waiting for the car, which has to be exchanged today (hello? you need front wheel bearings!).
We did many of the usual things on our first day: a) La Mariana for lunch, b) a stop at Bestsellers books at the Hawaiian Village, c) uke playing on the beach, d) dinner at Mama That's Wasabi, e) watching "Eh You Da Kine, Ah?". It's a good thing to be able to have a routine when you're a pooped traveler.
We visited all of our bird friends at the Hawaiian Village. The ibis were preening themselves, and the flamingos were settling down for the evening. One of these days I'll post the sound recording mrguy made a few years ago of the flamingos fighting.
We made a new friend who we can't identify. He looks like a bufflehead who swallowed a very long stick:
On the beach we played while the sun set, and until I saw enough dinner cruise boats in the distance to make me supremely happy. A brand new husband and bride had their wedding pictures taken very nearby, and passersby found mrguy and I sufficiently colorful to snap some shots of us as we played.
And there's usually a story from Mama's. This time it was that I eagerly ordered this salad because it had mountain yam and some other groovy stuff in it. It was delicious, but only vaguely resembled the description. I asked our waitress about the lack of yama imo, and she said she'd only served this item twice in two years and that they don't have any mountain yam. She said they changed the Japanese menu but not the English one, because English speakers don't order this item. Figures!
And while I'm at it, I asked around about where I could see sumo. Akebono had suggested via his blog that Japanese restaurants and hotels would be a good bet. I haven't been successful yet, but as in Japan the pursuit of these questions takes me places I wouldn't have gone otherwise.
Before we go start our day, a shout out to Auntie C., who's playing along from home, and to Poi Girl. There were several times yesterday that I wished my eyes were cameras for you, especially during the torch lighting last night :)
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