The plan for the day was to take a tour of Jade's high school, then go to ‘Īao valley, and end the day at Keawakapu beach. Jade's high school consisted of about 4 rooms and her graduating class had 7 people in it. It was attached to an arts complex for the community, and it didn’t really feel like a traditional high school.
After the high school, we went to a town called Paia and got crepes for lunch. They were delicious. I got a ham and cheese crepe and it was fantastic. We walked around Paia for a little bit, looking at the swimsuits and how expensive they were. $70 for a bikini top!
‘Īao valley was about 30 minutes away from Paia. We drove there, stripped down to our swimsuits, and started hiking up the river to find a spot to play in. Since we were visiting locals, they knew all the fun secluded spots that weren’t so touristy. We walked and walked until we found their preferred spot.
The water was freezing, but we all got in and acclimated. We played for maybe an hour, moving downstream after a bit. Once we were done, we started walking back. Along the way, one of Jades' friends, Lilliann, pulled some red fruit off a tree and offered it to us. Turns out it was called strawberry guava and it was delicious. It looked like a little pomegranate and tasted sweet and fresh. They were all over the island.
After the valley, we drove quite a ways to the beach. We had intended to go further down the coast, but it started raining so we stopped closer and hung out at Keawakapu beach. It was getting later in the day, so we settled in to watch the sunset.
We stayed and played for a few hours, and then we headed back to Jade's house, where I was ready to call it a night pretty early.