Hawai'i: The Big Island

I still can't wrap my head around how FAR AWAY from "home" I am. I'm out in the middle of the ocean! Maybe it doesn't seem so strange because it's pretty Americana-ed out here: Walmart, Starbucks, McDonalds... People seem to have about the same kinds of lifestyles as on (warm parts of) the mainland.

Here's the long and the short of it:
Pros:

• Coconut! There's so much coconut here that it could make your head spin! Of course, you have to be careful that the spinning is not caused by a coconut actually falling onto your head...

• Crazy fruits. There are so many crazy fruits here, many of which I never knew existed before. It's a good place to drink smoothies, that's for sure.

• Warm, tropical breezes. It's not my ideal climate (ack! the humidity!), but the warm breeziness is quite lovely.

• Sea turtles. I saw real, live sea turtles. They look as angry as any other turtle does.

• Aloha. This is for real. People have been friendly and relaxed most of the time.

• Hitchhikers. There are people hitchhiking here all over and at all times. It just makes sense. And it's sad that we are too terrified of serial killers to help each other in most other places.

Cons

• Cars. You have to drive everywhere here. It's nice to be able to walk/bike from place to place at home (and the drives I do make are so much shorter).

• Food. You'd think with the abundant plant life there would be some good vegan food around these parts, but I've had way more than my fair share of gardenburgers here.

• Island. Ah! I'm trapped on an island, surrounded by the vast, cold Pacific.
  

• Volcano. I was so excited to see the volcano and lava. Well, too bad because there aren't any flows with decent viewing right now, and you are hard pressed to breathe while hanging out in the park... particulates or something...

• Creepy crawlies. Given a choice between an encounter with this and death...

• Wild roosters. If you can't hear a wild rooster loudly crowing at 3am, you've probably lost your hearing.
  

So, in conclusion, if coconut weren't so amazingly good, I think we never would have taken this place over.