Getting to Know the Island

Tara De Santis
Oct 9, 2016
1 min read

What an experience to watch Cedar Rapids’ beautiful sunset and Honolulu’s one of a kind sunrise the next morning. As we landed, after over 18 hours of non-stop travelling, all of us experienced interlacing feelings of fatigue, excitment and gratitude overwhelming us. First thing we knew, we were heading to the beach, where Lonnie, Cheryl, Adam and Emanuel greeted us with fresh (and obviously organic) macadamia nuts, coconut water, miniature pineapples, caramboles, cacaos, bananas, the best mango I’ve ever had and Rambutans (those incredibly interesting fruits that look like eyes). It truly is fruit paradise here!! We’ve been here for a week now and I have never been this absorbed with so many activities. Boogie boarding, swimming in hot springs, camping in an La Akea, visiting Hawai’i Volcanoes national park, snorkeling, hiking the Pololu Valley & watching the sunset on Mauna Kea, the world’s biggest mountain; all incredibly profound and personnality shaping experiences for curious young adults like us. However, I must say that the most impressive thing for me so far is the group dynamic. We all come from different backgrounds and it is phenomenal to see how our communal sense of purpose propels each and everyone of us, enabling the group to meditate, eat, sleep, learn, camp, cook, excercise, be together (24/7) and still live in complete harmony. With love, Tara De Santis