After the timeshare meeting, Steve and I decided to make ourselves more acquainted with our surroundings since we had no idea where we were. Let me 'splain.
The area where we were staying did not look at all like I imagined Hawaii would. Like any good haole, I always imagined it was all lush forests, palm trees, flowers, white beaches and all of that, but we were in Waikoloa, which is on what we were told was the "dry side" of the island. If you remember me saying that when we drove in that it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, that was both true, and not true. From the Kona airport to where we were, a 30 to 45 minute drive, there didn't seem to be anything other than hills and what looked like giant, lumpy tilled fields. It was like the surface of Mars, if Mars was brown instead of red. It wasn't dirt, though, it was fields of volcanic rock. So basically, we were on the side of the island with the old lava flows. There were beaches and homes/resorts on the coast, but not in the way I am used to. There were no giant, multi-story hotels, no tacky seaside shops, or trashy tourist traps lining the coast there, so from the highway we could just see the palm trees and sometimes the roofs of the houses as well as the ocean beyond. It wasn't obvious, and so well planned that unless you were really looking, it didn't seem like there was anything there.
The resort we were in was a part of one of those types of developments. You'd turn off the highway and see the row of condos. The further in (towards to the ocean) you'd go, you'd see more condos, a big fancy hotel or two, and two small shopping centers with restaurants and upscale resort wear, surf shops, and at least one large-ish market in each. Beyond that was the biggest and fanciest hotel right on the water with a black, rocky beach. It was beautiful and about as unobtrusive as you can get, unless you're standing in the parking lot, of course
We walked around the big hotel, taking pictures and trying to get our bearings. We looked for a beach we could walk on, but it was all just rough surf and black rocks beyond a retaining wall that we couldn't climb over unless we wanted to fall and die. We actually got a little lost walking around this big, sprawling place. We eventually found our way out, and it was almost time for lunch, which was at a restaurant in one of the small shopping centers we'd passed, so we went there and ate and then looked around.
That shopping area, the market there to be exact, was where we spent a huge amount of our free time and most of our money while we were on the island. It was a grocery store/souvenir shop, but something better than, if that makes sense. Since so many of the nearby places closed early, we stocked up on snacks for the condo and got some supplies that we didn't know we'd need for our trip until we got there. We also got matching outfits for the luau we were going to that night. Well, Steve got a Hawaiian shirt and I found a cheap, matching dress. He was a little horrified, but I thought it was funny! We went back to the room to change and then headed back to Kona for the Luau.
It was quite a drive, and we got caught in terrible traffic (Kona is a biggish city on the island and much more touristy than where we were) but we made it to the hotel where the luau was going to be, got our leis and got seated for dinner. It was all outdoors and the weather was beautiful. We were under palm trees and right next to the water, and they kept bringing around cocktails from the open bar. It was a while before we got to eat, but we did the whole thing, roasted pig, poi, and all! The show was so good, it showed a bunch of different Polynesian dances from all over, and the emcee explained the differences. It was a lot of fun. That night I learned that I don't like Mai Tais or Poi, but I very much like passionfruit and Hula Kane (male hula dancers.)
We went back to our condo afterwards and even though it was still relatively early (we were 4 hours behind our usual time, so early didn't feel early to me) I told Steve to look online and find some stuff he'd like to do, and I fell asleep almost before I was all the way in bed. With the exception of the timeshare part, it had been a fun day.
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