Hilo and Wedding

First thing Saturday morning we checked out of our hotel and flew from Oahu to the Big Island. Honolulu, where we have been staying, is the largest city in the state with approximately 2 million people. Hilo, the city we just flew to, is the second largest city with approximately 58,000 people. Big change! Staying on Waikiki Beach was great and an interesting experience but both Colby and I have reached the point that we are just tired of all the people. It was so busy all the time!

The Hilo airport is more what I had imagined when thinking about Hawaii. There a only a few walls so everything is open to the air. The rental car company that I had arranged to get our car through had to wait until someone brought a vehicle back so we could have one. Luckily for us the next car to come in was a jeep so we got another free upgrade. The hotel we are staying at is very small but we are enjoying the change from the large ten story hotel in Honolulu.


Hilo gets some rain everyday because of where it is located on the island. Right outside the back door of our hotel is a path through a mini rainforest garden. The hotel offers free fruit all day, every day. Little did we know this is because they walk into the backyard and pick the bananas off the trees growing wild there. The only downside to the garden in the back is the frogs. When we were exploring the hotel room we came across two sets of earplugs in the bathroom and thought it was an odd thing to provide. Now we know why, last night the frogs woke Colby up four times because they were so loud. (I, of course, have slept through it all!) The other downside is the mosquitoes. They are vicious! There is a small green gecko living in our room but every time I pull the camera out to take his picture he hides behind something. He is only the size of a bobby pin but I think he is so cute. (Colby thinks he is a lizard living inside and should be kicked out of the room.)

Right after we checked into the hotel we went to the Farmer's Market that is held in Hilo every Saturday. I bought jewelry (I know, big surprise!) and Colby picked up a couple of mangoes. We took them back to the hotel and while I was arranging all our luggage Colby started to cut the mango, after a little while I realized he had gone really quiet and I found him eating the mango right off the pit. He had started to cut it up but found it to be so good that he couldn't wait. I barely caught him before he ate the entire thing so I got one bite. I have to admit I have never had a mango be that soft or sweet before.

The whole reason (or excuse, however you want to look at it) that we came to Hawaii was to be able to participate in the wedding of Rebecca and Sterling Okura. I have worked for Rebecca for almost four years now. I started working for her as a paralegal four weeks after she opened the door to her own law office and now we have three other attorneys that work for her and have changed office space twice. During this time we have grown really close and I felt honored that she wanted Colby and I to be at her wedding. Sterling is from Hilo which is why they decided to have their wedding here. The wedding took place at this great house with beautiful grounds overlooking a river. (The only downside was the ground was soft so I couldn't wear my high heels but, never fear, I was able to find some platforms that worked.) Rebecca and Sterling are both Zen Buddhists so the ceremony was performed by their sensei, Daniel.

I wasn't sure what to expect (having never gone to a Buddhist wedding before) but it was beautiful. The ceremony involved Rebecca and Sterling renewing some of the vows that they made when the became Buddhists, like to always do good and abstain from evil. Then the couple exchanged vows, Sterling and Rebecca wrote their own vows and looked so happy. After the ceremony we had a big Hawaiian dinner.

They had cooked a pig in an Imu pit, traditional style. (I have to admit before coming here I couldn't figure out why they called it an "emu pit" since they cook pigs in it and not emus, the relative of the ostrich. Once we got here I noticed that it was spelled different but pronounced the same so it made more sense.) The pig was fabulous and I am not a big pork fan. We also got to try Poi, a traditional Hawaiian dish made from the taro plant. It is purple in color but doesn't have much taste. It does have an incredibly icky texture though, if you pureed apples and cotton together you would get the consistancey of Poi. I was brave and tried it because I am in Hawaii but I won't be eating any anytime soon.

After the dinner Sterling's dad, Sanford, led everyone in a traditional Japanese chant to wish the couple good luck. Everyone was required to yell "Banzai" really loudly after him. This was what warriors would yell before going to their deaths but it also means ten thousand years so it is wishing the couple ten thousand years of happiness. Now, when I say yell I mean yell, at the top of your voice so you are hoarse the next day. The reggae band "Soul Redemption" are all friends of Sterling and Rebecca so they came over and provided live music for dancing afterward. I can't get Colby to dance (he would dance with me when we were dating but once we got married all dancing stopped) so instead I stood around chatting with everyone. (I know, hard to believe that I would be talking.) It was great to be able to celebrate this momentous occasion with them.