Okinawan Heat
My first day in Okinawa was spent being lazy in bed, playing with Colbie, eating breakfast - honey nut cheerios and apple juice like the little child I am - and an attempt to go exploring. I thought it was hot and humid last night…I was wrong. I couldn’t believe how quickly I was pouring sweat. I probably made a mistake wearing shoes and jeans as well instead of slippers and shorts. I cut through a golf course right behind their house. It’s kind of a dumpy little course with short holes. I did see some people out using it though. Maybe I will give it a go as well if it cools down some. I saw a path that didn’t look exactly like one I should take, but I tried it out anyway. I immediately walked into two huge spider webs with monster spiders hanging out on them. I found out once I got home they are banana spiders and not poisonous. At the time though I was a little worried I was going to be that dumb tourist who dies on his first day in a foreign country.
I walked through some neighborhoods with parks and schools and hospitals. It’s not as clean as mainland Japan. It’s also not as nice with regards to buildings. It kind of reminded me of the not-so-nice parts of Honolulu. But their buildings here are more for typhoon resistance than aesthetics. I came across a little 7/11 type store and got what I thought was water and pound cake. The water turned out to be some type of orange flavored water - which I drank anyways because I needed to hydrate - and the pound cake was a meat sandwich with some type of mystery condiment. I survived both though but will pay better attention next time to what I purchase.
The beach was small and no one on it. I walked in the water with my jeans rolled up and enjoyed the relief from the heat. There were some large, white crabs scurrying sideways into the water. I saw a couple of locals with surfboards although I saw absolutely no waves anywhere in site. Not sure where they were planning on going. I was already warm and sweaty for the walk back and it definitely wasn’t any cooler. Some of the roads didn’t have footpaths on the side and I had to keep an eye out for all the large trucks driving to their various destinations. By the time I got back I was dripping wet like I had just jumped in the ocean with my clothes on. The a/c was a welcome relief as was the cold shower I took.
After spending the afternoon relaxing I went to some local ruins with Eunice. We were already winded after climbing the stairs to the base of the castle only to find out there is a winding staircase that is meant to tire our attackers. All that is left of the castle are some low lying walls and some of the foundations of palaces. There is a nice view of the surrounding area at the top and it had cooled down significantly since I had been out. The ocean can be seen in all directions as well as some small islands a short distance off the coast. We came back and John was home so we all went out to dinner. Of course sushi is the perfect first meal out in Japan and we went to a restaurant with the conveyor belt and ate till we were full. In addition to good sushi they had excellent fries. We finished up the day eating Okinawan salt cookie ice cream. I was exhausted and passed out very quickly.
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