Uke Camp

It's day 3 at Uke Camp. I've been playing every day and my fingers are sore, but I don't care! We've all been assigned groups to play in the Jam session on the last day and have "band practice" every afternoon. I've got a great band leader in Sarah Maisel, who is fabulous. Natalie and Brit got into other bands, so we'll see who comes out on top!

Yesterday included a trip to Hilo to Hilo Ukulele and Guitar Shop, owned by a Scottish guy(!). Wow. What a selection! But I refrained and only bought some music.

The big Farmers Market is in Hilo on Wednesdays, so we strolled around afterwards, looking at the fruits, veggies and tie-dyed T shirts. I bought some presents (hee hee) and then we decided to go get some lunch. The resort had provided sack lunches, so while us girls were in the ukulele store, Joe found a homeless woman with a couple of dogs and gave all 4 lunches to her. She said thanks and god bless you, so I feel we all were blessed.

We went to the fish market for lunch. It was highly rated in Natalie's Lonely Planet guide and it was exactly that -- a fish market with an outdoor window to order a meal. There were wooden benches and tables outside to sit and enjoy the ocean breeze. It was DELICIOUS! Joe and Brit had the healthy grilled ono and Natalie and I had the fried tempura shrimp and ono. All the meals come with 2 big scoops of white rice and a side of green salad or the very Hawaiian macaroni salad, made with macaroni, potatoes and, I think I detected some tuna.

They were having an exhibit of handmade ukuleles at the visitor's center. They were all so beautiful, many with inlaid abalone and/or wood on the body and on the head. The display contained about 40 ukes, all different sizes and were made of Kona wood (of course), spruce, mango -- anything! One of my favorites was a little soprano uke made from some of the koa wood from the torn down Kamehakameha Hotel.

Last night, though, was the best. Natalie and Joe brought some bottles of wine over to our hut and we had fun talking about surfing, dishing the other people here at the camp and how hippie-dippy the place was. On the schedule for the evening was an outing to the closest town (Pahoa) to see the evening Farmer's Market and have a drink at Uncle Roberts Awa Bar. After a few glasses of wine, we decided to try and find the place. NO PROBLEM. There were cars parked on either side of the road for about a mile. It was really hopping! The bar is an outdoor setup at the end of the road and on the outdoor stage were 5 huge Hawaiian guys playing some amazing music on guitars and ukuleles. (Someone at the camp told us this morning that those guys were all related and I believe it. It sounded like they had been playing together for years.)

Natalie found a lady who was selling a dish her grandmother used to make for her when she was a kid and hasn't had since -- Hamburger Curry. She was gracious enough to share with me. It was delicious. Back at the bar, Natalie asked the bartender to make us her best drink -- it was an Hawaiian Sunrise. I'm not sure what was in it, but it was yummy -- fruity, coconutty with who knows how many different kinds of alcohol. We danced the night away -- it was amazing and so much fun. We found out this morning they are doing it all again on Friday night and we may have to be there.

It's an interesting group at the camp. Mostly older people and they are mostly very serious about playing. Some of them are pretty good, but most, I'd say, are about the same level as we are or even less experienced. Some of them Brit refers to as "old biddies" and they are rigid and demanding, but all the instructors are great. We all eat together at the covered outdoor patio, along with another group here -- something to do with body balance and energy. You can imagine.

Today was terrific. I woke up to a torrent of rain on the roof. I had a massage this afternoon and am now waiting for Natalie and Joe to show up with more wine. Life is good.