when i get back to hawaii, i can give all kinds of advice on traveling to uraguay. i couldn’t have gone there at a better time. summer starts next week and i heard it gets crazy! thousands of tourists everywhere. worst than waikiki. if you want crazy, come then. if you want this beautiful country to yourself, come right before. i’m not the tourist kind of guy so this time was perfect. just a few backpackers and you could go anywhere at anytime.

when i took the walk around the cliffs, i freaked out when i saw the first seal sitting on the rock. it was so cool! then i sat down and watched them jump off and swim around. there were hundreds of them just enjoying the beautiful day. i was wondering to myself how cool it would be to be living like a seal. that would be a dream life huh? lay in the sun, eat abalone, and just do nothing. maybe in 10 years, i’ll retire and become a seal. haha.

there were shells every where i stepped on the beach. different ones than the ones we have back in hawaii. super sharp and if you don’t have slippers, you can cut your feet up pretty bad. i had slippers and i still got cut.

itai means ouch! a shell poked right through my thick slippers.

the country of uraguay is now one of my favorite. from the endless ranches, to the pristine beaches, uraguay has everything. driving up and down the coast is the highlight of this trip. the things i seen in 3 days blew me away. i’m definitely going back for sure. but next time, i’m renting a camping car, drive city to city, and surf. yeah, the waves were good too. i was bummed i didn’t have my surfboard. next time, i’ll surf this whole country with the seals. and if you want to know if there are sharks there? yes, when ever you see seals, there are huge great white sharks swimming right under them. this is nature at its finest. i love it!

Trains, people, traffic, and steak.
I miss Uraguay already.

this day was freezing cold. in fact, a lot of days up in tohoku were freezing cold. if i was on a surf trip, i’d probably be complaining. but after experiencing what i have in the past year, i can’t complain about anything. my life has surely changed.

a lot of people lost everything. if something were to happen to my house, the first thing i would grab are my precious photos. so making new memories is a start to a new life.

from a kid, i always had a hard time thanking people. don’t get me wrong. i really appreciate everything people do for me, but i just was kind of shy saying “thank you.” even till this day, i sometimes forget. but when i go back and look at photos like this, i don’t realize how thankful i am to have such amazing people around me. the volunteers on our missions have hearts of gold. and i want to say “Thank You!”

i remember eating some of this pork. it was soooo good!

seeing such a long line at the register was so amazing. Naomi-san’s dream became a reality and her hard work made a lot of people smile. the We Are One Market turned out to be a success!

and the hot sweet malasada’s brought smiles to the kids faces. to eat something so sweet and warm for the first time was fun to watch.

it’s always sad at the end of the day when we have to say our “bye bye’s.” the people in tohoku are so kind, warm hearted, and inspire me so much. the only way i can keep smiling is knowing that i’m going back there again, again, and again! this was one of the happiest days of my entire life!
thank you to our team, and thank you matsu for these precious photos. We Are One!