Giza Banta Cliff & Waterfall

This past Friday marked three years since I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh... Yikes! I’m not sure if I was inspired by the occasion or not, but Friday night Ben, a few friends and I hit several bars in town and *may* have partied like we were crazy college kids. And yes, If you are wondering I can now unfortunately verify that hangovers are approximately 7,000 times worse when you’re older. However, the countless mojitos, beers, and habu sake shots that we imbibed that night were absolutely worth the next day pain. It’s rare that Ben and I get to party like the young adults we are - because all of our peers on this island are literally pregnant or already parents - so we took this opportunity in stride! We definitely feel as though we miss out on the young adult “party scene” we would’ve enjoyed in the states but nights like these give us a little taste of what we’re missing back in Philly.

The mojito bar is located right on Sunset Beach and true to its name we saw a beautiful sunset that night!

As I mentioned previously, hangovers are way more brutal once you’re past your early twenties. I almost never have more than a drink or two and can’t remember the last time I drank enough to be hungover so I was not prepared for what copious amounts of alcohol would do to my body!!!

That following Saturday just so happened to be gorgeous weather which made Ben and I feel panicked to seize the day. During the rainy season it’s uncertain how many nice weekend days we’ll actually get so you really need to enjoy them when you can! With this in mind, we convinced ourselves that you can definitely sweat out a hangover so we decided to do a little hiking/sightseeing.... Makes total sense, right? This, in fact, is FAR FROM THE TRUTH!!! You definitely can’t sweat out a hangover and I personally do not advise physical activity when you’re suffering from the gripes of post intoxication pain. Trust me.

To elaborate on the above, Ben and I foolishly decided to drag our butts to the Giza Banta cliff and waterfalls which included a ton of precarious climbing. Our assumption was that getting outside and enjoying the sunshine would mitigate our suffering but we were very disappointed when this turned out to be wrong. This little excursion had us climbing up, down, and over extremely jagged and somewhat treacherous rocks in the hot Okinawan sun. It would have been ambitious even if we had been in our prime physical states! Giza Banta itself was a pretty place (I’d actually been once before but Ben hadn’t) but I definitely had some regrets. Trying not to die on a rocky cliff is pretty difficult when you’re head is pounding and you’re trying not to puke...

When we got to the waterfall itself, which was the reason we were legit rock climbing, it wasn’t exactly as majestic as I had pictured (there was no water last time I went so I wasn’t sure what to expect.) Although it was just a teeny tiny waterfall, Ben and I did totally geek out with excitement over the tide pools surrounding it. It’s really cool seeing all of the sea life that gets stuck in these pools during low tide!

​Overally, we were definitely glad we knocked this off of our Oki bucket list and we actually did have a lot of fun but dang, we really could’ve picked a better day!!!!

Can you spot me?? We climbed down this cliff!!! Although truthfully there was a nicely paved path for more than half of it...

If you’re wondering, I’m never drinking again (maybe just a bit of an exaggeration) so no more beautiful Oki days will go to waste! Until next time...