Hawaii - The Big Island

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

(Click on the thumbnails and links to view a large image.)

Hi All,

Here we are starting week 2 of our Hawaii vacation in a plywood cabin on the slopes of Kona coffee plantation hills, southwest of Kailua-Kona, above the town of Captain Cook. Today is a relax day so we have been reading and then reading, followed by reading and then a movie. The air is perfectly still, possibly a prelude to a shower, and the birdsong is amazingly melodious. Our landlady provisioned the kitchen with fruit, vegetables and coffee from her own gardens plus fresh-baked bread and two kinds of homemade jam – now THAT'S hospitality. There is a medium-sized poinsettia bush by the front steps which reflects her favourite decorating colour – red. Our bed is a fantastically comfortable memory foam mattress that takes up the full width of the loft and it is bright with windows that make sleeping-in a challenge.

Our first week's residence was also off the beaten path about 1.5 miles out of the NW town of Hawi. Instead of coffee, we had a macadamia nut orchard surrounding us. The bird-watching was terrific as the owners had a large feeder right outside the “computer desk” window. We arrived just as the family golden retriever was dying ... very sad. He passed away after a day and a half and they “planted” him in the orchard. The phrase “planting” was initiated by their young 4 year old daughter ... very apt and very sweet. The main drawback was the abundance of mosquitoes who were attracted to me but left Ted alone – my new role in life: bait!

So we've had a few new experiences and learned some new things ... here they are to share with you:

NEW FOOD

lomi lomi salmon – salted salmon with tomatoes and onions
boiled peanuts – a nice change from roasted; similar to edamame pods
poha – the name for the gooseberries growing on small bushes outside our cabin, an invasive species from the 1700s
lau lau – various items (pork, chicken, veggies) wrapped and steamed in taro and ti leaves
- There were many uses for the ti plant in old Hawai'i. The boiled roots were brewed into a potent liquor known as 'okolehao. The large, sweet starchy roots were baked and eaten as a dessert. This versatile plant also had many medicinal uses, either alone or as a wrapping for other herbs needing to be steamed or boiled. The ti leaves were wrapped around warm stones to serve as hot packs, used in poultices and applied to fevered brows. A drink from boiled green ti leaves were used to aid nerve and muscle relaxation. Steam from boiled young shoots and leaves made an effective decongestant. The pleasantly fragrant flowers were also used for asthma. Besides its use in healing practices, the large ti leaves became roof thatching, wrappings for cooking food, plates, cups, fishing lures on hukilau nets, woven into sandals, hula skirts, leis and rain capes.
Looking forward to MUSUBI - grilled slices of spam placed over a rectangular press of rice, wrapped in seaweed; we couldn't believe the choices of spam flavours in the local supermarket (hot and spicy, lite, oven roasted turkey, hickory smoke, bacon, cheese, garlic, golden honey)

THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE

consists of only 12 letters: vowels A, E, I, O, U and the consonents H, K, L, M, N, P, W ... plus a backwards apostrophe to indicate a glottal stop in the word (like when we say oh-oh)
all words end in a vowel
it is impossible to remember the correct mix of vowels – a typical conversation – which beach were we at yesterday ... could it have been Kuki'o, Kiholo, Kikaua, Keokeo, Keawaiki, Kekaha, Kaloko, Kahalu'u, Kealoha, Keaukah, Kolekolea... you get the picture! Up to this point, our favourite beach is called Beach 69 ... named after the highway marker sign on a nearby telephone pole (proper name is Waialea)
Imagine an early Hawaiian wedding with one of the British missionaries marrying a Hawaiian woman: “Dost thee, James Fisk, take Kahahana Ka'pukai'ikapuokamehameha to be thy lawful wedded wife?”
how do you know when you're going too far with Hawaiian pronunciation.... when you read common public signs and mentally pronounce them as mahlay and faymahlay!!!

ANIMALS

on our day of arrival, we detoured through a luxury resort and shopping area and saw a weird creature scampering across the road – looked like a cross between a large rat and a dachshund
when we asked our landlady what it was, she said it was a mongoose, part of the weasel family ... only our guy had no tail – must have been amputated or a birth defect!
We saw mongooses later on and they all had very luxuriant tails, glossy golden/ reddish-brown fur and ugly little faces with pink/orange eyes, noses and mouths (no, they are not called mongeese for some reason)
they are probably Hawaii's most deadly and invasive species – they were originally brought here to control the rats in the sugar cane plantations ... unfortunately, mongooses are active during the day and rats are active during the night .... DUH
see this link for an interesting description of the damage they have done http://perlgurl.org/archives/2006/05/the_mongoose_a_maui_menace_1.html
the only other wild creature we've seen was a big flock of turkeys, coincidentally on USA Thanksgiving day .. and there were lots of hunters out and about

GREEN FLASH AT SUNSET

(Sylvia – this is especially for you)

this is not an urban myth but a real phenomenon complete with a scientific explanation and Hawaii is one of the best places in the world to see it
here's the story straight from our guidebook: On days when the horizon is crisp and clear with no clouds in the way of the sun as it sets, you stand a reasonable chance of seeing it. Avoid looking directly at the sun until the very last part of the disk is about to slip below the horizon. Looking at it beforehand will burn a greenish image into your retina, creating a “fool's flash” (and possibly wrecking your eyes). The instant before the last part of the sun's disk disappears, a vivid flash of chartreuse is often seen. This is because the sun's rays are passing through the thickest part of the atmosphere, and the light is bent and split into its different components, the way it is in a rainbow. The light that is bent the most if the green and blue light, but the blue is less vivid and is overwhelmed by the flash of green, which lingers for the briefest of moments as the very last of the sun sets.

SNORKELING

we've been here 8 days and only snorkeled once due to high high winds or dull dull skies (but have found lots of other things to do)
as mentioned above, we went to Beach 69 on the perfect day – sunny and calm; lots of colourful living coral and a pretty good assortment of fish (but still haven't found as good a fish collection as at Sandy Beach in the UAE)
after about an hour and a half, I started to get shark anxiety for some reason and had to swim ashore; when we got back to our cabin, I asked our landlord about sharks in the region and he said there had been two tiger sharks there a couple of years ago ... was I picking up a memory or was my feeling a premonition? Yikes!!!

MACADAMIA NUTS

Story of a Macadamia nut: » 1 » 2 » 3 » 4 » 5 » 6 » 7 » 8

now we know why these devils are so expensive ... out of a full sack (think potatoe size), only about 10% are considered good enough quality to be sold as regular nuts
they trees are lush and beautiful, about the size of a large cherry tree; the nuts have a husk like a coconut and they fall when green, then turn black and split open, revealing the thick inner shell which you have to crack to get to the delicious mac nut inside ... it takes 3000 pounds of pressure to crack open this inner shell

MAUNA KEA

this dormant volcano mountain is 13,677 feet above sea level and we suffered the shortness-of-breath, dizziness, weakness and nausea to prove it ... even though we spent more than an hour watching the movies at the Visitors' Centre
there are major scare tactics designed to discourage tourists from taking their rental cars to the top; unless it is raining or snowing, there is absolutely no reason not to go up with a 2WD (except if you're afraid of a little washboard)
- what's the difference between a rental car and a 4WD? A rental car can go anywhere!
the information about all the international telescopes was fascinating; scientists recognize this spot as the best place in the world to observe stars due to the clear, unpolluted skies and lack of turbulent air
some of the telescopes can look at objects over 12 billion light years away; the twin Keck telescopes have a 33 foot wide viewing surface and even though the moveable part weighs 300 tons, it is so perfectly balanced that it can be moved with one hand
only 1/10 of an ounce of aluminum coats the giant mirrors

MISCELLANEOUS

how do you know when it is really, really, really windy? ... when the bicycles in the cross island race have to bike on the leeward side of their escort cars
how do you know when the local fish market sells really, really, really fresh fish? ... when they are sold out by noon and there is nary a frozen fillet in sight
what is the common hairstyle for a Vancouver woman visiting the Big Island? ... crazy girl hair
how do you know that road signs are not serious? .... Sign 1 states “speed limit 35 mph”; Sign 2 states “slow to 40”
what is the best item you have found on your trip (so far)? ... a nondescript 1 x 2 inch black case holding a mini flat flashlight that didn't work .... EXCEPT that it turned out to be a Nikon remote control for Ted's camera ... no more run-ins
ever wondered what the phrase “doing something by the seat of your pants” means? .... ancient Hawaiians navigated by the seat of their pants, that is, they could detect and interpret ocean currents by how their testicles rolled around in their scrotum

Aloha for now
- love E&T