It was a loooong flight. I traveled to the Big Island for the first time Easter day and stayed for 2 weeks with a former coworker who retired back to her home state. As part of my recovery from my great loss, my friend offered to show me the island. She greeted me with a fragrant Pua kenikeni lei! Six and a half hours plane flight, arriving well after dark, then an hour ten-minute drive to her home at the northeast side of the island- the rainy side. She inherited the home from her grandparents who worked for the sugar plantations. The plantations disappeared in the 70s. The house was built in 1927- no heat, no A/C, on stilts to allow airflow and no dryer. The windows open and screened allow air to flow through the house. She lives between Hawi and Kapa'au, two little wide spots on the road that attract tourists. The section is referred to as North Kohala and is on the west side of Kohala mountain. The east side of the mountain fell into the ocean leaving amazing cliffsides. That's a later topic.
It was an uneventful flight except for some turbulence and the fullness of the moon. The Kona Airport is open-air- a new experience for me! I wondered why but understood by the time I left- it doesn't get cold. And Kona (means "leeward") is on the leeward side of the island so they receive an annual average of 27" of rain. Kailua-Kona is the big city on the west side of the island. A popular tourist mecca with too many resorts on the beach and lots of shopping.
I thought they were two hours behind, but they are three hours behind because of daylight savings time! Little did I know how that would impact me! I was a mess for three days. I couldn't think straight, I kept losing things, forgetting stuff, and so on. Fortunately, by the fourth day, I could write and think again.
The first couple of days consisted of going all the way back to Kailua-Kona for groceries and other needed items. There is the whole set of big box stores there and old town Kona which is a fun funky tourist area. There's a great vegan spot (outdoor eating) called Herbivores off the beaten path.
Interesting that you can identify tourists by the rented jeeps and convertible mustangs. Once it was pointed out to me they were everywhere we went!
I got a tour of her backyard of jaboticaba, tangerine, banana, coconut, mountain apple, ti leaf, tree ferns, calamanci lime, Pua kenikeni, and so many other tropical plants/trees. Bromeliads were growing on many of the plants. They spread like weeds! Between those and the number of exotic birds, I felt like I was in an exotic game farm.
I met a neighbor who had three adorable four-month-old goats- Lari, Curly, and Moe. The island is full of feral goats. People sometimes rescue them and tame them. They've done terrible damage to the island vegetation as have the feral pigs and sheep. I never want to see another sheep or goat again! Except these three. They're sweet.
We went into Hawi and checked out the shops and talked to folks. Met a guy who came to the island years ago was there for three days and called his daughter to sell everything. He never looked back. I admire that. Hawaii's too far from everything for me so that thought never occurred to me.
On my second day out and about I saw my first endemic bird species- two Pueo (short-eared owl)! That was pretty exciting. We were on the mountain road to Waimea. There are only a couple of native endemic birds that can be found in the lower elevations where mosquitoes (came in in bilge water) can't kill them with diseases and where the trees they depend on still growing. Waimea is a larger town with more amenities than Hawi so it was a regular stop.
And I discovered that Hawaii is very humid! LOL
More adventure next post. A hui ho
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