The Real Hawaii

Martin and Fran went to Oahu for the weekend, so it was just me and Pete working today. He weed-whacked around the mango trees while I washed and dried the mangos that had been picked. I gave weed-whacking a try, but it was hurting my hand and felt a little too awkward, so I hand-weeded (with a small cutting tool) around the pomegranate trees.

Today was the first clear, bright day we’ve had. Apparently we’ve been experiencing some uncharacteristically rainy weather, which has something to do with a recent lack of volcanic activity (the first in seven or eight years), though I’m not sure enough as to how the two relate that I could explain it.

Given the occasion, Steve let us off work at 11:00 and then drove us down to Honounou (pronounced Hoe-now-now) Beach. We hadn’t yet ventured there because we’d heard it was far and didn’t realize how great the snorkeling would be. It’s the first local beach that we’ve encountered that seems to attract tourists. In some places it was difficult to snorkel because there were so many people. But Pete and I swam toward a reef and found some awesome fish, and yet another green sea turtle, known here as “honu.” The free snorkels/masks that we got from the guys who picked us up the other day turned out to be decent. The masks were good, but one of the snorkels was broken--between what we already had and the free stuff, we're doing well.

In our haste to snorkel, we didn’t apply sunscreen, and ended up with pretty bad burns on our backs and legs—probably the worst yet. They were made worse by our walk home (Steve had left the beach while we were snorkeling), uphill on a highway for several miles. Cars were either going too fast to pull over for us, or didn’t seem to have room in their cars (or their hearts) for two scruffy hitchhikers. We stopped under a large tree on someone’s horse farm to enjoy a moment of shade, and finally managed to get a ride a few miles from a soft-spoken man who dropped us off really close to the farm.

We’re taking a trip to Volcanoes National Park tomorrow morning, and since it’s so far away, we opted to take the bus, which only runs once a day around the island (except for Sunday). It stops in Captain Cook at 6:00 a.m., and arrives in Hilo (the largest city on the Big Island) at 9:45 a.m. I’m sure it will be faster than hitchhiking, though. And certainly more reliable. Once we’re in Hilo we’ll have to hitch to Volcanoes, but it’s only 30 miles from there. We’re staying in a hostel Saturday night, and making our way back to the farm on Sunday, which could take quite a while.

A sad thing happened this morning—just when Alani (the dog) was getting on my good side, I saw her kill a baby chick in the woods next to our screen house. Since chickens and roosters are wild here, there are little chicks all over. The mother hen flew up into a tree and wouldn’t stop crying. I still think that Alani’s a smart dog, but the chick slaughter just seemed like showing off.