It's weird to be back in Hilo. In so many ways, I feel like we were just here! And in plenty of other ways, I realize that we have done
so much in the past three weeks. So, I guess that's why it's weird.
Yesterday, we were in Pololu Valley, certainly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It's part of a collection of 7 valleys that run parallel to each other along the Northeast side of the island. We camped in Pololu, on these massive black sand dunes with amazing foliage, and one day hiked up to the next valley. It was quite a trek, just through that one valley. And on our way out yesterday, we met a guy who was camping in the fourth valley. Talk about solitude.
Anyway, the nearest town is Hawi (pronounced ha-vee), a quaint little town with lots of happy people. And many generations of them. This place was a thriving sugar cane plantation in the 60s, and by the 80s sugar cane harvest and production completely evacuated the area. So it left practically nothing in its wake. We ate at a restaurant called Bamboo, the only building that still remains from that time in the town's history. So, it's been in a process of re-establishing itself as an independent community, and certainly now you can tell it's thriving, which is great, because it seems like a very comfortable & happy place to be. They are now actively providing jobs and services, like never before. Anyway, it was nice there.
Before me made it to Hawi, we camped on the West side of the island, in a place called Mahukona Beach. This place was also a retired sugar cane mill, but much smaller, and more woodsy. The flies in the daytime were undesirable, but the sunsets at night were PHENOMENAL. I wonder what my photos will look like. The first night, I snapped a few shots, considered the limitations of photos, and put my camera away, so that my eyeballs (really, my brain) could absorb it thoroughly. And I didn't even bring it out the next night. Speaking of photos, I'll try to put some up. Maybe tomorrow, as we're staying at Bob's again.
One of our camping days, we hitched down to "the beaches." (As an aside, I could write an entire entry on hitchhiking. It was very easy to do, we met lots of really interesting people, and even learned neat stuff too. A lot of people have pride in this place, understandably, and many of them make great tour guides. Frankly, it's one of my new favorite pastimes, and I'm glad we capitalized on it so much. The infrastructure here is definitely set up nicely for it, and a lot of people support the system. It just works so well, and it's so practical, I totally fell in love with it. We ended up hitching most of the latter half of our trip). Anyway.... There is a collections of four major beaches on the West side that are all connected by a trail that runs along the coast. We toured all four of them, starting at the most North, Spencer Beach Park. This place has camping, but you have to reserve way in advance, and you have to pay for that shit. We realized that's not really necessary if you can get some tips from locals on the best places to go. Anyway, the third beach down was called Mauna Kea. It was epic. Absolutely beautiful, and right below a resort, so there were a bunch of beach lounge chairs out, with towels provided, and even a bar on the beach! We committed ourselves to waiting until at least noon to indulge. I saw a few very large sea turtles, went for a dip (sea urchin fright-free, as the water was crystal clear), and just chiiiiilllllled for most of the afternoon. We did get our cliche drinks, and yes they were $13 each, but totally worth it. The Frederico had rum, bourbon whiskey, orange juice, passionfruit juice, and guava juice, all blended up with ice. So fresh, and so delicious. Eventually, we made our way to the last beach, Hapuna, which is frequently rated as the best beach in the United States. It was huge, and we chilled for a while, but were honestly pretty spent, so we made our way back home, in a hitched ride no doubt.
Anyway, I realized after that last long post that I can't possibly impart all the aspects of our trip on this thing, so I probably shouldn't try. But, there you go for today, and maybe I'll feel inspired again tomorrow. At least to share photos.
Love.
