Big Island’s June27 Lava Flow and Hurricane Iselle

Hi!  It’s been a long time since I wrote!

 

When I was writing my Biggest Ball of String “adventures” more regularly, I was just finishing up my segment on the Big Island of Hawaii – all I had left was the Village of Kailua-Kona.  (I’ll come back to that.)

 

And, although I’ve thought of my blog often, and the unfinished Hawaii segment, and all the places we’ve been that I didn’t discuss, I was side tracked with “real-life” things.  Last time I wrote, I talked about one of the “real life” things, which was a Cottage we purchased on Lake Michigan! THAT has taken up so much of my time! and I love it! I am inspired to do thing for it – it’s like I have tunnel vision! Everything has to do with that one particular event/thing!

 

Because The Cottage is part of my new adventure, I’ve started a new blog for it.  It’s going to be very specific to that one place – the cottage, the area, the renovations & updates, local business – chocolaterias, wineries, pie & pastry shops, breweries, places to rent boats, etc.   Really, I hope there are people who “browse” and find it,  or maybe it’ll be people who come visit the Cottage and want to know what updates we’ve done, or maybe it will be random people… but, I also just want to remind myself of the journey, and this is a good way!  Come check it out!

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Last time I wrote a blog about travel, and before we bought the Cottage, I was writing about Hawaii…

 

A lot is happening right now on the Big Island – including the relentless approaching lava toward the little village of Pahoa!

 

Kilauea’s newest lava flow is named for the date the lava began erupting from it’s new vent, June 27.   I don’t know much about it but the pictures on-line seem crazy and amazing!!   The National Park’s website says that, as of September 15, “The actual length of the flow, measured along the lava tube axis (so that bends in the flow are considered) is 17.7 km (11.0 miles).”

 

I did wonder (since the lava is advancing kind of slowly, I mean, compared to movies like Dante’s Peak) if there were plans to divert the lava… when I asked, the answer was basically “no”.  I had my own guesses as to the reason, but Huffingpost had this to say:

“But diversion methods can be risky, according to officials. Not only could they make the problem worse, there are also considerable cultural sensitivities at play.” 

Diverting the lava flow — whether by obstructing it, rerouting it or attempting to alter the terrain in its path — is seen as blasphemous to Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes who is believed to live in the Halemaumau crater of Kilauea Volcano.   

“This is a very sacred place,” Hawaii County Civil Defense administrator Darryl Oliveira said in response to one Puna resident’s question about diversion, per footage of the community meeting posted online Sept. 3 by Big Island Video News. “It is important to recognize and respect the culture that was and is still here.”

Oliveira also explained that any kind of diversion could worsen the situation and unintentionally send the lava flow toward another community.”

Culture and uncertainty were my guesses.

 

Maybe something amazing will happen, and there will be a rift that doesn’t affect anyone, and the lava will just drop straight back into the earth and take an underground route to the ocean!

 

 So, speaking of Hawaii, and that side of the Island – did I mention that we have land there…?  The reason I bring it up now is because on that acreage was “Methuselah”.  Methuselah was an O’hia tree on our property, that was estimated to be around 970 years old (hence, the namesake), and right beside the top of our driveway.

 

When we first put in our driveway, we took special care the larger trees and made the road go around them.  Especially Methuselah.

 

O’hia trees grow up to be about 20–25 meters (66–82 feet), but Methuselah probably around 50 feet tall, and had been broken in half by either wind or lightning at some point. Two people could not reach around his trunk.  There was an entire ecosystem growing in his trunk! He was covered in roots from other trees.  In his leaves near the top, you could see flowers and leaves from orchids living and growing in his bark.   He was magnificent.

 

This year, during Hurricane Iselle, he blew down.  Even now, writing it, it makes my eyes water.  I love that tree.

 

The people who told us that he’d fallen (and currently is blocking complete access to our driveway) know that I love the tree, and everyone has wonderful ideas: Maybe we can make it into a beam in our house. Maybe we can make it into a bench. Maybe we can lift it with a crane to the edge of the property, and let the branches grow into new trees (this happens in Hawaii…)

 

It’s hard to find someone with a crane who also appreciates how much I love that tree… also, when O’hias die, they turn to such hard wood, it’s almost like petrified and then …so… I need to decide soon…

 

Hurricane Iselle (a tropical storm?) did a lot of damage to the Island –  trees and power lines were down everywhere, and tens of thousands were without power for weeks, and some communities were without running water, and some people were isolated because of giant trees down blocking the roads.  There are really great stories, though, about communities coming together to help others – which, despite these two major catastrophes, is a really nice part of the story!  It’s worth the Google.

 

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I was going to talk about Kona this time, but I think I’ll save it for next time…which will be sooner than later! (It’s mostly written anyway – just need to add pictures!

 

Stay tuned!

 

Pahoa’s Mexican Food, Li Hing Mui, and the Chicken Guy

Going and coming to Kalapana, you must pass through (or right beside, depending on the exact road) Pahoa.

When I was telling Amanda about Pahoa, I mentioned: 1) the best Mexican food on the island (Luquin’s), 2) the first time we were there, there was a brawl in the street of Old Pahoa, like “old West” style, with, it turns out, fireworks going off, but it sounded like gun-shots, and 3) there’s a guy who rides around on his bicycle, with a chicken on his shoulder.

There’s a lot more to Pahoa than that, but those are my highlights.

Luquin’s ~ If you have read my blog off and on from the beginning, you will know that Mexican food is an ongoing theme – a constant under-current. I love Mexican food. I mean ~ I’m not adventurous at all. I order the same exact thing wherever I go: a cheese enchilada, a beef enchilada, and soft shell (if available) beef taco. I do switch it up with the sauce ~ choosing randomly (so as to throw chaos into the situation) between tomato, mole and verde sauces.

Peter switches things around, but always gets chili relleno (at every Mexican restaurant).

And, always, a margarita – house specialty, blended, if possible. At Luquins, my favorite FAVORITE is lilikoi (passion fruit) mango combo, blended, with a Li hing mui rim. Wikipedia says “Many bars in Hawaii also rim their glasses with li hing powder in addition to putting it in the drink.” I wonder why it’s specific to Hawaii… SERIOUSLY! if you try it, you will LOVE IT! Love love love it.

Luquin’s always is exactly what we hope for! We are never disappointed.

We’ve also been to 2 other really good restaurants right on the main street in Old Pahoa, across the street from Luquins – one is Thai food, and the other is a fancier style restaurant – I forget the names of both places. However, we were told that the Thai restaurant rivals the Thai food in Volcano Village, and the cost is less expensive. We’ve eaten there, and I remember it being good – I think that’s the place that has Trivia Pursuit cards at each table, in case dinner conversation wanes. (You should still go to the one in Volcano Village, too, though.)

Somewhere in Pahoa is the Black Rock Cafe, which is half bar (not even a pub, but more saloon-y), and half restaurant. On the restaurant side (and maybe also the bar-side…?) has really good fish and chips, and I’ve never been disappointed with any of their food either.

There’s a pretty good grocery store just as you come into town (the Kea’au way), called Malama Market. Perhaps it’s more expensive than shopping in Hilo, but it’s pretty convenient and has every possible thing you can think of! (Well, I’m not sure what all you can think of, but so far, I’ve found everything I’ve needed.)

Halfway between Pahoa and Kea’au you will find the Maku’u Farmer’s Market. It’s one the largest Farmer’s Markets on the Island, but it’s only open on Sundays, and only from 8am to 2pm… And, to get the best of the choices, you have to get there early. (Also, if you want a hotdog with “all the fixings”, you have to get there early, too. I had mine on pink Punalu’u bread (more on Punalu’u bread later, probably.)

Kea’au also has a Farmer’s Market – it’s very small, but is open every day, for your convenient fresh vegetable and fruit shopping. I bought avocados, a bag full of rambutan (which I bought because I’d never seen such a thing and the vendor gave me an entire bag for $1), and a bunch of apple bananas for about $5.

Across the street from the Farmer’s Market is the Kea’au Shopping Center, which has everything in just 2 parking lots:

• There’s a nice little grocery store there – Foodland. The prices are pretty good, and if you have a Maika’i card, you can often save about 1/4-1/3 the cost on most items.
• There’s also a health food store there, called Kea’au Natural Foods, which has a lot of everything packed into a very small space.
• Pizza Hut and McDonalds
• A couple of restaurants
• a laundromat
• Ace Hardware (Peter’s favorite place in Kea’au)

Kea’au is on the main road going from Hilo to Volcano, and is at the turn-off to go to Pahoa. It’s a larger town than Pahoa and has more options for shopping, etc., but isn’t near as quirky.

The first time we were in Pahoa, this man rode by on his bicycle with a chicken on his shoulder. This time, I told everyone to “keep their eye out” for the “chicken guy”, but really didn’t expect to see him. The next thing you know, in the parking lot of Malama Market, there goes the chicken guy! The chicken was riding on the back of the bike this time.

Originally, apparently, Tom (the Chicken Guy) was on his way to a parade of some sort, and the chicken jumped on the back of his bike all by itself, and so started the tradition. Since then, Tom has been around here and there with his chicken (including, apparently, the Burning Man festival/event in Nevada….) He even now collects pictures that people take of him…

Sunday, I think we’ll talk about Punalu’u, South Point and the Green Sand Beach.