Hilo, "The Big Island" Hawaii

27 March 08


The airport in Hilo is actually very small and quaint. There was no evident place when I stepped outdoors to hail a taxi. Luckily after about 15 minutes of me looking completely confused, some tourists from the UK pointed me in the right direction; a small parking lot off to the side where a bunch of minivan taxis were parked. The driver and his boss, I think he was doing a training drive, expected me to have multiple suitcases. All I had was on my back. About 14 bucks got me into downtown Hilo, where the weather was overcast and drizzly. I almost had the feeling that I was back in Seattle. It was about 25 degrees warmer than a typical Seattle day though.




Hilo is quite the opposite of Honolulu, not very touristy and very quiet. The drivers tried to talk me into a sightseeing tour for 75$ from the taxi windows. No thanks. I was determined to explore the Big Island by foot, as much as possible. So, this hostel I stayed at was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL hostel I have ever been in. Stained glass windows and carved wooden ceiling fans were in the dorm room. It was so much prettier than the hotel on Waikiki and only $25 per night! I haven't even mentioned the characters I met while staying there. Hostels are great.



Not long after I dropped some things at the hostel, I started exploring Hilo in flip flops...bad idea. It was not long before I was climbing over molten hardened lava rock, slipping and sliding on the rocks near the water. Note to myself, always wear boots here, even if it's warm.




Hilo is a really laid back town on the eastern side of the island. It receives around 142 inches of rainfall per year. As one might guess, it's not the sunny, beachy Hawaii that people think of. That's on the Kona side, where it is dry and sunny most of the time. Hilo reminded me a bit of the North Shore of Oahu, except more country.





After exploring the Rainbow falls at Wailuku River State Park and the Boiling Pots, which were not really boiling pots of water as I expected, I trudged back to town. It was about 4miles each way, most of the time I was walking in the grass on the side of the road. Hungry was how I felt when I got back into town. I ate at this AMAZING Thai restaurant "Nuang Mai Thai Kitchen". I ordered Pad Thai medium w/shrimp that was so tasty and perfectly spicy. I also ordered my favorite spring rolls that were gigantic salads in a roll! The best part of the meal was desert; homemade(in Hilo) ginger ice cream, topped with warm tapioca pudding and frozen strawberries. YUMYUMYUM. It made my mouth happy.



It began to drizzle while I was eating, but by the time I had finished, the rain ceased. As I was walking back to the hostel, I stopped at this store called "All Things Beautiful" where the owner had a love for peacocks. I found this awesome wooden peacock mask for Kelly there.






28 March 2008


As I said earlier, I met some interesting people at the hostel. I met this one girl who was living in Seattle, and had moved there from Chicago about three years ago. Since she had nothing going on, we decided to spend the day together, driving around and looking for the lava flows. YES! There was lava flowing while I was there! It's not everyday that this happens. The volcano erupted about 25 years ago and every so often it spews lava out and the smoke from the lava and volcanic ash can be seen from miles away. If you are close enough to it, you can smell the sulfur in the air.


The site for viewing the lava coming from Kilauea did not open till 2pm so we took a detour and went to Kalapana black sand beach. Hiking over molten black hardened lava rock was one of the greatest things I have ever done. It felt like I had landed on Mars and was in a movie, so surreal. It blew my mind, I can't even believe how alive the ecosystem was there. As we were hiking towards the water, I felt as if we were two miniature persons inside of this giant volcanic diorama. This was probably the most awesome thing I have ever seen.



The black sand is something so incredible, I cannot describe the beauty of the contrast in nature itself, the white foamy water against the black sand was truly amazing.

PS. I had "Loco Moco" for lunch today. I know it might sound disgusting, but it was DELISCIOUS. Loco Moco=two scoops of rice, hamburger patty, fried egg plus gravy. YOu can also garnish it with mustard and ketchup. It's a local delicacy.

This picture was me getting as close as I could to the lava flowing into the ocean, I was about 600 feet away. Sulfur could be smelled in the air and even though it was overcast, the sun was strong.