Hawaii 2009: Day 8

It’s just a little decadent to admit that this is Day 8 in Hawaii and there are still three more. Oh well, someone has to do it.
Judy took L to the Harley place at 8:00. She and Barb will use the car today to go visit friends on the other side of the island. Our plan was to explore the eastern side, beaches, waterfalls, rain forests and botanical gardens. (Notice the ‘was’ in that last sentence?) L was back at 9:00 and we took off north. There were strong cross winds, about 35 mph is my guess. When you are riding a bike at 60 mph and 35 mph winds are hitting you sideways, at various angles and different degrees of intensity, it a bit hairy. We knew when we turned east into the wind things would not be as bad so we pressed on. Turning east toward Waimea, we began to climb. It had been hot, steamy hot on the coast road and now the temperature was dropping nicely. Then about 1,500’ we felt the first mist. Another 500’ and it was beginning to sprinkle. By the time we got to Waimea, it definitely raining. Not a hard pelting rain, but more you-just-drove-into-a-cloud-forest rain. The wind was still battering us and the roads were getting slick. Rain + mist + slick roads + no end in sight + not altering your route = stupid. We made the self-preserving decision to go back to the coast and head south.
Just as we’d come up, by 1,500 feet with the wind at our backs, the mist was barely there. By 1,000’, the rads were dry again. Once we hit the coast road, we were too. I looked back up the mountain and the clouds still hung. Good decision.
Fifteen miles or so down the coast we came to a little pull off and thought we see what was there. I’d read there were some cool, off the beaten path places and we thought it was worth a try. We locked up the bike, grabbed our stuff and headed down the trail. About midway down the trail of crushed lava and scattered stone bounded by scrub brush on either side, we’d lost the sound of the highway and hadn’t picked up the sound of the ocean. We came upon several small herds, if 3-5 is a herd, of wild goats. They’d hear our crunching, pause for a quick look, then quicker than you can say, “Mutton for dinner” they dashed into the brambles. The goats, like the long horns and wild burros are smarter remnants of herds brought over by the earliest settlers then let go to “increase and multiply” who did not return when called back to come home for dinner. We kept plodding toward the beach and eventually heard the ocean. I hope this is worth it, was alternately crossing my mind, along with I hope the Harley is still there when we get back, and gee, I really would like to pee, and we should have brought some water, it’s hot!
We finally climbed over the rise to the beach and well, it was a bit underwhelming. Not worth a 30 minute hike (15 each way) in the steaming sunshine. There was a cool house right there with a lovely tropical lagoon, and if the house wasn’t there, one might be tempted to jump into, but the house was there, we were dressed for riding (jeans, tennis shoes and tee shirts) and not jumping, so the temptation instantly evaporated. So back we went.
I figured it took about 15 minutes to walk the trail and calculated we took about 100 steps per minute so started counting. Somewhere along the trail back, L said, “At least the goats were interesting.” Yep, it was that exciting. For your information, 1,582 steps later we were back and the bike was still there. Next stop, find water.
After lunch (with lots of liquid), we continued south toward the Place of Refuge, first climbing 1,000 to cooler air then back down. We turned off Highway 11 onto Napo`opo`o Road, a narrow winding thing that goes from tropical rain forest to dry lava fields in a space of about 12 miles, eventually coming to Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, The Place of Refuge. At this point, I’m going to just call it PR.
When you go past the visitor center, you enter a beautiful coconut grove on the beach. There are a few original thatched huts still remaining. These were part of the Royal compound. The chief, his family and attendants would hang out here. There were originally ten or more buildings on the grounds, a canoe landing on the beach, there are still fish ponds where food fish were kept, and lots of carved wooden images warning outsiders of the kapu. Kapu was the legal system that kept the locals in check because if one pissed off the gods, they would send earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, famine or anything else their sadistic deific whim dictated. You couldn’t cross the shadow of a royal, walk in his footsteps, eat the wrong things, etc. etc. There was only one penalty to keep the gods happy: death by club, strangulation, spear or fire. Nice to have options.
The back part of the grounds are separated by a big lava stone wall, around 17’ thick and up to 10’ high built around 1550. This part was the Place of Refuge. The great grandfather of Kamehameha I (ready for this? Keawa`ikekahiali`i o kamoku-the bigger the name, the more important the guy, that’s why there were no kings named Ed) was a really, really important guy who eventually died. A temple Hale-o-Keawe was built on these grounds and his bones buried there. (Eventually 22 more chiefs bones were added to the temple/mausoleum.) It was believed that, because he was so important, his mana (supernatural power) i.e. really good karma, protected the entire place and no blood could be shed in this place, keeping the grounds sacred. Thus this became a place to give people a second chance. When someone was sentenced to death-defeated warriors who managed to get out alive (extermination of the enemy was the rule of the day), broke kapu, or what ever put them under a death penalty, if they could get to the PR before the cops i.e. the chief’s bouncers and henchmen, could catch them (think “Run, Forest, run!”), they were safe (sort of a life or death Hide and Seek game where PR was base). Usually they would swim across the bay. If you saw the brambles across the lava fields, you’d definitely try swimming as the better option. Once there, eventually a priest would show up, absolve them of their crimes and they were free to go home. I haven’t read how word got out that Fast Eddie had been absolved of crimes and no longer under the death penalty, perhaps a Get Out of Jail Free card, they were given the Survivor Pu`uhonua immunity idol or some such thing, but somehow it did and said offender was free to return home, often the same day, as the spirit of pu`uhonua (mulligan) was respected by all.
We wandered the grounds for a while, checked out the sites, took lots of pictures, saw some cool birds and a couple big sea turtles, then started to melt in the hot tropic heat and humidity, so made our way back up island. Along the way, we stopped at the Royal Kona Coffee Museum, Mill and Store. We sampled the wares but were unimpressed, I guess Kona Joe spoiled us or we knew we could get bitter coffee at Starbucks, so left without dropping a dime. Dropped off the Harley, took a cab back to the resort, tried the pool but the flies decided to vacation here this evening, so grabbed a couple Mai Tais and returned to the condo.
Haven’t heard a word from the cousins so we’ve got burgers on the grill (enough in case they show), fresh pineapple and yogurt, a good bottle of wine, and plan a lazy night in.
In a word, boring. You’ve heard it here before.
The nice thing about having time, is that there is no rush or sense of obligation to try to get it all in. Thus boring is really, really nice. I’ll take boring on a tropical island any day.