Thursday, March 5, 2020
Good morning,
I hope everyone is doing well there. This is just a quick report about our third day on the Big Island. Yesterday we drove out of the rain clouds to the to Waipio Valley, in the northern section of the island. This valley used to be inhabited by many people prior to European contact, but is currently populated by only a few homes. It is also a place where white people first landed on the island. We hiked down a very steep road (800 ft elevation change in .6 miles!) and found ourselves on the valley floor. We took a quick jaunt to see one of the tallest waterfalls in the world, the Hi’ilawe Falls. We were unable to get a very close look at the falls, as the trail to the falls is on private land. Several houses near the trailhead had “keep out” and “parking for Hawaiians only” signs. We tried to imagine what it would be like to live in such an isolated place, where wild horses roamed through the yards eating the vegetation. A tour group on horseback passed by as we headed toward the beach.
The black sands beach at the base of the cliffs was incredibly beautiful. We stopped walking at the confluence of waters, where a river joined the sea. Families were playing in the river and basking on the stony beach (many of them of non-European descent). As we stood at the base of the river, we could see up into the valley, the mountains folded against each other with a backdrop of clouds. The black sand beach continued on the other side of the river, where waves continued to break against the cliffs. Skeletal tee pee-like structures stood on the other side of the river, and a woman in a long dress waded carefully across the river. Despite its history, this place felt less colonized than many other places we’ve visited on the island.
After a strenuous but short climb back out of the valley, we drove south. A roadside shop offered “organic coconut water” and we stopped since we were thirsty. A man came out of a make-shift Mexican restaurant to wield a machete against a wooden stump placed on the front porch of the building. The man looked as if he might have Hawaiian roots, wore a large Hawaiian shirt, and spoke with what Dave swears was a Jewish accent from somewhere in the mainland northeast (surreal!). He took a coconut from a pile of coconuts sitting on the floor of the porch and hacked with the machete until a small opening emerged in the top of the nut. He handed us a plastic straw, and here was our “organic coconut water.” Surprising, but delicious.
The day wrapped up with a visit to Akaka Falls, a waterfall taller than Niagara Falls but with considerably less width and volume. A ’50s-style trail with metal banisters guided small throngs of visitors along a trail dense with non-native (to Hawaii) tropical plans that had been planted there for special effect (in the 1950s). This was the scene of at least one third-rate movie filming as well as the scene of a mythological story about a Hawaiian god who was not loyal to his wife and became a waterfall. Amazingly, there are small fish that literally climb the surface of the falls in order to lay their eggs at the top of the waterfall every year.
After this – we were exhausted! Today we head to Volcanoes National Park.
Sending our best,
Erin
