Wandering around a Historical Site

Our B&B was designed to emulate a large Hawaiian plantation home of the sugar cane era.  Breakfast included a view from the veranda that was truly impressive.  The haze you might notice is called “Vog” which is a combination of the words “Volcanic”, “Smog”, and “Fog”.  It occur when volcanic emissions of sulphur dioxide and particulate matter interact with oxygen and moisture in the air, and has been an issue here since the Kilauea volcano starting erupting in 1983.

Today we visited Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, or “The Place of Refuge”.  Here lived royalty and priests and supplicants coming to get absolution for breaking rules (serious ones like a women eating with a man).  Early Hawaiians planted coconut groves to provided food, building materials, etc.

The guardians suggested this many not be a nice place to visit, but this was not the case.

Much of the compound was delineated with “dry” volcanic walls, where stones were held by friction rather than mortar.

We went on a walk called the “1871” trail that wound through some areas originally inhabited for fishing and agriculture.  As usual, the trail was through a volcanic area.  I will try to refrain from too many lava pictures, instead focusing on the lava shot of the day.  Today's shot is that of a collapsed lava tube.

One of the weirdest views today was that of a Hawaiian Toboggan Run.  I kid you not.  Holua was a sport of Hawaiian royalty, consisting of sliding down specially paved hillside runways on a narrow sled with two runners.  The runway was covered with grass and leaves, and the sled runners were greased to enhance speed.  Knowing how many times we fell off our toboggans as kids, I can only imagine the outcomes here.

The trail winds along the base of some lava cliffs left by a torrent of lava coming down the slope, but cooling in the sea winds to end abruptly.  Apparently Mark Twain called this “a petrified Niagara”.

The flora is truly amazing.  We have seen papaya, mango, pomegranate, breadfruit and lychee trees.  

Avocadoes are in season, and they grow them big here!

    

                                                                                    

My bird pictures aren’t great, but there are some interesting (and loud!) birds here.

Tomorrow we will be heading up the west side of the island to take in a coffee plantation, another state park, and who knows what else.  Wait and see!