Hawaiian Fun
Created | Updated Oct 14, 2004
Me and Co vs Big Island - Or Vice-Versa
It was time to leave Hilo and vicinity and move on to Kona - on the other side of the island - with my travel companion Leila. She claimed that she had reservations for Bed&Breakfast accomodation set up there. Before we boarded the bus to get to Kona I asked her to call the lodgings and check that everything was all right. Sure enough, the B&B was well outside Kona so the host had to pick us up.
The name of the public bus is 'Hele on the bus1' and reminds you that the Goddess of the volcano is Pele. Hawaiian folklore tells stories about Pele, the fire goddess who can appear as lava, a white dog, an old woman or a beautiful young woman. She is a troublemaker around the volcano and is credited with causing the lava trees which look like petrified figures in Puna.
'Hele on the bus' provides excellent transportation for local people as well for the visitors. The departure time from the bus stop was around noon. Leila pasted 'Travel with Virgin2' signs on her suitcase advertising the British company Virgin airlines - run by Richard Branson of train, plane and hot air fame.
More people came to the bus stop and I just could not resist asking a man carrying an enormous backpack where he was heading. He was going to climb Mauna Kea he said. This mountain, at 13,792 feet (4,205m) the tallest volcano on the island, is covered with snow at close to 12,000 feet. The climber was going from tropical heat to sub-arctic conditions! He was not very enthusiastic about it, though. Well then, why do people do things if they don't have to do I wondered.
At the bus stop for the trail to climb Mauna Kea the rain was pouring down in real Hawaiian style. There is no need to say how the mountaineer man felt getting off the bus!
The ride from Hilo to Kuna took a long time because we stopped many times to let the local people get off or on. The scenery was truly breathtaking with jungles and waterfalls on some parts of the road. It was just too dark from a distance to take good photographs when the bus stopped for a few minutes but I managed one or two.
As they say 'Hawaii is truly like a small continent' - it has everything. Reaching the area of Kona totally different scenery greets you. The air is hot and dry which is a big change from the climate of Hilo.
Before we reached the middle of the town fancy houses were decorating the road. Well-to-do people live here and even more fancy hotels. The mighty Ocean is close to the road and, in the evening sunshine, the breaking waves were spectacular.
Our host was waiting as we got off the bus. His house was far away and we had some driving to get there. The house was nice but did not have Air Conditioning because there was no humidity. It was, however, very hot. But we were tired after the long trip and were happy to find a nice, clean room to sleep in even though it took a while to cool off.
Bob, the host, was running the B&B alone; his wife was on vacation. In this area it is very common for retired people to run a B&B business to generate additional income.
Leila and I decided to go on a guided tour the next day and take in the entire island. So, after breakfast, we took a fabulous tour to complete our personal discovery of Hawaii. I will tell you all about it in the next Episode.
