02/26/12 Kona, The Big Island, Hawaii

 We had only 4 hours in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, so we did a quick local tour. We were here years ago and enjoyed seeing some familiar sights. The first thing you notice about the big island is that everything is covered with lava rock (picture 1). There are 3 volcanoes on the island. Only one, Kilauea, is active today and has been spewing lava into the ocean for 20+ years—the most active volcano in the world.

We visited a local coffee company to taste the world-renowned Kona coffee. Rick, being the only coffee drinker in our family, thought it quite good and bought some to take home—even at the average price of $35 per pound. Peaberry coffee is $10 per pound more expensive and represents the berries found at the tips of the tree branches. Kona coffee is so expensive because the berries are hand-picked only when they turn red/pink. The same tree may be visited 5 or 6 times in a season to pick ripe berries. Coffee plantations in other parts of the world pick by machine and pick only once, getting ripe and unripe berries. Our guide was quick to point out that even at $35 per pound it was cheaper than Starbucks!

 Then we visited Pu`uhonua o Honaunau (try saying that fast!) National Historic Park. Traditionally it was a Place of Refuge for defeated warriors or those who violated sacred laws. If caught, these people were put to death. If they were fast and made it to the refuge before their pursuers, their life would be spared, they would be forgiven and allowed to return to normal life. The site was beautiful and has been reconstructed to accurately portray what life was like in the mid-17^th century (pictures 2 and 3).

What were some of the sacred laws? My favorite was that women were not allowed to eat bananas. One day a woman was eating a banana, when the volcano suddenly erupted. The gods were obviously angry with what the woman had done, so she was put to death and the practice forbidden, so they would have no more eruptions from the volcano. Another was that men and women could not eat together because an earthquake occurred once.

This is a good time to talk about the Hawaiian language. Originally, the alphabet consisted of 12 letters, including a, e, I, o, u. From these letters, over 40,000 words were created—most showing an abundance of vowels. What can you expect when vowels make up almost 50% of the usable letters? I have an additional theory. Like water, there is a fixed amount of vowels on earth. Some languages (German and Vietnamese come to mind) use fewer vowels, while Hawaiian uses up the excess vowels.  By the way, the little “ ` “ that is used in some words emphasizes that the vowels on either side must be spoken—you can’t just bunch them into one sound

Our final stop was at the Painted Church—a lovely little church with magnificent paintings on the walls and ceiling. Some present a lovely native landscape, while other paintings showed columns and ornate decorations that might be found in other parts of the world. Interestingly, there is a door to the church, but that wall is open in several places to the outdoors—wonder what happens when it rains? (pictures 4 and 5).

Final fact to ponder: around the world, more people are killed by being hit by falling coconuts than by sharks—about 150 a year.