Day 10: Volcano National Park to Hilo

November 26, 2014

It took a while to see that at Namakani campsite we were right on the transition between the dry southwest of the island and the moist east - northeast. But here it is, described in a poster at the washroom.

One last look out the window at Volcano House.

Wow, what a ride! For 40 km down from the volcano we did not have to pedal, and we rolled along at 30-40 km/hr. No wonder people make a business of hauling people and cycles up, for a cruise around the caldera and then the ride down.

We didn't just blast straight down the mountain, though. Our first mandatory stop was Akatsuka orchid farm. This is a large place, only about 1/3 of the way down the mountain, that grows and sells orchids from little starter kits up to ones worth thousands of dollars. They welcome visitors and cameras, and in fact have tour bus parking and a gift shop.

Although orchids seem like a tropical item, in fact they do not need hot and steamy conditions. They like moisture, all right, but otherwise only need to not freeze. That is why Alatsuka can be so far up the mountain.

We were impressed by the knowledgeable and helpful lady on duty, and by the selection of starter orchids and materials. So we bought a pile of them, and they are being shipped back to the mainland by Fedex. As I write this, I have not yet looked at my photos, buut hopefully you will soon see some nice ones below, from the many plants that were on display.

I am glad Dodie chose the "unavailable" ear.

This tour would be interesting for anyone with the time and money.

Ohelo berry. You need permission from Pele to pick these at the volcano.

Quite a bit further down is the Hilo Coffee Mill. This is a place that we visited eight years ago, and we have been receiving their periodic emails ever since. We have never made a mail order purchase though, despite periodic offers of free shipping, because of the super high cost of the basic coffee. Hilo Coffee Mill is a bit self conscious, because they are not on the Kona side of the Island. Still, they claim high quality, and seem to back this with several awards won.

I have been thinking that my non reaction to the Hawaiian coffees could be because of just trying regular drip preparations. So this time I asked for a latte. It tasted mostly like milk. Sorry. However we did get some great Portugese bean soup, a chicken wrap, and purple sweet potato salad, all of which was really good.

Now we passed the intersection with the famous highway 130 to Pahoa, the one we predicted would be cut by lava by the time we got here. In fact, the USGS has decided that the leading edge has hardened - 460 feet from Pahoa Village Road - and they are taking the thermal protection off the power poles. The lava flow continues, but it is manifesting itself right now only in upslope breakouts.

There was an astounding number of cars turning off 11 and onto 130, so there must be a lot of population down Pahoa way. We will be pedalling back after a couple of days in Hilo, for a look at Pahoa.

Other good stuff along our way now - which we will be pedalling back up to see - includes the Rainforest Zoo (which features rainforest animals from around the world), and the Moana Loa Macadamia Nut centre.

The highway now was four lane, but usually we had a good shoulder to ride on. Things of course also got denser, and we passed McDonalds and lots of other retail stuff. Finally, at the airport and towards the water, there are numerous unattractive businesses, and lots of traffic.

A left turn headed us into town on the left, with Hilo Bay on the right. The town is quite substantial - much more like a real town than Kailua-Kona. As is general for Hawaii, things were not at all glitsy. More like low rise and weathered. We easily spotted the farmers' market, and made a quick sweep through it. We will be back, of course. The bus station offered a good selection of sketchy characters hanging about. This is usual for warm areas, where you can survive without a lot of housing or equipment. We just hope they are not waiting for the bus to go up to Kolekole and bug us there!

We made our way to the Wild Ginger hotel/hostel/and tent site. We had booked a space described as covered and enclosed and lockable, but not exactly a room. At $47 including tax and breakfast it was in any event the same cost as camping. Just before putting down my credit card for five days here, I asked to see what the arrangements were. At first, I was a little taken aback, because the basic facility is a large covered shed, open along one long edge. Under the roof, aside from miscellaneous things one might store in a shed, are four bunk beds. These form the low rent part of the facility. We are in the higher rent part, which is three 10'x10' roomettes along half of the open edge, and created by bamboo walls. Also along the edge are two partitioned areas where a tent can be set up, and benefit from the roof overhead.

Inside our roomette the small bed was confusingly covered by a heavy tarp. This had me wondering if it was a defence against bed bugs, head lice, or somesuch. I asked the clerk about this directly, and while she could not explain the tarp, she allowed that only centipedes and mosquitoes would trouble us here. Alright!

After my first reaction, which was that this would be good training for any Albergues (pilgrim hostels) along our proposed route to Santiago de Compostella later in the year, I began to see the advantages of the place. There was adequate place to stash the bikes, two available kitchens, a little lounge near our roomette with a TV and comfy chairs, good restrooms with private shower inside. Also, it had been raining all day and our idea for this was to avoid camping in the rain, here on the rainy side of the island.

Still, it took a bit to get the idea of the place. For example, there was a light bulb at ceiling height in our roomette. So I asked a staffer how to turn on the light. This caused considerable consternation, and a lot of consultation with others. The thing was, I came to understand, that the shed was lit by a variety of bulbs scattered around. These would come on by a timer or light sensor in due course. The idea of individually controlling a light was novel enough to cause the problem. The closest suggestion was to remove the light bulb. Actually, that would have given us control, because then we would have used our headlamps, simulating being on the tent.

But the greatest advantage of this place is that the open edge of the shed fronts on a gully with an active stream running through it. The gully is filled with tall tropical plants, mainly banana, but with papaya too. The little lounge also fronts on this feature, so we are sort of semi in the jungle, and always have the sound of the birds and the rushing water.

The breakfast part of this is a buffet that will appear in the lobby of the main hotel. We hope to see a lot of fresh fruit at that. Tomorrow is also Thanksgiving here. The staff seems to be planning a feast for everyone, at noon. We are not quite clear about the arrangement or the cost, since the little note invited people to bring potluck too. Whatever the deal, we will go out to the farmers' market and bring some sort of contribution.

So here we sit, by the rushing stream, listening to loudly chirping birds and watching Gone with the Wind on a slightly fuzzy TV. It's great!

Oh p.s. : The tarp on the bed protects it from the moist environment of the adjacent jungle.