Day 6

Another fairly early day completely dedicated to the volcanoes. We had to drive across the entire island to get to the Volcano side. ON our way there we got pulled over by a female trooper for speeding. I would like to think that my charms and smile had won her over and we left the scene unscathed of any tickets. We also wanted to scout the volcanoes from air and it was pouring down pretty hard. So we rescheduled the air p[lane tour to the next day meaning another day of driving back. The sky cleared out now and then in time for us to take a few pictures and browse through the museum and marvel at mother natures fury and workings.

It was a suprise when there were dieties/ sort of where in the different erupted material was labewlled as Pele's hair and Pele's Tear drops, Pele being the goddess. It definitely reminded me of Indian Goddesses Like Durga maa.

There was the overpowering stench of sulphur at some of the locations. For the layman it was a hole in the ground and some dirt, but the fissures and solidified and cracked lava bore tales of destruction from decades ago. The smoldering steam vents were a reminder that eruptions could occur but can be predicted with more accuracy with better understanding and accurate sensing technologies. Some of the technologies are also used in the mining industry.

We also walked though a lava tube which was eerie and just imagine at some point there was red hot lava flowing though the same chamber we were traversing though..... shudder.

We had stopped midway and detoured to a lesser known / advertised waterfalls Umauma. There were insect repellants as aprt of the ticket for mosquitos and I got bit by a wasp. It was non poisonous since I am still here writing about the story but in case I disappear for a few hours and a crime is stopped by a mysterious man in mask, be assured it was me. The falls itself was good because my expectation were really low because of the hype caused by the media.

The rain had added a lot to the muddy flow and the rainforest had a beautiful neon green look to it. A walk through the rainbow park we saw a lot of familiar flowers, ate a over ripe guava and did not get caught, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, cinnamon etc.

We did hike around a few trails more like trails for city slickers because they were concrete. There were plenty of labels for the plants but was tiresome after a little while and the picture taking reduced after a few hundred yards. But occasionally a guava tree, a beautiful flower or the scenery would revive the interest in pictures.

The driving in the rain through one of the wettest places on earth was full of lush forests almost transported me the best Jurassic Park movie (the first one). We were reliving the 3-D live version of the movie.

We stopped by a drive in to grab a quick bite just the tv show and had very little idea what we were actually getting into. We order two dishes which turned out to two too many. Deep fried shrimp chicken and fish were so sogged up in oil that turned us away from fried food. The saving grace was the icecream float with vanilla on pepsi.

Is there a way to capture the taste the smell the sense of awe for recounting later or to convey the feeling to another person? Possibly not because not everyone would have the same response to the same stimuli.

A beautiful beach is nothing but salt water and dirt. Same scenery different perspective.

On our return we took the supposedly shorter route according to the map but took us a lot longer and a few stops by the black sand beaches did not help make up the time either. A well located chai station would have been extremely helpful and being in Kona coffee plantation side and Christmas eve did not help the case at all. The coffee will have to wait another morning.

Being Christmas eve most of the dining places had either closed or did not pike our interest. We settled on a Thai place and decided to order just one dish on account of the colossal lunch failure. The satay was good along with the chutney. The pad thai was too lemony tangy, I guess by now we have become very picky unless we were very hungry.