The Park and The Tour

Having asked Mae for a ride to meet up with Dave the process of getting to Volcano National Park had suddenly gotten much simpler. Catching the bus was proving to be relatively difficult as we did not know where exactly we were supposed to be and at what time as the bus schedule seemed a bit inconsistant. Now however our problems were solved and we were off.

Seeing Dave was excellent, the first familiar face we had seen since being on the island; he felt the same way but it had been three months since he had seen someone from home. After a trek to see the source of the vog we landed at Dave’s house, which he shares with several other park volunteers, whom we got to know over beer and a large spaghetti dinner. A bit too large actually I never really recovered from dinner and found myself nodding off occasionally during the conversation of how best to bring down Wal-Mart amongst other things.

We were off early the next morning to catch the bus into Hilo, we grabbed a bite to eat at Bear’s Café and then took a quick look about town. Downtown Hilo is pretty small so by 11 we were ready to meet with Sailor Joe, a friend of Mae’s and go on what he had previously described as the “Waterfall Tour.” We met him at noon next to the Japanese garden behind the fish market and we were off. Joe is an ex-officer in the military and approximately 70 years old is a real character, with great stories, jokes and zest for life. We spent the next two hours before Joe’s haircutting appointment going on hikes at Akaka falls and a semi hidden cove a bit north of Hilo. I can’t remember the name of it just now. After Joe’s hair cut and a bit of pokah, raw fish native to the area (I may be spelling that wrong but it tastes delicious even if it is a bit pricey) we headed to Rainbow Falls. Rainbow Falls is famous for the rainbow that appears over it just about everymorning. On this day however we were unlucky as the persistant drought had all but dried up. Joe gave us a ride back up to Mt. View where Mae had made us a fanastically larger dinner, which once again put me on my heels. Dave, Elyse and I were all passed out by 10 pm as we had to get up earlier to meet Mae at the farmer’s market in Volcano.