Hawaii: Big Island

Michael Hello at home, we went on a short vacation again -- an entire one and a half weeks, simply incredible! Since I've been with AOL for three years now, I get a full three weeks of vacation instead of the usual two. Where to? Hawaii, of course, this time to "Big Island," the largest of the Hawaiian Islands. Not to be confused with the most populated island, Oahu, where the TV series "Magnum" is set and where the capital, Honolulu, is located. No, we are always drawn to places off the beaten path, so Big Island with its active volcanoes was just right for us. But more on that later. By the way, this time there are a bunch of pictures that can only be truly enjoyed on the internet at http://usarundbrief.com , where they are available in color and can be enlarged if you click on them. It's worth throwing a few deutschmarks at the German Telekom to cover the cost! There you go, the lava flowing in red, the waves foaming in white! Click diligently on the following pictures!

Of course, on Big Island, just like everywhere else in Hawaii, there are those beaches with almost snow-white sand and blue-green water, which is at a delightful 22 degrees Celsius, allowing you to frolic in it for hours. In the fall, the ocean brings pleasantly high waves, and we discovered a new passion: surfing the waves without a board, called "body-surfing," because you surf with your body. You let yourself float in the water, wait for a wave about 1.5 to 2 meters high to come along, swim quickly, and let the wave carry you up to 50 meters to the shore. To achieve this, years of training are, of course, necessary, so don't try this at home, kids! We certainly had our fun and spent at least an hour in the water every day.

The waves sometimes come in very powerfully and often break unexpectedly, so you have to be very careful and, if necessary, quickly dive underneath. If you don't do this, the masses of water crash down on you, and for the next five seconds, you are tossed around underwater without any control. This is not for the faint-hearted. Swimming is impossible at these moments; the current is totally chaotic and wild. The only thing that helps is to hold your breath and cross your arms over your head to avoid accidentally hitting a rock or a lost surfboard. Once everything has settled down, you quickly figure out which way is up and surface. And don't forget about the next incoming wave!

Of course, the attentive newsletter readers are already pulling their hair and asking: "How were these photos taken? Did these crazy people take the expensive camera into the water?" No, the SLR stayed on the beach this time. We simply bought a waterproof disposable camera for 15 dollars--really brilliant, that thing! It doesn't look like much, but it takes pretty decent pictures, already contains the film, and you return the whole plastic thing for developing.

Furthermore, on Big Island, you can rent diving masks and fins for little money and then snorkel around in the water. There are plenty of colorful tropical fish, which are also quite large; 50 cm is not uncommon. As a special attraction, there are these giant turtles down there, which can grow up to a meter long (see Figure 5). With a diving mask and fins, you can swim very close to them. They don't care about the tourists at all and continue to calmly to snap up the algae between the stones. They get tossed around quite a bit by the waves because they swim very slowly, but that doesn't seem to bother them.

But the real highlight on Big Island is the active volcanoes. The island has seen dangerous, bubbling lava flows several times in the past. There are roads that have been simply buried by the glowing lava on its way to the sea and have not been restored since. Formerly inhabited, then evacuated villages are now ghost towns. The lava, which is molten rock, flows very slowly during an eruption, allowing people to usually get to safety before their homes and settlements are buried under the masses, which then slowly harden into black stone.

In certain regions, you can purchase land on Big Island very cheaply; sometimes you pay only a few thousand dollars for an acre that is very close to the threatened areas. No one knows when the next lava flow will come, and then it'll be: This would have been your prize! Once, we drove around at night in the southeast of the island, where the lava last raged. There, we saw the last hippies in all of America. Rumor has it that the FBI also hides people here who fall under the Witness Protection Program, meaning "key witnesses" who no longer dare to mingle with the public because of their court testimonies.

Angelika This time, Michael actually shows his generous side and lets me describe our spectacular hike to the still-flowing lava--one of the most adventurous and impressive experiences we've had so far. Michael already mentioned that Big Island is practically made up entirely of volcanoes, which determine the local way of life, and residents there take everything a bit more calmly and leisurely: The lava flows extremely slowly. That's why it usually hardens again right away as it makes its way. I must admit that I am not very knowledgeable in geology (geologists among you, please forgive me if I don't use terms like "lava," "magma," and the like quite accurately) and until now, I believed that volcanic eruptions are always violent, bubbling, and frothing with huge fountains of fire, and everything screams: "Save yourself if you can!"

In Hawaii, it's quite the opposite: A volcano erupts, and everyone sets out to witness the magnificent natural spectacle. I was also completely speechless when I learned from the travel guide that the lava still flowing today originates from the eruption of the "Kilauea" volcano in 1983. A lava flow lasting 17 years is an absolute record, even for Hawaii. However, the lava doesn't always flow on the surface; it often makes its way to the sea underground. But we were lucky: When we visited the national park, it was flowing above ground.

Anyone who has been to an American national park knows the phenomenon that they are usually designed in such a way that many of the attractions can be easily reached by car, and you generally only have to walk a few feet. This has always bothered Michael and me, so we usually go on extensive hikes to escape the crowds. Now, the "Hawaii Volcanoes National Park" can be experienced as a "Drive-Thru-Experience." Of course, we didn't want that, so we decided to hike to the flowing lava.

You can only get there if you're willing to walk 5 to 6 hours (round trip) on an unmarked path over hardened lava parallel to the ocean. We weren't initially deterred by the fact that the hiking trail is considered extremely dangerous and that the park rangers (similar to forest rangers) don't directly prohibit the hike but strongly advise against it. But by now, we're used to American being overly cautious because they're afraid of of being sued. This does sometimes lead absurd safety measures. I just want to remind you that the manual for our American microwave actually states that the device is not suitable for drying your cat.

We were a bit puzzled, however, that our favorite travel guide "Lonely Planet," which usually doesn't buy into the American security paranoia, kept emphasizing that one should only attempt the hike if they are in top shape and well-prepared. We started to ponder a bit when a ranger--incidentally a German landscape architecture student doing an internship--revealed to us that the day before, a man had died of heart failure on the hike, and she herself had to be treated in the hospital for exhaustion and a glass particle that had flown into her eye from the smoke cloud (despite wearing sunglasses). And this German woman in question was at least 10 years younger than us and didn't exactly give a frail impression.

It should be noted with some reservation that the hiker who did not return alive from the hike had set out alone at night, which is perhaps something one should not do. However, many people set out after nightfall to see the lava, which naturally glows particularly magnificently at night. Since Michael and I already have trouble staying in our lane on the brightly lit highway at night (we are both somewhat night-blind), we decided to steer clear of this idea. Stumbling over black lava for five to six hours, armed only with a flashlight, didn't seem so dreamy to us--adventure or not.

Well, we decided to follow the rangers' recommendations to the letter and set off very early in the morning to avoid walking in the midday heat. A wise decision, as it turned out later, because black lava heats up well and, of course, there is no shade due to the lack of plants or trees, not to mention the heat emitted by the glowing lava. So we armed ourselves with 3 liters of water per person (and actually returned with less than half a liter in total), energy bars, an energy drink, sunglasses to avoid getting glass particles in our eyes, scarves as mouth protection against the fumes near the lava flow, rain jackets (the only thing we didn't need), a first aid kit, and of course our good hiking boots, which have been accompanying us on every hike so far. Mine had to be retired after this one, as they were already a bit old and the heat from the lava finished them off.

I even put on the recommended long pants, a real concession in Hawaii, as you can easily fall on the hardened lava (as mentioned, there is no marked path) and it is razor-sharp. However, Michael couldn't be persuaded to part with his beloved shorts. Guess who came back with a band-aid? That's right: me, but not on the knee, rather on the elbow, as I scraped myself a bit on the hard lava while changing a film.

At five o'clock in the morning, just before the sun rose, we crawled out of our beds and drove to the starting point of our hike. During the half-hour drive there, we were first rewarded with a gigantic sunrise. We also spotted the so-called "Nene," a type of bird found in volcanic landscapes--something very special, as it is very difficult for any creature to survive in this landscape, and the "Nene" are also endangered. There almost would have been even fewer of them, as Michael was driving wildly and didn't listen to my warnings that the "Nene" tend to run towards cars, which I had read in the travel guide. After a wild evasive maneuver, he finally believed me.

The starting point of the hike is, by the way, exactly where the lava buried the road a few years ago. You simply park on the shoulder and start walking. The beginning was already totally fascinating because early in the morning the light is particularly charming, resulting in beautiful plays of light. Sometimes the hard, black lava shimmered golden, other times deep black or in hundreds of shades of gray. The longer it has been since the lava flowed, the grayer it looks. Relatively freshly hardened lava is pitch black and shiny. We kept discovering the most bizarre shapes. You have to imagine it like this: black lava as far as the eye can see, the ocean on the right sparkling in competition with the sun, mountains or volcanoes on the left, no one in sight, just the two of us in endless vastness.

At the trail head, there are always warning signs that you should not get too close to the ocean, but instead keep a distance of about 400 to 500 meters. This is because the hardened lava near the ocean forms new land, which is very unstable. There can be underground explosions that tear huge areas into the ocean. To make people believe this, the dead and injured from previous accidents are listed in all the brochures. They ignored the warning signs and were swept into the sea. After a few kilometers, you suddenly come across a stretch of abandoned road, which seems completely surreal.

In the distance, you can see a huge cloud of steam. That's exactly the spot where the lava flows into the ocean. Since the lava is about 2100 degrees Fahrenheit hot (around 1000 degrees Celsius) and meets seawater, you can imagine that it creates quite a lot of steam. Halfway through our hike, we met a couple who were on their way back and seemed completely electrified by the experience--and they were also from near San Francisco. We cautiously asked how one would notice that they were approaching the lava flow (Michael firmly insisted that there must be huge warning signs). Not at all: Only your feet get hot, we were told. And that's exactly how it was: The cloud blows and wafts acrid fumes into your face. Your lungs hurt, and your feet become incredibly hot despite the thickest hiking soles. When you look down, you can see the lava glowing beneath your feet through cracks in the rocks.

It's like standing on glowing coals. We felt like we were melting. Additionally, there was a tremendous crunching sound when we stepped on the super-fresh crusted surface. In that moment, you don't think about the dangers at all. You feel as if you are part of this spectacle and become very quiet because you suddenly understand, feel, and experience how the Earth is formed. Indescribable! Then, as we were almost on our way back, the newly crusted lava suddenly opened up just a meter away from my feet and slowly and leisurely flowed towards me in a bright orange, we could only marvel. Even though the hike back was dragging on painfully, we were also in a kind of trance and would walk the long path again at any time.

South Point

Michael If you want to know how the lava continued to flow after the intro photo above, you just need to look at Figure 10; it was really impressive. On the website https://usarundbrief.com , you can see it much more clearly than in the printout. Not only in color, but also with the option to zoom in.

On the way there, we saw red lava streams pouring into the sea as if from thick fire hoses. I wanted to quickly attach the telephoto lens and get closer when we realized that it was just a temporary phenomenon--it had vanished by the time I was ready! And after a red-hot chunk emerged from the seemingly hard lava mass we were balancing over on the way back, we were very careful about where to set foot on. Oh dear!

At "South Point," there are these cliffs where fishing boats used to be lowered, and 40 to 50 feet below, the ocean waves are hitting the cliff. Two guys, maybe around 20 years old, just jumped right off the cliff and plunged into the water down there! I almost wanted to grab my swimsuit from the car and follow them -- but suddenly I remembered that I'm about to turn 36: almost on the brink of old age! So, we just photographed the guys and felt quite old.

Mauna Kea

Michael You can drive up a now-dormant volcano called Mauna Kea by car. The only way up is a rather steep, unpaved road, and only one local car rental company (Harper) allows you to take on the tour with their rented "Toyota Four-Runners" (four-wheel-drive sport utility vehicles). All other car rental companies known in America (Dollar, Alamo, Avis) prohibit the use of this road in their rental agreements. This turned out to be totally ridiculous because, although the road was indeed unpaved, it was in excellent condition, as wide as a highway, and compared to the 2,000 miles of Australian dirt roads we covered a few years ago in a Land Cruiser, it was a piece of cake. The car rental company also charged us an additional $22 per day for full insurance coverage, which had a deductible of $5,000. Sometimes Americans are really crazy.

What's interesting, of course, is that you go from sea level to 12,000 feet in half an hour. The sunscreen bottle in the car inflated like a balloon! Why? Here comes the answer from "Children Ask, Nobel Laureates Answer": So, children... it comes from the, um, molecules. The sunscreen molecules are in an airtight container, the sunscreen bottle. And the air at 4000 meters is much thinner than at sea level because we're almost in space, right! That's why the air molecules from outside no longer press firmly on the sunscreen bottle. But in the half-empty sunscreen bottle, there are also other air molecules that got in there when we applied sunscreen down at the bottom. Because the bottle is hermetically sealed, the stronger sea-level air pressure inside still prevails at the summit. That's why the air molecules in the bottle act like warm wheat beer, shouting "Wow, it's tight in here!" and inflate the bottle. When you open the cap, everything equalizes with a hissing noise.

We were told to also vent the car's gas tank once if it's less than half full. Why? Our schoolchildren are supposed to find that out as homework. However, we didn't see any exploding cars. At the top of the mountain, there are some impressive observatories from NASA and such, because above the clouds in the totally clear Hawaiian air, you can enjoy looking at the stars without much obstruction. Additionally, there are only dim yellow streetlights across the entire island to avoid disturbing the stargazers. Okay, I guess I'm gladly paying taxes for that...

Back down at sea level, Hawaiian vegetation naturally goes completely wild due to the warm and at the same time humid climate: jungle-like trees, giant ferns (the movie "Jurassic Park" was filmed on the island of Kauai), and tropical fruits hanging from the trees. At a market, we bought small, freshly picked bananas and my favorite food: passion fruit, sweet and at the same time so sour that they make your eyes pop. Of course, there were also pineapples, mangoes, guavas, and avocados. Back home, we rented the movie "Molokai" from the video store. It it set on the neighboring island, which we had visited two years ago. We were quite amazed when we saw that one of the actors in the film was our tour guide back then! (For those interested, the guy's name is Richard Marx).

By the way, Hawaiians don't pronounce Hawaii as "Hawaii," but rather as "Hawa-i." First, they say "Hawa," then there's a tenth of a second pause, and then comes the "ee." During the pause, there's actually silence, and the "a" is interrupted. The same goes for the other islands; it's "Moloka-i," "Kawa-i," and so on. But when the stewardess announced our flight, she said "Hawaiian Airlines" without a pause! Angelika barely stopped me from saying, "Excuse me, actually it's pronounced 'Hawa-ii-an Airlines'!

Supermarket Chains

Michael Even when on vacation, you have to go shopping for groceries. A little water here, a little champagne there. Why not in the same supermarket as back home? In America, there is this phenomenon where, no matter where you are, you always encounter the same chains: the "Starbucks" coffee shop, the fast-food joints "McDonald's," "Wendy's," "Burger King," "Denny's," and "Taco Bell." Pizza places like "Roundtable" and "Pizza Hut." Grocery stores like "Safeway". "Good Guys" for electronic gadgets. And, of course, "Home Depot" (home improvement). Incidentally, the latter is now open 24 hours a day in San Francisco, so if you find yourself needing a suitable wrench at 2 a.m., you can quickly upgrade with a 24-piece set. A concept that people in Germany should not shy away from considering!

Funnily enough, these stores are always set up the same way inside: Whether you visit a Safeway in New York, Chicago, or San Francisco, the bread is always on the far right next to the wine, and the vegetables are on the left when you enter, nicely sprayed with ice water to make them look fresh. Take me blindfolded to the Safeway in Des Moines, Iowa, where I've never been, and I'll get you a six-pack of beer from the fridge in 30 seconds. Second row from the left, of course.

This helps people here, who move their home much more frequently than, for example, Germans, to quickly find their way around new areas. 5,000 miles away from home, but at least the supermarket reminds them of home -- people need continuity. So we didn't hesitate for long (or rather, I pestered Angelika until she agreed) to go to our (or more precisely, my) super-supermarket "Costco" on Big Island. There, you need a membership card (similar to "Metro" in Germany) and everything is available in large packages and at super low prices. I almost lost it when I saw local T-shirts with Hawaiian designs and surfer shorts on display! And the mineral water wasn't "Crystal Geyser" like at home but Hawaiian, otherwise everything was the same. I almost bought the 48-piece tire pressure set, but at the last second, I remembered that we were on vacation. Well, already completely Americanized...

What I've also noticed: the incredible low temperature that prevails in the supermarkets in Hawaii. I believe every store needs its own nuclear power plant, that's how cold they set the air conditioning there. When it's still a pleasant 75 degrees Fahrenheit outside, they cool it down to 58 or so inside, which is apparently considered a symbol of luxury. On that note, it's still wonderfully warm in Hawaii even in the evening hours, and anyone coming from San Francisco knows how valuable that is. One evening, when we were sitting outside at Roy's restaurant in T-shirts and a pleasant breeze started, the head waiter immediately came over and brought us two white chef's jackets to wear. By the way, Roy's is a very good place.

Kona Coffee

Michael Another specialty on Big Island is the coffee from Kona. It is actually grown, harvested, and roasted there. This is unusual because coffee requires a very special climate to thrive.

A pound of the best costs 25 dollars! We joined a tour of the plantation. The fruits, which grow on bushes and look somewhat like rose hips, are picked when they are red.

Subsequently, an ancient machine removes approximately three layers of shell, leaving behind small kernels that look like a mixture of hazelnut and oatmeal. Or unsalted peanuts without shells. These are then dried, and finally, they go into the roastery, which roasts them and extracts the typical coffee aroma from them.

Due to the peeling and roasting, 5 pounds of coffee cherries yield only 1 pound of coffee, which is why, according to the not-so-dumb tour guide, coffee is so expensive. Additionally, the farm also had macadamia nuts, and I immediately bought a bag. But then I remembered that to return to California, you have to go through what is called "Agriculture." Even though you are only moving from one U.S. state to another, the men and women of the American agricultural authority make a big fuss and check whether you are bringing in plants with pests that could endanger California's agriculture. So, I ate the whole bag of nuts until I felt sick! Since nuts are known to be brain food, I also quickly disproved the theory of relativity in the process.

In Hawaii, there is an old law that states: Every beach must be publicly accessible. If a hotel chain sets up an ocean front property, it must leave a small access path open for locals to get to the beach. Begrudgingly, the uniformed staff will let you pass when you shuffle by them in flip-flops to get to the beach. No wealthy snob is allowed to build their fortress on the beach and fence it off--the beach is for everyone. This is very unusual in capitalist America, where property ownership is generally considered inviolable. I remember areas on the East Coast where you had to drive around for hours to get to the beach because house after house was built along the beach and everything was fenced off.

Hawaii has beaches for tourists and also some for the locals. Tourist beaches are signposted. That's where all the clueless people go. The locals' beaches are secret. Suddenly, there are five cars parked on the shoulder of a country road for no apparent reason (they're not too strict about that in Hawaii), and you just have to join them, then trek through some wilderness until palm trees suddenly appear and a few guys are surfing on their boards in the waves, giving you a funny look if you show up as a tourist.

At a beach, I managed to accidentally cut off a local in a wave because we were surfing too close to each other. Angelika watched the whole thing from the beach and later told me that the local angrily hit the water with his fist while I quickly made my escape. I laughed so hard when, a few minutes later, I almost ran into the same person again by sheer coincidence. Luckily, I was able to dive into the wave just in time, otherwise, there might have been a nasty international incident!

Tellme

Michael The whole time I didn't have a laptop with me. The pager was on strike, and the cell phone didn't work either, that's how remote the area was. So I faced the problem of having to survive more than a week without access to stock prices! To my rescue, there's an internet startup company in America called "Tellme" (incidentally also in Mountain View, where Netscape is), which offers internet information via a telephone service. Like all new internet companies, they are making heaps of losses to attract customers. "Tellme" offers a toll-free number (1-800-555-TELL) with a voice recognition system that understands whether you say "Stock Quotes" or "Restaurants" and provides information on stock prices or restaurants accordingly. It's a bit embarrassing to stand at a public phone and constantly shout keywords ("Stock Quotes!" ... "America Online!" ... "Yahoo!" ... "Microsoft!"), but what wouldn't you do to stay up-to-date, even in a South Sea paradise.

Until the next newsletter, again from San Francisco!

Angelika und Michael