‘Ālika Homesteads

In 1778 Captain James Cook completed his epic journey from England to Hawaii, the first white man ever to set foot on the island. The voyage was unbelievably difficult. Months at sea on a wooden ship, packed with men that hardly ever bathed, were crude and always drunk with rum. Many of the crew would perish before the ship returned home. On the fateful day of February 14, 1779, during his second journey to Hawaii, Cook had overstayed his welcome and the Hawaiians killed him. A few days later a Kahuna rowed out to the ship and tendered a boiled human thigh and hands, the bones completely removed and distributed to various leaders among the Hawaiians, an act reserved for great chiefs.

Unlike the expedition led by the captain, our trip from Denver took about 8 hours and we still smelled like the soap we had used that morning. The world is much smaller today. The airline flight crew and gate attendants consistently were anything but crude, always ending everything they said with, “mahalo”. It’s like being at a Chick-fil-a where the employees incessantly say, “my pleasure”. Kim made the flight over so much water without the aid of sedating medication, I’m proud of her.

Our first day out on the Big Island started with a trip to Costco, the cheapest gas in the state, and onto our little Air BnB cottage on the western slope of Mauna Loa volcano. We’re well out of the tourist area on a small organic farm. As I write this I’m sitting on the lanai looking out over the Pacific. We packed the day with tours of a coffee farm and macadamia nut farm, a lunch of Hawaiian BBQ complete with feral chickens at our feet, a visit to the painted church, and a swim at the beach around sunset. Well, I swam and Kim watched.

The Greenwell coffee farm is a must for any coffee enthusiast. We – really it was just me - partook of samples of all of their coffees, and we had a much informative tour about the history and production of Kona coffee. No sugar. No cream. But after 4 or 5 samples I got used to it.

Our macadamia nut farm host was Joe, the owner. He runs a small business out of his home. A very talkative and friendly man. We discussed the finer points of the growing and processing of nuts, and knee surgery. Did you know these nuts are simply dried and are not roasted? Supposedly better flavor is maintained this way. An odd thing happened again during this tour. At Greenwell there were 6 of us on the tour and the guide constantly kept looking at Kim and talking directly to her. I was asking all the questions, but I wasn’t his focus. At Joe’s it was the same thing! She is much prettier than I am, and her new lovely hair style, due to the lack of sufficient power to run a blow dryer at our solar powered cottage, may be the reason.

Tomorrow we head over to the Hilo side to check it out. We plan to travel all over the island during our stay. I wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome in one place and find myself being boiled and my bones extracted.Read more