A trip to Hilo

There's only one bus from Kona to Hilo, and it leaves at 6 am. We climbed up our hill as the sun rose to catch it at the elementary school half a mile up the road. We were among the first few riders. That crazy guy from our very first bus trip here rode with us again. This time, he wasn't wearing his sunglasses and wildly gesticulating, but it was clearly the same guy.

We traveled north picking up other passengers along the way. The bus was packed in another hour as we passed through the resorts of North Kona and South Kohala. K fell asleep and missed the uninhabitable landscape of lava rock and brush that abruptly changed to the ranching land of Waimea.

The countryside reminded us of east Kentucky and of Missouri: rolling hills, cattle and horses, misty rain. Here, the bus stopped for a short break at a shopping center with horse crossing signs. We got out, stretched our legs, and got a coffee.

On through Honoka'a and into the Hamakua coast. We passed through a eucalyptus forest and over verdant gulches plunging to the sea, each marked with a highway sign keeping it's name. Along this highway, the bus stops for people waiting alone at turnoffs or those sick of walking who just flag it down.

We rolled into Hilo around 10am. The suburbs of this, the biggest city on Big Island, consist of a few outlying apartment complexes. The city skyline was also a lot lower than we expected. Save for a few new condos near one end of the bay, buildings top out at two or three stories high. Most have a nice uniform look, with facades reminiscent of an old west set. A few empty storefronts here and there; slightly shabby, but in a pleasant, comfortable way.

We got off the bus just past the community college and rented bicycles at nearby Mid-Pacific Wheels. Our ultimate destination, Arnott's Lodge was about three miles or so out of town, through an industrial area that gave way to a string of beach parks. It wasn't an an impressive hostel, but our room was clean and comfortable, with a private bathroom, different only from a nice motel in that it lacked a television set. We didn't miss it.

We left our bags and rode right back into town, looking for a cafe that existed only as a name in the Lonely Planet guide and in a faded mural on the side of an empty building. We found a nice (and cheap!) Thai place a few blocks away, New Chiang Mai Thai Cuisine. The lunch special was the best deal, a healthy scoop of rice with a choice of two dishes. K had Pad Thai and a tofu in a peanut curry which was OK, but C's food was some of the best she's ever had: Green Papaya Salad and a salad of tomatoes, tofu and fern shoots.

The old downtown movie palace is still a theater, but only shows second run features for a dollar. It also has a shave-ice stand and a charter school inside! We split a tangerine ice and went to see the comic-book film “Kick-Ass.” Meh. Emerging from the theater, we were greeted with the famous Hilo rain. Light and misty, but able to get you surprisingly wet. We waited under the rusted marquis until it let up and rode our bikes up to a Chinese cemetery.

Keeping with Taoist traditions, all the graves in Hilo Chinese Cemetery faced the ocean. Most of the stones were carved in Chinese, so we couldn't read them but we thought it was interesting that many were decorated with familiar Christian symbols, crosses and lambs. The grounds were pretty, but small. As we mounted our bicycles, a rainbow appeared. It was the first either of us could recall having seen in years, and quite possibly, our first together.

After stopping at the KTA grocer for food and beer, we rode back to the hostel, the last half-mile during a heavy downpour. Despite getting rained on twice in one day, we think the weather in Hilo is nicer than than in on our side of the island. It rains in Hilo, but the sun reemerges and the sky clears with beautiful puffy clouds. In Kona, it gets overcast at noon and stays that way til the next morning, regardless whether or not it rains.

The reason we had wanted a private bathroom was for the private shower. It was our first shower with running, heated water in over a month. We cut our hair and scrubbed off layers of dead skin and sunscreen, then relaxed on our lanai, eating pupus and drinking Budweiser for dinner. We read and fell asleep early to a chorus of coqui frogs.

After a breakfast of coffee and grapefruit (oh, luxury!), we checked out and rode back into town to return our bikes and walk around until we had to catch our bus back to Kona. We spent some time at the Lili'uokalani Gardens, an immaculately maintained park cultivated in the Japanese-style, complete with winding intersecting paths through bonsai, banyans, koi ponds, small stone Shinto altars, miniature bridges, and little old men on benches.

Adjacent to the gardens is Coconut Island (Moku Ola), which is exactly that: a small patch of park land isolated by water with a few coconut trees, picnic tables, and a great stone pillar. There was a family picnic that morning, keikis swimming, boys daring each other to jump from the pillar, fishing and bbq-ing. Across the bay, we could see Mauna Kea and the observatory.

We wrapped up the morning in Hilo with lunch and ice cream, and a visit to another bike shop with promising deals on used bikes. We didn't buy anything yet, but they had more available (i.e. something) than any other shop we've talked to yet. We strolled through town one last time, popping into a used book store before heading to the bus terminal.

The last bus out of town was so crowed, many people (included K) had to stand in the isle, though he got to sit down after a few stops. There was a kid playing the uke, entertaining us all. We saw our crazy friend again, but this time, waving from a comfortable seat on a stone wall outside a subdivision in Kohala. We were the last ones to get off the bus, four hours later, one stop before the end of the line.

Walking past the neighbor farm house at the top of the hill, we were greeted by their two gay bunnies. Back home in Honaunau.