Contrasts on the Big Island

So, as I said in a previous post, my trip to Hawaii was most wonderful.
I kayaked, snorkeled, watched the glow of the volcano at night, talked
with local, ate fresh coconut, walked through Botanical Gardens, drove
down empty desolate roads, swam into a sea cave, watched crabs crawl on
the rocks, got sunburned, got lost, couldn’t find my hotel (twice),
swam with a sea turtle, and enjoyed gorgeous sunsets and sunrises. I’ll
put up another post on my favorite spots on the Big Island.

The Big Island presented me with several interesting contrasts.

Contrast 1: From Kona to Hilo
The
two sides of Hawaii’s Big Island are vastly different. Kona is desolate
and dry. It kind of feels like driving on the moon with piles of black
and brown lava rock making up most of the landscape on either side of
the highway, with the occasional oasis of palm trees and greenery that
usual signaled a resort or town. Though most of the beaches are on this
side of the island.

Hilo is tropical, wet, lush and green, due
to the almost daily rain. As far as I know, there are no resorts on
this side of the island. There are few beaches, most of the coastline
being made up of craggy rocks.

Other areas of the island
offered rolling brown hillsides (much like there are in California), or
coniferous trees, or, if you go to the top of Mauna Kea, snow and
freezing temperatures, and I imagine I could have discovered more
variety if I had had more time.

On a cultural note, I found that Hawaiian words, such as aloha and mahalo,
were only used actively on the Kona-side of the island. I don’t know if
that is because there are more resorts and more tourists on that side,
but in Hilo and the surrounding area, I didn’t once hear anyone using
the Hawaiian language.

Contrast 2: Resort to Motel to Bunk-Room Hostel
Hilton Waikaloa Village:
Since the first portion of my trip involved working a booth at a
conference, I was put up at the Hilton Waikaloa Village ($200/night,
ish). Like most resorts, the Waikaloa is located in the middle of
nowhere so that visitors are required to rent a car or otherwise put in
extra effort to go beyond its boarders. For me, this gave the feeling
kind of caged. Everything was hosted and cleaned up and trimmed down,
so that there was no real feeling of wandering, which is a preferred
mode of travel. Also, because the resort had you where they wanted you,
the prices throughout were jacked up to ridiculous levels.

However,
the rooms were nice and the pools featured elaborate water features,
which always amuses me (but then I’m easily amused). The salt water
lagoon, however, was fantastic. Fed directly from the ocean, I saw an
incredible amount and varieties of fish while snorkeling (in fact I saw
more varieties there than when I snorkeled in the ocean), and I also
had a sea turtle cruise by not 3 feet from me.

Random Hotel that I can’t quite remember the name of (Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel?):
Due to circumstances — these being that I took too long meandering from
one side of the island to the other, thus arriving in Hilo at 10 at
night to try and find the hostel I intended to stay at and searched for
for half an hour but couldn’t find, and then spending another half hour
tried to find another hotel from my guide book, a hotel that seemed to
not exist at all, at which point I gave up in absolute exhaustion and
went to the first hotel I saw no matter the cost — I ended up staying
in a random hotel at $85/night. It was mostly clean, but very outdated
and funky, with an overall smell of mildew. The room had a cheep hollow
core door, ugly green carpet, and squishy, springy beds. However, all I
needed after my long day was a shower and a bed. I got that, so it
served my purpose well.

Arnott’s Lodge (website): This
was the hostel, I intended to find the night before. I stayed in the
women’s bunk room (there was a men’s on the other side of the
building). The Lodge also offers camping, individual rooms with shared
bathrooms, and regular hotel style rooms as well. Of all the places, I
stayed at on The Big Island, this was my favorite, and I would have to
say it was the vibe. The Lodge was a place that loved its travelers,
providing a free DVD room, a kitchen for bunk room and camping guests,
and a guest appreciation night with free beer and pizza. Guests are
also asked to sign a contract which says that use of drugs and extreme
drunkenness are not permitted (which while I’m not against, I greatly
appreciated). The only downfall that I found was that while the Lodge
provided clean sheets, it did not provide blankets, which is a must for
me (I like to feel the weight) even in rather hot weather. The overall
feel, though, was earthy-crunchy and friendly (the owner lives in a
house on the property), and I would definitely choose to stay there
again when I next get back to the island.

Cross-posted to my main blog, which also has a photo essay.

More photos here on flickr.