After we got acclimatized, we went on a little driving tour.
We were staying in Waimea, which is in the mountains, 2500 feet above sea level (aka on the side of an extinct volcano) near the north end of the island.
Our day trip plan was to head east over to Honokaa, have a light lunch at the Country Market. It was maybe a 20 minute drive over the mountains, and down on the wet side of the island. Within 10 minutes we felt like we were on a whole different island! Everything was lush and green, with lots of trees and bushes along the property lines. It was still farmland, with crazy hills everywhere. There were plenty of cattle in the fields. And behind everything were silent mountains (aka dormant volcanoes). When we got closer to the coast you could see the sea from the road. We shared a Tri Tip sandwich – which I believe was a sirloin tip sandwich, with crisp cheese, roasted peppers, horseradish, arugula, carmelized onions, on a fresh Poi bun which has a faint purple colour from the sweet potato it is based on. It was delicious! They were very generous with the amount of meat in it, and we found it quite filling (5 stars – would recommend!)
After lunch we headed on to the Waipi’o Valley lookout, a sacred valley which is undeveloped. The valley is privately owned, and is filled with protected burial sites, historical and cultural sites. The ancient chiefs took care of it, and only those with a righteous lifestyle were allowed to ascend the sacred platform of the high chief Liloa (in the 1300s). In 1946, a tidal wave destroyed much of the valley, including the temples, ancient house sites, taro patches (used to make Poi), and any modern homes. You can see the black sand beach with the rolling waves coming in against the backdrop of giant cliffs. Only tours (which cost hundreds of dollars), or local residents are allowed to descend (in 4x4’s) down to the valley floor, to access the black sand beach at the end of the county road only. Apparently sometimes you can spot humpback whales from the lookout spot, but we didn’t see anything but whitecaps while we were there.
Then we headed off to the Tex Drive In, for a couple of Masaladas, which are very large square Portuguese donuts served hot. Randy opted for Bavarian Cream, and I got the chocolate. His was better, but they were both good!
Afterwards we did a quick pit stop at an exotic fruit market, where we were able to pick up a couple of “apple” bananas, which are very short, a small passionfruit (lilikoi in Hawaiian), which has a shape like a miniature mango, and some langan, which is kind of like a smaller lichee fruit with a beige-brown skin. The bananas were a big hit. The passionfruit was a miss – the good part to eat is just the jelly coating around the seeds, and I didn’t realize you are supposed to crunch the seeds and eat them too. Ooops. The langan was delicious! Unfortunately it disagreed with me and was making my mouth and lips feel funny, so I thought I better have an antihistamine before everything swelled up and I stopped breathing. Too bad it tasted so good!
