Last day on the Big Island

Saturday, July 12, 2014

I had read a lot about this Saturday market in Hilo and had been looking forward to it all week. I was not disappointed—I loved it! I started out with the Spam breakfast. People in Hawaii love Spam. (I am talking about the cans of luncheon meat.) It is sold everywhere, even at McDonald’s and Burger King. It was introduced during World War II when it was shipped in to feed the soldiers and has been popular in Hawaii ever since. 

Half of the market is crafts and souvenirs, and the other half is food and flowers. I could not believe the beautiful flower arrangements for just $5.00. Of course I couldn’t buy any fruit or flowers because we were leaving today. But I did buy some crafts and souvenirs. I had such fun talking with the some of the vendors. I guess they know how to chat up the tourists. Prices did not seem to be terribly firm. (A and J, you would love this market.)

I sampled some home baked cookies and some macadamia nuts (they grow nearby), but when I got to the guy selling coconuts with a hole drilled in them and a straw to drink the water, I found that I had run out of money so I didn’t get to try that treat.

I got back to our place just in time to see the Gay Pride parade going by right on the street in front of us. These two pictures show some of the floats. You can also see some street names.

We found the Hawaiian street and place names hard to remember. They all seemed so similar. Then we found out that the Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters, so that’s why there is so much repetition.

We tried the outdoor shower in the afternoon--very refreshing, no geckos in sight. Our hosts, Megan and Jasper, were very laid back people. “Check out is at 11:00, but you could stay until 12:00. Actually, no one is booked for tonight, why don’t you just leave whenever you want.” So we left at 2:30. Our impression of Hilo was a very mellow, alternative, hippy kind of vibe. I haven’t seen so much tie dye since the 70’s.

Now it was time to say goodbye to the Big Island. Our week here was over. We returned the rental car—we had driven 427 miles in total. We had to do some quick island hopping because our flight back to the mainland left from another island. As the Hawaiian Airlines flight left Hilo we could see the mountain that we climbed the night before and so took a picture for our blog.

We touched down in Maui and then went on in the same plane to the island of Kauai. It is the oldest island, on the opposite end of the chain from the Big Island. Unfortunately we wouldn’t get to see anything much here since we were just staying overnight near the airport. That will have to wait for another trip someday.