We start the day on the 1960 lava flow (right in the neighborhood too!!). Although it has been nearly 50 years, it still looks largely like a barren wasteland (albeit a very fascinating one!) bearing Pele's unmistakable signature: a lotta lava! What you see here is an o'hia lehua flower - a colonizer of fresh lava fields and very important feature in Hawaian culture:
Actually, the tree is the o'hia and the flower is lehua. Pick one, and the skies will cry. You can read here why:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosideros_polymorpha
This particular exerpt tells the story:
"In Hawaiian mythology, ʻŌhiʻa and Lehua were two lovers separated by the goddess Pele. Pele desired ʻŌhiʻa and when she could not have him she turned him into a tree. Lehua was devastated by this transformation and out of pity the gods turned her into a flower and placed her upon the ʻōhiʻa tree. Separating these united lovers is not encouraged, and it is said that when a lehua flower is plucked from an ʻōhiʻa tree, the sky fills with rain representing the lovers' tears."
Along similar lines, there is the lighthouse that was spared - by mere inches - when Pele diverted the lava flow to accommodate the needs of the keeper, who was on Pele's 'good' side.
And, here, the easternmost point in the state of Hawaii (which became a few feet more easternmost as a result of the 1960 eruption that resulted in this beautiful coastline):
Here is a little slide show of the best wave photos set to Lono's music:
http://www.lonomusic.com/index.html
Not sure what this fella's story is; he obviously did not meet his demise in 1960, but perhaps his family did? Perhaps he wanted to be buried near his family? Perhaps he loved the ocean here? Easternmost gravesite (or memorial) in Hawaii?
And here you can see what kind of lovely rain forest probably occupied the area prior to the 1960 eruption. This section, which is immediately adjacent, was obviously spared (Don't miss the roster at the end):
Imagine such beauty covered in lava in a matter of minutes:
Certainly no door-to-door mail delivery in these parts:
Out in these 'wild bushes' one also occasionally comes face-to-face with la-la-land:
...Seems those with a sense of 'Conscious Oneness' still possess a sense of hostility?:
The 'encounter' of course begs the question: 'What the hell ARE they DOING in there?..'
Not pondering this conundrum too long, we proceeded to have a look at some 'lava trees'. Oxymoron, you say? Indeed! Here's what happened back in 1790. This lava flow came through very fast (Pele must have been furious about something serious!!). Tree trunks of large o'hia trees (go figure!! See Pele story above) were coated in rushing red hot lava. The moisture in the tree trunks caused the lava to harden (similar to how lava tubes 'roof over' due to heat evaporation/cooling by lower air temps. Were it not for the heat factor of lava, you'd be left with dip-sticked tree trunks with trees still growing inside the tree-trunk lava encasement. However, due to the temperature of molten lava - just over 2000F!! - these large tree trunks soon succumbed to the ensuing fire. What is left over, then, are several hollow lava towers - all the perfect molds, complete with bark impressions, for the o'hia tree trunks they briefly contained:
And a look inside where the tree trunk once was:
Followed by a few minutes of live Lava Tree footage:
Onwards to more lava-related phenomena, this time a thermally heated oceanfront pool. Think of it, perhaps, as the p-e-a-c-e-f-u-l presence of Pele (because she's in there!!)
Lava,
Kepani & Kamila
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