The Place of Refuge or Pu'uhonnua O Ponaunau is an amazing place to visit. It holds a very important place in the Hawaiian culture. The bones of chiefs are buried there. The sanctuary offered a person with a death sentence a second chance. If a person broke one of the kapu, the sentence was death. If he or she were not killed the village and the whole island were at peril with the wrath of the gods. The gods could send an earthquake, famine, volcano eruption or tidal wave to punish the village. The ka'pu were part of everyday activities such as eating with the opposite sex or gathering timber without permission. The ka'pu also regulated honoring the chief. People were not allowed to look directly at the chief, step in his steps, touch his possessions or allow their shadows to fall on the palace grounds. If these things happen it is fatal as the villagers must hunt down and kill the transgressor.... the only way to escape death is to run or swim to the place of refuge where the kahunas absolve the person of the crime and send them back to the village. Sometimes it only took only a few hours before they returned to their families. The park entrance has excellent pamphlets explaining the sights and customs of the ancient Hawaiians. The houses and stone structures are marked and explained in the pamphlet. Many of the stone structures are from 1500's. The park is beautiful and peaceful and it really feels like a holy place. The freshwater ponds are a great place to get photographs... The place of refuge is a short 30 minute drive from Kona airport area south on highway 11. Put this on your to-do list for the Big Island. It is a fascinating look at the ancient customs and life on Hawaii.

Woke up still feeling unwell but with a schedule of sitting on a boat to go whale and dolphin watching and then sitting and watching a Luau, I decided that it would be an easy day and there would be no reason to stay indoors.  Unfortunately, I was wrong and was very lethargic all day - maybe because of the meds.

Whale and Dolphin Watch

The whale and dolphin boat ride was set as a 3-hour cruise along the western coastline of the island.  The idea was that with boats in constant communication and our own eyes watching the horizon we would easily find some whales and dolphins.  

Soon after we left the dock we saw a nice-sized pod of spinner dolphins.  Several of them breached the surface and quickly spun around in mid-air before splashing back into the waters.

Unfortunately, we were not so lucky with watching whales this day.  There were some communications that whales were spotted but they were too distant for us to catch up to them within the allotted time.  Fortunately, the boat company gave a guarantee meaning that we could go out again in another boat ride to try to see the whales.

The Luau

We all got dressed up in any tropical wear that we had in our possession at the time.  The host, musicians and dancers were entertaining as they went through several traditional dances.  

As for the food, because of my slight fever the food tasted bland.  Only the earth oven cooked pig had been able to penetrate to my taste buds.  It was tender and that is about all I can say about the food.  

The Luau finished around 8 pm - still early.  But again, when we got back to our resort I went to sleep while the rest went out.  Having a fever sucks!

We had signed up to go snorkeling with the Sea Quest Ocean Rafting Company in the morning.

The raft they used was the smallest transport I have ever been in while in the ocean - it was kind of scary.

The raft had room for about 12 people and 2 crewmembers.  During the ride we sat at the edges of the raft and held onto the interior railings and ropes.  There were also no canopies so sunscreen was a must.

The driver was excellent.  She gave us a thrill ride as she maneuvered the raft through some rocks and we felt the sides of the raft lean from one side to the other as she made her turns.  She could’ve easily driven the raft around the rocks but it wouldn’t have been as exciting. 

She at times decided to follow other rafts and their wake made the front of our own raft bounce up and down.  It was basically a mini-roller coaster ride.

We snorkeled in two locations - Honaunau Bay also referred as the Place of Refuge and the Kealakekua Bay.  The waters were generally calm and though the water was cold upon entering, you soon get used to it.  And having some of my family around me gave me a sense of security and kept at bay my fear of water deeper than 5 ft.  That made it the perfect time to test my underwater casing for my camera. 

Honaunau Bay is known to have Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles swim at the bay.  It was such a thrill when I realized that one of these turtles decided to swim a few feet below me.   It was much smaller than the ones we saw on Punalu'u Beach so we guessed it was relatively young.

We stayed there for about a half hour before we moved to the next snorkeling spot.

At Kealakekua Bay we saw Captain Cook’s monument, which stands on land owned by the British government.  The monument was set to commemorate the location where native Hawaiians had killed Captain Cook in some conflict between the Hawaiians and the British crew.  

There were no turtles in this spot but the water and fishes were a lot clearer thanks to the sunnier skies.  Another cool thing to see was how the coral reefs sloped away into deep waters.  

At this location, the coldness of the water was getting to my fellow snorkelers and me.  Only the man who wore a wetsuit was willing to stay longer and was the last one to come back into the raft.

One more thing to note is that several rafts of the company go out at the same time and kept in constant communication with each other.  When one group saw whales or dolphins the word spread quickly among the other groups.  So in addition to snorkeling we got to see spinner dolphins and some whales.  There was one whale that actually breached the surface and created a nice splash.   

The crew told us that there were laws that required us to remain 100 ft away from dolphins and whales so we watched them from a safe distance.

Our traveling day began on the cold winter morning of March 1st at 3 am, Chicago time.  I had stayed overnight with my sister Cilvia and her boyfriend Daniel since they live close to a stop for the CTA blue line train.  Plus, we were all listed in the airplane reservations and we had to check-in at the same time to receive our boarding passes.

Our flight was at 6 am and since it is recommended to be at the airport 2 hours beforehand we had an hour to get to the airport.  We tried to dress quickly and eat some breakfast before we left the house to ride the CTA blue line train to O’Hare airport, but in the end we didn’t get to the airport until about 4:45 am.  The train ride had taken about a half hour from where we started.

There were a number of people in line to check-in but several kiosks had been set-up to check-in electronically.  This was the first time I had ever used the machines to check-in and neither my sister nor I had ever used these machines in our previous travels.  Luckily, it was simple once we figured out which number in our reservations was the reference number.

The security lines to go into the waiting areas on the other hand were a bit longer even this early in the morning.  It is at this point that we spot the other 2 persons who were part of this Hawaiian trip - my sister Patricia and her husband Jim.  They were just getting to the front of the security lines. 

We arrived to our assigned gate / waiting area by 5:15 am.  This just gave us enough time for some quick snacks and plenty of time to contemplate how early it is, to complain that it’s going to be a long trip and to get excited that in 8hrs or so we were going to be in HAWAII!!!!

We had a 45-minute layover in L.A. that was annoying and turned worrisome when we realized just because there was a small difference in gate numbers doesn’t necessarily mean the gates are close to each other.  We had 10 minutes to spare before they began boarding procedures for the next leg of our trip.  Again there was no time to eat a decent meal for the next 4 hours.

We finally arrived to the warmth of Hawaii around 1 pm Kailua-Kona time (5 pm Chicago time). We were pleasantly surprised with the open-air airport but as expected the flight was exhausting.  We were hungry and trying to get some sleep at any time during our flights had been difficult.  Many of our fellow travelers had been coughing, sneezing, etc.  So once we checked into the Royal Sea Cliff Resort we took the rest of the day at an easy pace.

On our way to the resort we had seen several restaurants along the way to choose for dinner.  We decided for some Thai food and ate at the Thai RIN restaurant located on All’i Drive.  From our outdoor table we had a good view of the western coastline of Kailua-Kona. The meals were delicious but considering that this was the first decent meal we had all day our views may be slightly skewed.

Afterwards we walked along All’i Drive, which runs along the western coast of Kailua-Kona for several miles and seems to be the main thoroughfare for the tourists and locals alike.  A number of shops, restaurants and lodgings, including our resort, are located along this road.  There was also one restaurant/bar whose owner seems to be a Chicago Cubs fan. 

They also have an open-air market that is open from Tuesday through Saturday.  There we saw stands of colorful flowers along with some strange fruit that is local to the area.

There are several areas along All’i Drive where you can gain access to the rocky coastline in the area.  The rocks were dark and looked like they can cause injury if you take a misstep.  We walked along the coast for the while and watched as the sun slowly went down.

 Overall, we got a sense that the island was going to be very relaxing and peaceful.  

A tragic thing happened in the middle of the night. I was looking for the television control and I stepped on David's glasses. I popped out the lens. David was very decent about it.... but we needed to run to Costco to get it fixed and return a 4 gig SD card that would not work in our cameras... so our morning was shot with that....

The Painted Church was a charming St. Benedict’s church. The inside was painted by a Belgium priest in 1920's. He told Bible stories in pictures on the side walls and painted the ceiling to look vaulted. I took pictures of the inside but I feel they don’t really do justice to the feelings of peace and serentiy of this little church… The yard had a graveyard with well kept graves and beautiful flowers growing around it. There was a beautiful statue of St Mary with hundreds of shell Leis around her neck. As we walked to the car, Ray spotted a statue up the hill. We walked up the path (next to the gravel road). On each side of the path were crude wooden crosses with things written on them regarding Christ when he was carrying the cross….. The path ended at a crude wooden cross with a wonderful life size recreation of the Pieta (Michelangelo’s masterpiece) This beautiful spot was inspiring.

Holy crap! In less than a week, I will be off to Croatia for this crazy ass adventure. I still cannot even believe I'm doing this. For months now, people have been asking me if I'm scared and my answer has always been a self-assured "heck no!' Well guess what! I'm scared! I'm scared out of my mind!

This isnt just any ordinary trip. I'm ALL ALONE! I will have no one to rely upon other than myself. I generally believe that people are good by nature. But this is a situation that I really cant trust anyone but me and my instincts. It's quite an interesting challenge that I've set for myself. Who would have thought that at barely 18 (my birthday is two days before I leave) I would be backpacking through anywhere by myself, let alone eastern europe! So, if I wasnt any clearer, Im more than nervous.

I was just emailed a list of fellow volunteers that I will be camping and working with in Kambelovac. There are two guys, one from New Jersey and one from Korea. Then there are girls from Sweden, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. All under 30! I'm the baby obviously since I just made the age 18 requirement. But it sounds awesome, doesnt it?!

I was thinking about it today, how in 5 days, my entire life as I've known it for 18 years, will be changed. Not only am I going on this amazing adventure (which I might end up loving so much I dont come back), but within a week of flying back to kona, I move to Utah to start school at the University. I mean, this is it. These five days are all I have left of Lana the high school hippie; Lana the girl who works at Four Seasons; Lana who is too liberal for most Kona people to understand; Lana who wants nothing more than to go to the beach and eat Hayashis; and the Lana who is running down Ali'i Drive on a friday night because there isnt anything else to do.

It's tough saying goodbye. I feel like I've been doing it alot lately. All with the same emotions. Quiting work at Beach Tree was like graduation; I was happy to be out of there, but at the same time, very sad that I wont see the people I've come to love and routine that I've adjusted to. The big aloha will be leaving Kona. I dont know how I'll be handling that one. But now, I'm simply rambling. This is supposed to be a travel blog, not a emo blog!!! Gosh!

Goodbye in the four languages that I must know: Aloha!
Tschüß - German
Zbogom - Croatian
Viszlát - Hungarian
Adijo - Slovenian

    Well, I'll be off to eastern europe in less than a month. Can you believe it?! I have about a week left at Four Seasons and then my 18th birthday (oh how quickly I grow) on July 1!
    July 3 I fly to Oahu and have an overnight, fly into LAX then an overnight in Chicago! From Chicago I fly to Frankfurt, Austria, and the finally Split, Croatia! It's literally going to take me three days to get there.....but Chicago will be fun. I'm staying in a hostel in a really nice area of the city. I'll arrive in Split in the late afternoon and then head off to my hostel, www.splithostel.com. My project starts on the 9th, so I'll take a ferry to Kastel Kambelovac.
    From there, it's all in the air! I "plan" on staying a few more days in Split, going up to Budapest, and bungee jumping in Ljubljana, Slovenia. BUT, the point of this trip is EXPERIENCE! I've already done the whole organized, living from a suitcase and tour guide trip through Europe. This is my trip. I'm going in order to learn to adapt in any situation.
    Why go alone? I have several reasons. 1) No one had the dinero to go with me. 2) No one had the guts to make it happen. 3) I want to go and see whatever I want, when I want. 4) I want to meet people along my travels that can become my life-long friends. 5) Why not?! I'm an adventurous kind of person and if this year has taught me anything, it's that the only way I will ever accomplish what I want, is if I do it myself.
    So there you have it. I'll soon be off on my amazing trip. If you would like to contact me, my email is lanalinhart@hotmail.com or go to my myspace.

Enjoy the ride!
Lana Linhart
   

On Saturday night we drove Linda and Ray to the Airport for their return home to Medford.   We were sorry to see them go ...   Honestly, I don't know how we could have had a better time.   It was so relaxing and fun to see them for the week.   Ray and David talked about their work and Linda and I talked about family and our goats.....  and of course, we all mixed our talk too......  Linda and Ray are our idols and good friends so it was great having this time together.   

The next morning at 11 we had booked a flight around the island.....  We ate cereal for breakfast and arrived an hour and a half early for the flight.   We sat in the waiting room and chatted while we waited.   When the hour arrived we were collected by the pilot and walked out to the runway.  The pilot was a great guy who quickly assigned seats and handed out headsets.   We tested the headsets and made sure they worked.   It came out it was first come first serve on the flight.... so we felt pleased at the seats we got.   Directly behind the pilot and forward of the wings.....   We had our cameras and we were ready to go!  David chose this particular event so he was especially happy......   The pilot explained the proceedures for crashes and what we would be seeing.   We were sooo excited when we headed down the runway.  It was the smallest plane I had ever been in.  I couldn't believe that I could see the runway hurtling towards us then  the lift.... yikes....  Ok ... it was great and exciting but my first time where I could reach out and touch the pilot....   cool.

The flight was really amazing.  We took hundreds of pictures.   David's camera died but mine kept going.   Usually either one or the other of us had a view depending on the banking of the plane so we handed my camera back and forth.     We flew over the island and saw wonderful waterfalls,  forests, desert land (with cattle),  huge waterfalls shooting out into the ocean and we saw the crater of a live volcano.   The pilot was great.....  He flew back and forth and then would yell at the top of his lungs....... "lookit, lookit, lookit, lookit" and point to the lava .....  David got most of the action on the lava but that worked for me...   The flight was about an hour and a half.   It was really amazing and lots of fun....   

After the flight we did some shopping then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for our final meal and final sunset.   All good things must come to an end and this little vacation was no exception....   

Linda and Ray said a visit to Hawaii isn't complete without a Lu'au.   Linda and I looked at the internet to try to find the best one...... How do you choose???   Linda had been the the Island Breeze Lu'au that is located at the King Kamehameha Hotel.  We  arrived over an hour early but found the choice seating was spoken for already.   Then we found out it cost extra....  so we didn't feel bad then.... We were shown to a great area to watch it from.....  We weren't the first row of tables but we felt we would be able to see the overall production easier from where we were sitting.    We were given a shell lei .... and David bought me an orchid lei as well.   They took our picture but I noticed they took it with flash although it was not completly dark.... knowing David would have blinked I talked them into retaking the shot with no flash....   We watched some arts and crafts things being created and strolled out to get a free Mai Tai.....  Great start!    

The master of Ceremonies kept things going.....  there was a torch lighting cermony then we walked out to the beach area to see the recreation of the King arriving......  they blew a conch shell and the "king" arrived standing on a catamaran looking craft.....  It was corny but interesting to see this.....   His group walked past us  and into the back area. 

We  went over to the emu (oven) to watch the Kalua pig being recovered from the underground oven.  The pig was covered with leaves and it was laying waiting to be transported to the area it was cut up in.....  A couple of kids picked them up and placed them on a traditional stainless steel trolly to wheel them to the kitchen....

 The menu of the Lu'au was quite diverse....   

 Through the magic of "cut and paste" it was 

:  Lomi salmon
Kona-style poke, Relishes
Cucumber namasu
Kona tomatoes
Macaroni salad  (why???)
Waimea garden greens
Legume salad vinaigrette
Pineapple wedges
Cinnamon-spiced bananas-

Entrée -Banana bread,

Poi   (poi was very interesting....)
Steamed white rice
Uala (Hawaiian sweet potato)
Kalua Pua'a (pork)
Lau lau, Kona broil
Chicken long rice
Catch of the day tropicale-

Dessert -

Coconut cake
Haupia (coconut pudding)
Kona coffee

As we left David and I stopped to buy a cd they were offering of the Lu'au.   David was laughing and telling the man (who was one of the dancers) that I hooted the whole show....  He said.... 'Oh, You're the loud mouth" and gave me two orchid lei's .....   WOW!   I was so excited!  Now I had 3!  As we left we walked and read the signs and looked at the pictures in the motel.......  What an amazing place Hawaii is.....

We drove to the Hilton area to go to the nearby beach and to tour the petroglyphs....   First we went into the Hilton Hotel....  it was so Amazing.....   Like Disneyland.... a monorail and a jungle cruise boat!   Loved it....    I wrote review on the motel and boat on the bottom of this blog.   It is so neat to go into places in Hawaii.... there is not a way to close off some of the patio areas..... it's just open.....  that's amazing to me.....    where we live we get some huge storms........  I love their confidence in paradise.... 

The Kona Hardrock Cafe has great personnel and good food. What they do not have is a true Hardrock interior. There was very little memorabilia on the walls. It may be that with the open decking they were afraid thememorabilia would deteriorate... I don't know... also... Usually there are large theater type screens showing the stars singing and dancing. This Hardrock had only a couple of smaller televisions (18 inch?). I found that part disappointing. But...I did like their balcony seating... David and I sat at 5:15 PM to watch the sunset from the balcony. It was worth the wait although there was a cruise ship in the bay watching the sunset. I had to make sure it didn't get into the scene. The weather was perfect: high 70's but not too humid. David ordered the Hickory smoked Bar b que ribs. It is prepared with the Hard Rock hickory barbque sauce and cooked quite well. David really enjoyed it. I ordered twisted macaroni and cheese with red peppers, Caesar salad and white cheddar smashed potatoes. My food was also quite good. We both ordered margaritas but they were very under par. It is really important to include all ingredients: especially the liquor.

The Hilton Hotel is the Disneyland of Hawaii. It has both a monorail and a boat ride to explore their expansive hotel. We walked through the lobby and were very impressed by the decor. They have live parrots sitting on poles... they are quite friendly. We loved the carpet and the open feeling of the lobby. It was huge. We walked across and down the stairs to the boat landing. It was quite well organized and it had a polished bench to sit on as the boat traveled throughout the area (the boat was on a rail like at Disneyland). The little trip was wonderful! It took about 25 minutes to make a complete tour. It went through areas decorated in Asian theme and Hawaiian themed. I took a bunch of pictures.... They will be posted on the regular shots.... on this date.

Between 1400 AD and 1800 AD the petroglyphs were created by people camping in the caves and windbreaks. The petroglyphs are not fully understood. They may record numbers of persons camping, birth or death records, rituals or record trips. They are facinating to see. It is possible to see them next to the shops from a concrete path or you can walk out to the far petroplyphs on the king's path. We were funny out on the path before we had seen any: every crack appeared to be a petroglyph... then we got to where they were.... They were easily seen and identified. It is amazing! The walk out is not easy and I would recommend closed toed shoes as it is a rough lava walk. The walk is part of the kings walk. It can be followed across the island... It's very interesting to see the path winding across the landscape... it's easily picked out...

We walked along the paved path of the Keahou Beach: on one side was the amazing ocean and on the other were amazing homes. We heard that they were owned by celebraties like Tiger Woods and Cameron Diaz. Who knows... The houses were pretty well hidden from walkers on the path by a large lava wall. It wasn't offensive to see the wall and it did offer the homes some privacy. One mile down the path was a small restaurant. We walked past it onto a bridge. We could look down into the water and see the fish that were being raised. They were about 12 to 18 inches long. We couldn't believe how huge and fat they were. They were being raised in one of the restored Hawaiian fish ponds. It was great to see how well they were doing... The beach path had access to a beach by the restaurant. Most of the path followed the lava beach. It was not permitted to leave the path as it was an ancient archeological site. The site contained the waiulu which is red lava with cracks and caves which contained potable water. They were considered sacred and ritually protected. The area also had the ala loa which is the sacred path. The path linked settlement areas. It linked from kealakekua bay to kawaihae. The path was also (one section) where a processional at night honored deceased spirts. Signs requested walkers not to disturb the rocks on the sides of the path. When we walked back we walked to a beach that was close to the parking lot ... there were quite a few turtles sunning themselves. We got some great shots.