Green, Water, and Weird Fruit

On coming out of the Lihue airport, the wave of humidity hit. Arriving from the desert of Tucson, it was a shock and a good reminder it's time to sloooow down. The next thing I noticed about Kauai was the color green.

Now I live in Minnesota half the year and we do have a lot of green, but Kauai is different. It seems like everything not human or a house is green. Deep greens. All shades of green. Like some kind of OZ green that wants to consume everything non-green. Even the roads seem about to be overrun with large trees, flowering plants, and greenery. Wonderful but a little scary. That's because I was about to learn about water.

We love our accommodations about 50 yards from breaking waves. That water is music to my ears. Our first few days here, it off and on rained, and sustained pretty steady winds. It went from misty to actual rain that begged for an umbrella or a raincoat. Every once in a while though, there would be a "what was that" kind of steady downpour. You could see the wall of water coming, dump on you, and then watch it float down the mountain range off to some distant green valley. That was just a taste.

On our third night, the wind kept rising, and the pace of "what was that" rain picked up. By midnight, the rain got serious. Big, fat droplets cascading in on 40+ mph winds and lasting most of the night. I have never, ever, experienced so much water from the sky, with such intensity, and for so long. I was up on and off all night trying to take it in. The mountain in the middle of the island, Mount Waialeale (its name in Hawaiian means 'rippling water') is known as the wettest place on earth. It gets more than 450 inches of rain each year. For you math majors, that's more than 37 FEET of water per year. Tucson gets less than 10 inches by comparison. They say Eskimos have a hundred words for snow, and I suspect the people that live here can talk about the rains with that same kind of vocabulary. For the outsider, however, it was only awe. It does begin to explain all the green though.

Because of the damp days, we used the time to get used to our end of this wonderful little island. We provisioned at Costco where, in addition to groceries, you can buy beach gear and even surfboards, along with all manner of delicious Macadamia nuts.

We've put in a supply of two other island treats, coffee and pineapples. The pineapples are incredibly sweet, and while I may be tired of them by the time our two weeks are up, at under a buck a piece you'll excuse me for pigging out.

We also walked on post-storm beachs, and went to school at a farmers market. I say "school" because of the many mostly tasty treats, vegetables, and fruits I'd never seen before. I had some apple bananas, something I think was called a wood apple, fresh coconut, and most strange of all, the Rambutan or hairy lychee. When you take the top off a Rambutan, it looks like a small, white egg wearing a hula skirt. More fun than tasty.

As for Kauai coffee, what once was a thriving island sugar cane plantation has been replaced with 3100 acres of coffee plants. Kauai Coffee is one of the largest coffee plantations in the islands. A visit there is a very heady experience. After the obligatory tour designed to ramp up your love of the caffeine high, you are exposed to a wide variety of free delicious coffees, coffee ice cream, coffee torts, coffee beans, coffee honey and coffee people who urge you to try more coffee treats. I'm realizing now that part of the reason I was up at 1, 2, and 3 AM on the stormy night wasn't just the light show and sounds of pelting rain, but that last cup of delicious estate reserve peaberry from the junkies at Kauai Coffee.

I know I'm getting landed because I'm not exactly sure what day this is! One of my goals for the next few days is to find and try the Hawaiian dish made from taro root called Poi. We're also going to snorkle, and I may even take a surfing lesson. Pray for me on all accounts.

More soon...

Earl (and Gwen)