Last night I fell asleep to the charming symphony of the Coqui Frogs screaming just outside my window. However, 6am found me wide awake once again. First on deck was the community swap meet. We drove to the end of the block and mingled with the locals while checking out all the cool junk. We picked up some adorable clothes for Leila and a few pieces for Jen before packing up to head to “Market”.
Market was a lot like the community garage sale but on a much grander scale. They had live music, food vendors, fresh produce and both cut flowers and potted plants. We picked up a few bags of Lychee fruit, a Puka Shell necklace for Malik, and several more Hawaiian skirts and dresses for Leila.
Next we headed for the weigh-in that marked the end of the week long 2008 Ulua Challenge fishing competition in Hilo. The was a shoreline fishing competition with over 450 entrants. One of which was Jen’s brother Suni. While we waited for Suni to show up with his catch, we watched the other hopefuls line up for the big weigh in. Each fish seemed bigger than the one before it, and Malik was full of questions about how a person could stand on the shore and pull a 70lb body out of the water on a tiny string. He’s been fishing before, but rarely with any real luck. Suni failed to catch anything worth weighing and getting his picture taken with. Instead Suni and Malik chatted up a plan to go fishing before the weekend. Malik had great success snorkeling and now he thinks he’s ready to go do some fishing with Suni and his spear gun. I can see how gratifying it must be to go fishing with a gun as opposed to sitting patiently with a string and hopeful bait.
Lunchtime brought us to “Ken’s House of Pancakes”, and then we sought more of that tasty Shave Ice. Downtown Hilo has an amazing view of the water with the shadow of the great mountain in the background. Much to our dismay the Sugar Shack was closed on Sundays. We decided to walk around the shopping district and found yet another open market that produced a Puka Shell bracelet to match Malik’s necklace.
On the way back from our tour of marketplaces we decided to take the scenic route home. This would be a different scenic route from the day before, and apparently there are many different scenic routes. Most days just going to the mailbox is quite scenic no matter which route you take.
I hardly understand how there is enough daylight to accompany the number of activities we seem to fit into a given day. Before heading to “Belly Acres” for pot luck, Jen and I would each enjoy a Mai Tai while the sun set somewhere on the other side of the mountain. Actually I think we enjoyed 2 or 3 before it was time to pan fry fresh Ahi and grab a bowl of lychee and pile into the car to coast 6 driveways down to the infamous “Belly Acres”. Belly Acres started with a group of performance artists who joined together to create a communal celebration of the arts on a jointly owned compound. Basically a group of amazingly talented hippies who welcome other talented people to come and go and gather to perform. At pot luck I would only see them dance half naked around the bonfire to the strumming of a guitar.
I didn’t take any photos at pot luck (although Ash has requested I take some down at the nude beach), but I did manage to snap a few of the market and the Ulua weigh-in.
One of the bigger ones (though not the biggest by a long shot): 
