So this is it, our last night in Hawaii.
Our last day in Lower Puna offered Hawaiian Parrotfish courtesy of good ol’ Uncle Suni. He went spear fishing and grabbed us two 7lb beauties. Parrotfish are so named for their teeth; their numerous teeth are arranged in a tightly packed mosaic on the outside of the jaw bones, forming a parrot-like beak which is used to rasp algae from coral. Because they only eat the reef they usually can’t be caught by poles. Since Suni loves to spear fish, this meant we were in for a real treat. Malik watched on as Suni cut off a few fillets for us to pan fry wit just a little butter and salt. The end result was the most tastiest fish you can imagine. Of course on top of really enjoying the fish, Malik also enjoyed recovering the the jaws of our dinner and really hopes I’m going to let him bring them home.
Tonight we’re back at the Outrigger Resort on Kona side. My mom asked me to get coffee while I was here, so today we took a drive and found “Kona Joe”. They offered tours of the coffee vineyards where they grew coffee beans like you would wine grapes. I don’t know how you would grow coffee elsewhere because I wasn’t paying attention to that part, but I was paying attention to the information about the coffee. Apparently it must be stated on the bag what percentage of the coffee is actually Kona coffee vs. South American imported coffee. Some places offer a cheaper mix of 10%, others 30%, but I made sure we grabbed a bag of 100% Kona coffee.
Our last adventure while on the hunt for 100% Kona coffee would be visiting the “City of Refuge” In ancient times, Hawaiians lived under strict laws. The penalty for violating a sacred kapu (taboo) was death. Breaking a kapu was believed to incur the wrath of the gods. Hawaiians often chased down an offender and swiftly put him to death unless he could reach a puuhonua, or place of refuge. There he could be absolved by a kahuna (priest) in a purification ceremony, then return home with his transgression forgiven. Defeated warriors and non-combatants could also find refuge here during times of battle. Puuhonua O Honaunau on the Big Island of Hawaii is the most famous and best preserved of Hawaii’s ancient places of refuge. We also found a nice fat turtle grabbing some rays on the beach and decided only the turtle and the totems were interesting.
When we first arrived, now six weeks ago, we were greeted at the modest little tiki airport with handmade leis that Jen provided. We took photos of course, but seeing as we’d just hopped off of a 16 hour plane ride, the photos weren’t that great. Since it would be our last day in paradise, I insisted on a family portrait and we needed leis to make the photo complete. As luck would have it, Wednesdays at our hotel were lei making lessons poolside.
