Kau Coffee is getting popular these days in Hawaii. Kona coffee has already a reputation in the world but the Kau is not so famous. It is grown around volcano and the taste is actually almost the same level as Kona coffee. Some people says it is even better than Kona coffee. I don't see the big difference and I like both. We found the Kau coffee place on the way to Green Sand Beach.
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| Kau Coffee factory |
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It was fun to talk with the shop keeper. She designed the label of the coffee and her arts are also in the shop. The designed squash (Hyotan in Japanese) was on the table.
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| Designed squash in the shop of Kau coffee factory |
Later, we went to Green Sand Beach and the Hualalai to look for the xenolith of olivine. Xenolith is a name of the rock which magma took from the part of the mantle. Upper mantle include a lot of olivines (peridotite), and so sometimes we can see such green rock in the lava flow. We, geologists are so excited to find such big batch of olivines.
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| Olivine Xenolith in the Lava flow of Hualalai volcano |
On second day, we had a break as a volcanologist and had a tourism to Waipio Valley. It is not totally volcanological field trip, while it was a chance to see how volcanoes make beautiful scenery. In fact, it is great to see the variety of nature in Big Island. Local people come to the beach in Waipio Valley with a 4WD car and they enjoy beautiful beach. If we had time and swimming suits, we could have swam there! It's my dream to swim there.
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| Waipio Valley |
Even though I visited Big Island many times, I didn't reach petroglyph. I don't know the age of these petroglyphs exactly but I guess it is not so old. It is quite interesting to have such petroglyphs in Hawaii because their language didn't have own characters for writing, someone said. Is it true??? Maybe they had some writing signs even though it was primitive. These petroglyphs remind me of the evolution of Chinese characters.
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| Petroglyph |
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| 象形文字 (http://baike.steelhome.cn/doc-view-8893.html) |
You can compare these characters from ancient china. They are called Shoukei Moji (in Japanese) and
象形文字 (in Chinese and Japanese). So there was a possibility that they had own characters in Hawaii.
At last, I would like to introduce a food in Big Island. One of the most popular food is "Loco Moco".I heard one senate (Japanese-American guy from Hawaii) liked this Loco Moco at
Cafe 100. This time, I ordered "Kilauea Loco Moco" because I am working for Kilauea Volcano! It was with 2 spams, several small sausages... etc. Heavy!!! I couldn't finish it. The amount of the meal was DYNAMIC as volcanic eruption.
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Kilauea Loco Moco at Cafe 100 |
| I thought this might be a last chance to visit Big Island before I leave Hawaii. However, there is another chance Next Week! My friend from Japan will visit me and we will again go to Big Island. It is the period of Merry Monarch Festival. It must be crowded but so fun!!! |
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