Terribly Written At High Altitude

     I arrived in Hilo last Sunday night.  It was actually clear when I landed this time, instead of the very humid and warm evening when I came for my interview.  It was sunset and the summit of Mauna Kea was backlit, visible from town, which doesn't happen all that often.

Mauna Kea from the Hilo Airport. There are 3 tiny bumps near the summit. Gemini Observatory is the tallest and most middle of the 3 bumps/domes.

     Having not had real sleep in 3 days, I arrived at the guest house I'm staying at until I find a place of my own.  This place is a guest house of an extremely nice woman and former native of Minnesota now retiree.  I was terribly hungry and utterly after landing, and really needed something to eat before passing out.  And, when I asked her if anyone delivered out there she ran to her house and brought me 2 peanut butter sandwiches, a bowl of chicken soup, and a pint of milk.  White kid comfort food to say the least, and it hit the spot.  Don't think I can thank her enough for that kindness.

     It's temporary housing set up by the Observatory and so I can't complain about it being free.  In fact, for what it is, it's pretty great!  It's about 20 minutes from downtown Hilo, sort of a crows fly from there to Mauna Loa.  It hasn't been hot at all, surprisingly.  Chilly at night even.  But, at night the rain POURS down for a spell and then the goddamn coqui frogs begin croaking.

     Coqui frogs are an invasive species and with no natural predators to munch on them they've grown huge in size and in numbers.  And, they're loud.  Very very loud.  I'm convinced that there's one near my carport that interrupts my sleep cycle, waking me up every three hours.  I will find it and destroy it.
     Speaking of invasive species, it appears that Hawaii's very serious but very unwritten rule is, "if it's invasive, kill it on sight, damnit."  It aint just animals that are invasive, TONS of plants are too.
    
     Since this is the second night of my first summit shift and the weather's been terribly cloudy, I've had a lot of time to think about what I want to do on the island.  And, seeing lava is near the forefront.  This also weirds me out a bit because they're calling for fog and snow on the summit tomorrow or monday and I can see the damn volcano from the mountain.  It's just a weird sort of paradoxical thing about this island.  There are multiple climates here, but they all are devoutly connected to each other.

     I also have been convinced to get to Kalapana as soon as I can to check out the night farmers market and Kehena beach, both hot spots for crazy party life.  Kehena is a nudity approved, black sand beach which hosts a massive drum circle every Sunday.  I'm not one for drum circles, but it sounds like its an experience that I can't turn down.