The Honeymoon, Part IV

Due to some uncomfortable sunburns we didn't sleep well, so we sort of slept in and lazed a bit. Julia felt a little sick, too, so we took it easy, read a tourist book about the island, ate a bit of cereal, and I finished reading my book (Five Hundred Years After by Steven Brust).

Once we were up and moving in earnest we had a late breakfast at and excellent little bakery/cafe called Buns in the Sun. It was perfect and I think we ate there every remaining morning. Near the bakery was a drug store, so we picked up some aloe skin gel to treat our burns. It felt cold, but goooood.

During the trips we'd made south of the city we'd seen an ethnobotanical garden and decided to check it out. We looked at their gift shop, walked around the garden on the paths (and marveled at the number of geckos there were), and saw a number of interesting native plants, but the bugs kept attacking Julia, so we cleared out quick.

Down the road a bit farther was a turnoff to the painted church we'd read about. It was built in 1899 by Father John Velghe and was his attempt to tell his Hawaiian parishoners the stories of the bible since most of them couldn't read. It was interesting, but what Julia and I liked more than the church were its grounds. They were covered in flowers -- most of which were huge and lovely. We took a number of pictures, some of which you can see in the Flickr badge to the right.

On the way back from the church we stopped for lunch at a place called the Coffee Shack. It looks like a real dive from the outside, but inside it's very nice and comfy, with a nice bakery and a great porch that looks out over the island as it descends down to the ocean. It was warm out, but the porch was cool and there was a wonderful breeze. The food was better than it had a right to be and we were amazed to learn the big tree behind us was an avocado tree. It had to be 80 feet high with avocados that must have hit with quite an impact when they fell. Really amazing.

Still continuing back to the homestead we decided to take a different route and see the home village of the friend of Julia's that recommended the place we were stayng to us. It's a little village called Holualoa and her parents were and are quite active in the art scene there -- so much so that the village is now known for its art galleries and is a well-known destination in the area. Our first stop was the Donkey Mill Art Center (co-founded by Julia's friend's parents) where we looked around, talked to a really nice worker about the center, and took some more pictures of some of the interesting pieces on the grounds. Up the road a bit we stopped at Julia's friend's parents art gallery Sudio 7, which had some great pieces. I can see why it's a well-known place.

A couple of miles down the road we were back to our place where we read (I started a new book, Perdido Street Station by China Mieville) and then napped until 7:00pm. Yikes.

We'd enjoyed dinner so much a couple of nights previously at La Cala that we went back, then sat on the bleachers at the volleyball court next door and watched a couple of games. Then it was time for some ice cream, the drive home, and sleep.