Day 116-119: HI: The Big Island

ok soThe flight to Hawaii happened.My camera still doesn't have good focus but i am just taking pictures anyway till we get to Oahu.YERT spent the first 3 days here hiding out in an eco-lodge on the Big Island called Lova Lava Land Eco Lodge which has one YURT (Ben & I are staying in) and quite a few VW buses to choose from. (The bus Mark is staying in is called Daisy.) Anitra and Trond are great hosts who are doing their best to lighten their load on the earth by running their establishment entirely off of solar panels, complete with gravity-fed shower and composting toilet. On our first day they had a neighborhood BBQ and cooked us tofu burgers with cheese that were pretty tasty...We have eaten every meal at the Desert Rose just up the street; We now have their menu memorized. Did not set bare foot in black sand or sandal on lava until Ben finished the Iowa pod (which was finally birthed yesterday at the Desert Rose). As soon as he was done, we put on swimming suits and drove North 20 mins to one of the loveliest beaches I have swum in. We stepped into the clearest blue water and one of the most gentle - and powerful - surfs I have ever experienced. We swam out over our heads and the boys floated on their backs, it was so sweet....but on our way back in i got pummeled and am still fishing sand out of my ears, among other things.Today we checked out the Energy Lab near Kona airport for a few hours, then drove down the South Point, stopping only for cookies from the bakery with no bag. South Point happens to be the Southernmost tip of the Island but also the Southernmost point of the entire USA, so Ben was super-psyched to be there. He loves the superlatives and was sorry that there was no sign announcing that fact. Plus now he owes me $5.Tomorrow we are going to interview our host here at the Lodge before heading off to Maui where we might actually take those couple of days off that we keep threatening...for now, happy halloween.