on top of the world
i have lots of photos and some story to share from yesterday (when lauren and i stood at the top of the tallest mountain in the world), but i want to write about this morning first. i slept (dozed, anyway) late (’til 9 o’clock, yo, that’s like an hour or two later than i’m usually up around here–the mornings are too too beautiful!), got up, and was promptly offered the last seat in a car bound for maku’u market, the big weekly farmer’s-and-everything-else market between pahoa and kea’au (which is in turn about halfway between pahoa and hilo).
from the market we went to ecstatic dance at kalani (which i wrote about 2 weeks ago here). it is really the best thing to do on sunday morning ever, i think. on any morning. i felt so invigorated and good and sweaty and beautiful. and during one of the last songs, when i held my hands above my head, palms open, i swear i could feel everyone’s good energy in the air, vibrating through my fingertips down my arms and into my belly.
and after the dance we went to kehena, where the waves were ENORMOUS, and we stood in the surf and let ourselves be bowled over. i went nude (way too much sand in the suit otherwise, lemme tell you) and the sun on my skin felt amazing and i felt beautiful and whole.
i am just glad, and wanted to share my gladness. so.
yesterday–the mountain. our first glimpse of it, on our way to hilo:
we stopped in hilo to check out the farmer’s market and this sustainable agricultural event thing (where lauren’s grandfather was selling his goat cheese–more yum!!), and to get shave ice!
they do it right here, with ice cream in the bottom. yum yum yum. man we ate so much good food yesterday. summer rolls from a woman at the farmer’s market, anise-infused goat cheese samples, limeade with coconut from a shop in hilo, more rambutans, chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, thai food for dinner.
up, up to the mountain:
we drove on the saddle road, which runs between mauna kea and mauna loa (”long mountain”). this is mauna loa:
and this is mauna kea again. see the observatories at the top?:
we parked at the visitor center at 9000 feet and checked out the little silversword reserve area. silversword is endemic to the hawaiian islands, and i guess this particular variety grows only on mauna kea, and has a pretty small population. it really is silver!
(with a hawaiian heiau)
there was also this other crazy plant with really fuzzy leaves, which a little internet research reveals is mullein:
the view was everywhere–uncaptureable–here’s part of it:
we caught a ride up to the summit (lauren’s car isn’t 4wd) with two couples, one from kea’au and one (visiting them) from bainbridge island, washington, of all places! i actually ran into the second couple this morning at maku’u market! small big island. anyway, it was fucking beautiful, and a little otherworldly…
(check out the red on that cinder cone in the distance, oh my god, that color)
at the top, with the observatories:
i know the two in the middle are the “keck twins,” but i can’t remember who operates the others or what they’re called. there are several other ones not visible in this picture as well. lauren tells me there is some controversy surrounding them, because the mountain is very holy to hawaiians (every mountain in the world is a holy place). i am reminded a little of the stained glass window created by artist gerhard richter in the kölner dom in köln, germany–to quote wikipedia, “it is composed of 11,500 identically sized pieces of coloured glass resembling pixels, randomly arranged by computer, which create a colorful ‘carpet’.” the archbishop of the cathedral disliked the window enough that he refused to attend the unveiling; my friend who took me to the cathedral told me that the bishop thought the randomness did not adequately reflect the glory of god. i am not catholic and i am not hawaiian, but to me the window was very spiritual. the explosion of color brought to mind the random genetic mutations that have created everything that surrounds us–to me, that is (part of) god. i feel like it should all be able to exist respectfully together. the observatories at the top of mauna kea reflect a human yearning to understand the universe that surrounds us, and also (i think) the knowledge that there is more to the universe than we could ever possibly understand. of course this is all somewhat complicated by the fact that hawaiians have been historically oppressed and kicked off their land and all that, and the catholics not so much. i dunno; just a thought…
a guide who’d just finished up a tour was up there at the top, too, and though he had to get back down soon, he gave us a little mini informational session about the observatories while his boss waited in the car and laughed and honked at him to hurry up.
oh, and, uh, it was really cold at the top, especially coming from balmy hilo. our ride’s car had a thermometer, and when we got to the summit, it read 42 degrees fahrenheit. by the time we left, it read 38 degrees. bear that in mind when i share with you how monumentally stupid i was…
i think my logic was something like, “i’ve worn these shoes hiking in the jungle, clambering over lava rock at night, wading in tide pools, climbing over fences… why the heck wouldn’t i wear them up to mauna kea?” but, uh. my toes began to go numb shortly after i took this picture. i ended up wrapping my leg warmers (which i’ve been carrying everywhere, mostly because they are good for keeping mosquitoes off my legs–who’d'a thunk?) around my feet with the opening underneath them, making sorta-socks, like so:
and that helped a lot.
however, i am delighted to say that despite my fears (my mom and brother both suffer from it), i don’t appear to suffer from altitude sickness! i just got a little short of breath, which is all right ’cause it makes it more fun to say (many ways truthfully) that the summit was breathtaking.
there was a heiau on the next little summit over, and we walked out to it…
we hunkered down beside the heiau for awhile and watched the sun and the clouds and the light and the colors. and when i say hunkered i guess (based on the pictorial evidence!) i mean we jumped!–
that was lauren; this is me:
long shadows:
(the shadow at the middle left is actually the shadow of another cinder cone, not a building or a person)
bundled up:
and the sun began to set…
right before the sun actually set, the tour buses arrived. lots of tourists in matching parkas, provided by the tour company–but darn they sure did look nice and warm. the sunset itself was maybe a little too much for my trusty little camera, but it did its best:
the other side:
the gathered crowd:
and then the light got more and more beautiful, and my camera just couldn’t cut it anymore, and i tapped my head and said, “it’s in here” and it is. sorry. and it was night, and the stars came out, and we drove home, and slept, and it was morning.
