Aloha 2011

Day three- Today we drove around the island, visiting three farmers markets and checking out a few favorite shops along the way. In Hilo, we picked up a durian, a fruit that we had never seen or heard of before. Then we had lunch with an acquaintance from the Utah Dept of Ag, who recently moved to the Big Island to work with local beekeepers. We went to her office to see the work she is also doing with invasive pests. Next we stopped at the local extension office to see how it’s done in the islands. We took the saddle road between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea to get back to Kona and enjoyed a really nice sunset. 

  

There is plenty of snow on Mauna Kea right now but the telescopes kind of blend in in this picture.
 
 
And by the way- DD was disturbed to hear about our durain and the fact that we had it in our car. “No problem,” I said. “We have it in the trunk.” Not good enough, according to DD. There are evidently two groups of people when it comes to the durian: those who have a deep appreciation for the fragrance, and those who find it overpowering and disgusting. It's politely referred to as distinctive, strong and penetrating. We can attest to that. It was penetrating, in a rotting flesh sort of way. Somebody’s Father considered ditching the thing beside the road somewhere, but curiosity about it's reputation for amazing flavor won out and we ended up driving all the way back to Kona with it (for three aromatic hours),rolling down the windows frequently and then putting in on the lania to ripen. As far from the door as possible.  Here is an exterior view of the durian. And yes, it is as fearsome and spiky as it looks. The market vendor had to wrap it in a thick layer of newspaper so that we could carry it.

 

Stay tuned for more on our adventures with the durian later.