June 13, 2021

We flew from San Jose Airport to Kona Island yesterday. Very early trip. Got up at 4:45 AM and made the drive to San Jose. When we arrived in Kona, it was only 10:00 with the time change. We felt like we'd already lived a day.

Beautiful island with so little commercialism compared to the other airlines. We are staying at the Royal Kona Resort for our first night. After picking up our car with a price tag of $775 (and that was cheap and required considerable digging for me to find), we headed to the Resort. We got a Camaro which has tiny little windows and kind of a weird car but we adjusted quickly. The Resort allowed us to check in right away which was great. We had a very delicious lunch at the restaurant. They did lose our ticket first so we waited a long time and both of us were starving. It was 1:00 here but 4:00 at home and neither of us had eaten. But it was worth the wait. Great restaurant and we ended up eating dinner here too. I ate fish tacos and David had salad for lunch and then we ate the exact same things for dinner except I ate salad and he ate tacos. Great delicious Hawaiian food. 

After lunch, we headed to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau. This is an archaeological historical park about 25 miles from our hotel. In ancient Hawaii, this place possessed extraordinary power. It came in part from the 23 ali'i (chiefs) whose bones were protected in Hale o Keawe, the heiau (temple) on the site. The Royal Grounds were a center of power, open only to ali'i and those serving them. Beyond the Great Wall, the Pu'uhonua served as a place of refuge for those who broke kapu, the sacred laws and beliefs by which all lived. If the accused eluding his pursuers on foot, made his way to the coast and swam to the Pu'uhonua, you may be absolved by a priest. Many did not make it. 

It was very interesting and beautiful. We enjoyed putting our feet in the water after which felt amazing. Nothing feels commercial. It is very relaxing and not many people. We headed back to the hotel and sat by the pool for a bit. Both of us are sooooo tired that we feel weird but we are trying to stay up until it is bedtime so we reset out clocks. We ate dinner around 5 and then watched some TV, after much sleuthing to try and get my Surface laptop to work with the TV. Finally fell in bed around 9. 

I slept well until about 2:30 or so. My body thought it was time to get up! I stayed in bed though and managed to get a bit more sleep off and on. Got up at about 5:30 and went out and ran three miles. So beautiful here and running by the ocean never disappoints. Came back and David and I both did our routines to get our bodies moving and feeling well. Had an interesting Hawaiian breakfast and at this moment in time, David is napping and I'm writing. I'm sure the rest of the day will be an adventure. We are headed to our AirBnB in Hilo today.