House Hunting & the Hawi Peninsula

The northern peninsula sports a spine that cleaves the weather in two with the warmer western hand of the invisible god of the mountain pushing the eastern storm fronts back over themselves in a fold which make the clouds look like they've been quaffed by Pele's curling iron.



Occasionally, sneaky cumulus space craft sneak through the mouth of the two warring mountains hook their tentacles in glee into the land below, pelting inhabitants.


Hawi...

Hawi, ponounced Hah-Vee is a small north shore community overlooking the northern straight between the Big Island and Maui. The community is filled with marvelous shops and boutiques. A very crunchy town, with crystal shops, a head shop, bamboo & hemp clothing, and flower shops. A tourist stop on the trip around the island, but amongst the fudge stores, sandwich shops and restaurants, the residents, which include a family of 4 completely black cats, indulge in shaved ice whilst the silly humans study for classes, or work busily on their laptops. Whatever the tourists don't eat, the 4 inch green and red lizards which shuffle along the tables and chairs will gladly finish.

The smell of fragrant fruit envelops the north shore as the warm and humid breezes carry the pungent scent of mangos. Photos from Hawi will have to be taken another time.

The mango trees are native here, and often scatter their contents along the side of the highways and into their owner's yards. Hitchikers often bend down to pick an unspoilt fruit or two along their way.

Houses & Their Fruit...

Today, I encountered a house with a mango, grapefruit, tangerine, orange, lemon, lime, and papaya trees. The grapefruit tree had a nesting couple of two chameleons. One of the houses had a 50 foot tall avocado tree. People do not go hungry here. Food literally falls from the sky.

I saw three houses today. The details are not important about the other two (both of which are in the running), but the second one I saw, the one in Hawi is worth mentioning. It is incredibly romantic and picturesque. You get lost in the view as it contains so much mystery and peace.

The views from the kitchen and the small bedroom are spectacular. There's a pasture with horses and donkeys in the distance, and the land falls off into the sea. The garden has every tree imaginable. All the carpet has been ripped up revealing maple floor in varying conditions depending on room. The living room is huge (large enough for a bowling alley and a starbucks),. The two of the bedrooms are good sized, the third extremely small, but with the stunning view. The house does not have air conditioning, and has single pane windows. To keep the house cool, however, we would need to keep the windows open and hear the road noise. Also ants and spiders have moved into the place, and given the age and humid nature of the place, it would seem like we would never be done cleaning, as it would always look worn down, despite it just having gotten a fresh coat of pain (its 12th coat, from the looks of all the cabinets and doors which stick because of the humid nature of the house).

Its a place that if I could own, I would buy simply because of the views and the garden are spectacular. But its a fixer-upper. Its about 30-40 minutes from the school. I would consider it if my roommates and I were into woodworking and wouldn't mind fixing up someone else's house while paying for the privilege. Inspiration for various artistic pursuits would come a-plenty from this place. This house would speak to our souls, but probably not to our pocket books. I was torn between the beauty of it, and the amount of work we'd need to put into it. I've always taken on project houses in the past, but I'm not sure we want that in our first year on the island.