lee and i just got home from hawaii saturday. the big island--or hawa'ii--is the youngest of the chain which means that much of her lava is still front and center. the island also has a still active volcano--okay, i really don't know what this means. i mean, we didn't have to run from the lava or anything. but it's cool to think that at anytime...no, it's not. but, it has the potential to grow. lava comes in several shapes and forms--mainly a'a--which is jaggedy and hurtful. even i couldn't walk on it, and i am proud of my callouses. everywhere we looked there were big piles of a'a. not your typical beauty, but awe-inspiring just the same. it hasn't been around long enough to break down into dirt, so only the toughest of flora fight their way through. but when they do, it's amazing.
pahoehoe is another type of lava--it's kinda like molasses when you pour out a big gulp of it. pahoehoe is smooth and sort of ropey at times--think of waves coming in one after another. i heard tell that different types of pahoehoe make different sounds when you walk on them, but who would know? the birds make a lot of noise. i can't have my ear to the ground and my feet to the ground at the same time. i'm not as flexible as i used to be.
my faves? pele's hair and pele's tears. pele is a goddess and a very important goddess. she is often angry or distressed (more later). lava flow can "freeze" into hair or tears when it is popped into the air. if a bit of lava pops into the air and solidifies into a pellet, it is called tears. if the wind is blowing, and the lava bits stretch into strands, it is hair. i only saw hair at the museum, but it is fascinating. remember when we stretched the glass test tubes in mr. tharpe's chem class? that's what the hair looks like. how can it even survive long enough to be seen when there is the pell mell of volcano exploding? seriously, nature is wild and wonderful. i think i found a few tears, but i can't be sure--and i only brought home the tiny pebble stuck in my shoe because it brings bad luck to take lava away from pele.
lava bombs are bigger tears, sorta, and they look like big lava walnuts.
the thing about lava everywhere--there is lava everywhere. crazy. it looks like someone planted big fields of asphalt. but then, there is lava graffiti. i love lava graffiti. folks take coral--which is mostly everywhere too--and write on the piles of lava. joe + laney=2 people 2gether 4ever. peace, love, happiness. class of 11. shine on crazy diamond. (okay, i didn't see shine on, crazy diamond, but if i had had time to make graffiti, that's what i would have written.)
because of the lava, there are black sand beaches--which are really really hot and silky. that is why i almost stepped on the turtle. okay, i want to tell the truth here without disparaging the big island or the trip: black sand is just not as pretty as it sounds. it kinda looks like an oil spill. or maybe i have imprinted on gorgeous white sand beaches, and i am just not flexible. anyway. the water is gorgeous all the same.
and the most wow? there is also a green sand beach or two too, but we didn't get to see them. green sand happens when there is a lot of peridot in the lava flow that created the sand. i saw some samples of the sand, and how magical would it have been to walk on it. oh well, maybe next time.
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