Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Shopping
Just off the main highway, north of the historic downtown, is Pahoa Marketplace - a
shopping mall with a good grocery store and hardware store. Across the highway is a
contentious new shopping center with a giant Long's Drugs.
Along the main street in town is a convenience store (if you need chepaer groceries
than Island Naturals), as well as
Big Island BookBuyers
(15-2901 Pahoa Village Rd;
10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun)
, a well-run used bookshop.
Information
Along the main road you'll find banks, gas stations and a
post office
(15-2859 Pahoa Vil-
lage Rd)
. There are no internet cafes in Pahoa but most businesses along the main strip of
Pahoa Village Rd have wi-fi signals.
Getting There & Away
day Monday to Friday, and four times on Saturday.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Lava Tree State Monument
Entering this
park
(
daylight hours)
beneath a tight-knit canopy of (invasive) alb-
izia trees is an otherworldly experience. A short, easy loop
trail
passes through a tropical
vision of Middle Earth, full of ferns, orchids and bamboo, and takes you past unusual
'lava trees,' which were created in 1790 when a rainforest was engulfed in
pahoehoe
from Kilauea's East Rift Zone. The lava enveloped the moisture-laden ohia trees and
then receded, leaving lava molds of the destroyed trees. These mossy shells now lie
scattered like dinosaur bones, adding to the park's ghostly aura. In the late afternoon the
love songs of coqui frogs reverberate among the trees. To get here follow Hwy 132 about
2.5 miles east of Hwy 130.
tp://hedonisiahawaii.com
; 13-657 Hinalo St; dm from $27, huts $55-70;
) ranks up there
among the world's friendly, funky hostels. What was once a junkyard has been converted
into an organic farm/ramshackle accomodation compound, with Technicolor murals,
simple, cozy chalets, 'dorms' where you can sleep in a comfy common area in a tent,
