Kauai Day 2

It rained the entire day. Still, eventhough we had planned to stay in for most of the day and watch DVDs, a quick drive to the northwest side of the island called Hanalei made this entire rainy trip worthwhile. It's dreamy valleys, swamplands and one lane bridges made us think of the rice plantations of the Vietnam countryside in movies. The jagged tropical forest cascading down the steep gorges met the little road we drove on hugging the perimeter to our south. To the north, giant 20 foot high waves crashed onto the beaches. Elton called this place where the tropical forest meets the sea. I've never heard waves like that before. It was like the constant sound of thunder droning with the fizzling of bubbles. Rivers of rain poured down onto parts of the road we gingerly drove on, heeding the 15m/hr sign. We wondered why many of the homes in this area were built on stilts as high as 20 foot off the ground. I thought it was to curb the rodents or ants issue in Hawaii. Selina later said it must be a way to cope with flooding sometimes. Made sense.

Hanalei Lookout

A cluster of three homes on stilts

Hanalei's One-lane bridges

When we heard that there were farmers markets everyday in Kauai, we had to go to the one in Hanalei which happened to be on Saturdays. Other than the turmeric that Elton eyed like a kid in a candy store, we found the prices of the produce outrageous in the name of being organic. I mused at Elton's new found love for organics as he grumbled all the way back about what a rip off the farmers market was. This one must've been targeted for the visiting tourists and rich hippies.

Turmeric Elton bought to plant back home

Waterfalls which became road rivers in the rain

After lunch, we drove out to the northeast side of the island all the way to Kapa'a to see what it looked like as the rain continued to pour. Only 10% of Kauai is accessible by road. The only other ways were by boat along the coast, on horseback or by air. The road we took often passed through empty open spaces. In a strange way, it made us slow down and just appreciate the beauty of a land untouched by modernization. The tree tunnels we kept passing between Princeville and Kilauea towered over us, leaving us breathless. We didn't tire of them no matter how many times we passed through.  

Tree tunnel

Kapa'a beach Park

On the way back, we made a small detour onto Baby Beach which we found delightfully secluded and sat a while watching the kite surfers. It was quite amazing to watch. They were probably going up to a speed of 20miles/hr.

 

Back at the condo, we heated up a Rising crust  Digorno's pizza, laid out the mattress and blankets in the livingroom and popped in some DVDs for the night. We crashed out before the end of the DVD. A beautiful end to a grey rainy day.