Molokai...Part 2
Hawaii is a magical place of legends, Folklore and Mystery.
It is another glorious day on the ranch. The sun is shining and the birds are singing. After a breakfast, which includes fresh bananas brought by Jim the ranch manager, we hop in the car and head down South/East highway 450. We pass through the first of three areas of Ironwood forest. These coniferous trees have long needles that give them a delicate, filmy look. The forest floor is covered with needles, which have fallen and look just like thick cobwebs. Julie and I call them the forests of the Wicked Witch of the West ( even thought it is East Molokai) because it definitely looks enchanted.
Beside the road in the second of these groves of trees is a lovely little Norfolk pine. On its branches are decorations, left over from Christmas last year or earlier. Although worse for the wear, these decorations make the tree looks quite festive. Julie and I put our poppies from Veterans Day on the tree to add "a bit of colour." Interspersed with the trees are flowering hibiscus, some bougainvillea and trees of bright yellow flowers. Across from the Christmas tree is a huge Banyan tree, whose trunk and roots look like a giant Anaconda curling around it's trunk.
In between and at the end of these bits of forest, we see the grassy paddocks, with cattle, horses and their friendly white Egret companions, either nearby or hitching a ride. The view across the fields is spectacular, with the blue water and sky and the tiny Moku Hooniki Island and Kanasha Rock.
We contiinue down hill, the sides of the road covered with tall pale green grasses and sword-like century plants. The road here is so narrow that we must find wider areas to pull over so another car can pass. We turn a sharp corner and drive down into a small green tropical bay and valley between hills, with a few houses, a very small fishpond and lush growth of trees and plants. An outrigger canoe sits on the grass by the water. There are a couple of people sitting under a tree talking and another working in a carport. They give us a friendly wave as we pass by. Molokai is know as the " Friendly Island."
We cross over a one lane bridge that covers two huge storm drains. Then the road snakes up a mountain of lava that skirts the edge of the sea. As we round the corner we see an area of immense, lava rock formations, some black, some red and others striated with both colours. Curling down the black barren rock are silver heliotrope, vines, that get longer each day.
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