Viva Pahoa

Heather Irwin
Jul 1, 2014
3 min read

Well, they didnt keep me in Hawaii. Try as I might... no one stole my identification, which would have prevented me from boarding my plane home.

I want to address Pahoa today. Mainly because it is my love. Sure people go on vacation and "love" where they went. But they love the tourist side of it. They love not worrying about making meals, cleaning up after themselves, laundry, and all the realities we have to come back home to. That is why it is vacation.

Well this trip was unlike a typical vacation. My mother owns a house in Pahoa, which means going there is like being at home. Except for a few things. There is no clutter, no cable, no internet, and no washing machine.

That being said, we have to cook our own meals, clean up after ourselves, clean the entire house before departure, and go do our laundry at the Suds and Duds. Which let me tell you... public laundry places freak me out. Furthermore... no cable and no internet. We live in a day in age where we survive off both of those for our mindless entertainment. Especially when you have younger children. So, you do have to do most of what you do at home, while adding in the fact that you have to entertain your kids since you cant plug them in. It is a vacation from YOUR home, but by no means was it a vacation from our lives.

I will tell you the truth tho, I wouldnt have it any other way. You get to experience the culture is a way tht you could never do staying in your posh hotels/resorts and time-shares. You get in with the locals and live like them. In all honesty, it was awesome!

Pahoa is on the Big Island and it is in the Puna District which is on the east side of the island, south of Hilo. Outside of the Kau district, it is probably one of the least traveled areas. The only reason people get near Pahoa is to go through Volcano to see Kilauea. That is about an hour away. Sometimes people pass through to get to some pretty cool places that are down there. But for the most part, people dont know much about Puna. I hope to keep it that way. It is our slice of paradise.

I will touch base on the locals of Puna and some of the star attractions in another post. For now, I think the most important part is the fact that my husband and I decided we could actually live here. Some may say that sounds ridiculous. What can two weeks do for a person. But let me tell you, a lot.

First of all, I always knew I not only wanted to needed to live somewhere tropical. I dont like the cold nor do I like the extreme heat. I also love all the colors of the flora and fauna. Hawaii is sort of perfet for that. My husband on the other hand wanted to retire, buy a power yacht and live on it. For years we disagreed, but had a mutual agreement that we would live on a boat somewhere tropical. My husband is not like me when it comes to where he wants to live. However, after all the desitnations we have been to. He decided he would totally live in Pahoa. Let me just tell you, I was elated.

He proceeded to tell me, that instead of going to Tahiti or Bora Bora for his 40th birthday, there is really no place he rather be than in Pahoa. He agreed as soon as he retires, that we could move there. As it feels like home to him. Internally as he was telling me this, I was doing the Rocky dance and squirming with excitement and happiness.

Pahoa not only brought life back into us, but back into our marriage. Our children experieced the culture and were equally taken with it. You can imagine two kids between the ages of 5-9 are hard to keep entertained without tv or internet. However, they loved just being outside, going for walks, exploring new areas, going to museums, and learning about the history. To me, that is incredibly cool. Pahoa gave us all something we had been missing in our lives, and now Pahoa is part of us.