The Kona side of the big island is much drier than the Hilo side. This doesn't mean that there's no rain, it means that it doesn't rain twice a day. It's also less jungle-like. Still very tropical and all of the same great fruits growing for our eating pleasure. Sadly, the best ones don't grow on this farm. We do have banana, passion fruit (liliquoi), and guava. Also papaya but no ripe ones right now.
The farm has its good sides and bad. The accommodations are great! We have our own little 8x8 cabin, built and finished the day before we arrived. The community kitchen is really nice; complete with hot water and electricity (having a refrigerator again has been awesome: leftovers and dairy products!!). Lastly, the common area is overlooking the ocean and we get to enjoy great sunsets daily.
The work, on the other hand, is not great. We're on a Coffee estate and we work 8-4 four days a week (Tuesday through Friday). It's hard work and we are all always exhausted by the end of the day whether we're weed-whacking the whole time (as the boys usually do) or spreading fertilizer pellets on the trees or tediously searching for certain diseased branches on each individual plant. Luckily, that's only four days a week.
On the five days we've had off so far, Pramod and I have been beach side for four of them. The beaches on this side of the island are incredible! Living on this side of the island is MUCH more expensive than the other side. While we could have rented a house without electricity for around $200 a month over there, here its comparable to renting in a city on the main land. There are also many more tourists over here. Kona is filled with fancy hotels and expensive bars and restaurants, but it is so beautiful.
Dad: you asked me if Hawaii is paradise. On this side of the island it definitely is!
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