Found a Gold Ring (standard:travel stories, 1454 words)
Author: Juggernaut	Added: Oct 30 2010	Views/Reads: 3105/2083	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A story on travel to Hawaii on vacation

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

particularly walking through lava tubes.  The dark and damp lava tubes 
resemble more like an abandoned coal mine. 

Eating Laulau, pork wrapped in Taro or leaves of colacasia steamed to
perfection brought back memories of younger days when Juggernaut's 
mother used tender leaves of colacasia to wrap a mixture of vegetables 
and steam cooked but that was a pure vegetarian dish. In Jamaica and 
Trinidad, the leaves of colacasia also called callaloo cooked with crab 
meat makes a delicious soup. It was a disappointment at the Hilo 
supermarkets to see the high prices for fresh fruits like Papaya though 
at local open market, fruits such as papaya, guava, pineapple, lychee, 
lilikoi or passion fruit were affordable. One fruit that taste like 
Indian Litchi is called Rambutan, with a red spikes on the cover and 
sweet translucent flesh inside. 

At one of the gift stores, the sales clerk Rose was very inquisitive. 
She immediately recognized the ethnicity of Juggernaut and his family. 
Apparently her daughter's roommate at the college on the mainland was 
an Indian American. Rose was originally from Philippine and lived in 
Key Largo, Florida working for the US Postal Service for over 15 years 
as a mail carrier, quitting the steady job, she came to Hilo with her 
unsteady husband to start a aquaculture business to grow exotic fishes. 
After losing all the life savings, now she was working for a minimum 
wage at the gift store. “Here the local people are prejudiced you know 
they don't like foreigners.”  “I have been applying for decent jobs for 
over two years and every time the local gets the job,” she said.  “Have 
you applied with postal service since you worked so long for postal 
service?” Juggernaut was curious. “Sure I did, they kept me on waiting 
list for almost 2 years now,” she was really despondent. “Its good 
thing you kept your home in Key Largo,” “you can always go back'” 
Juggernaut gave some words of comfort. Rose was very kind and gave a 
deep discount to many items purchased at the store. 

A drive from Hilo to west coast was a wonderful experience; from a rain
forest on northeast side to arid land on west and southwest. It was a 
scenic route though single lane traffic requires more attention while 
driving.  Driving on a single lane on a mountainous terrain in Jamaica 
for several years helped a lot to manage the driving on Hawaiian 
Islands. While staying at Hilo was a great      cultural experience, 
the beaches at Hilo were mostly rocky and devoid of fine wide sand 
beaches like the beaches on Kona side of the Big Island. Spencer Beach 
on the northwest side of the island was a fine beach with mostly locals 
and very few tourists. This beach was just few minutes' drive from the 
PuUkohola Heiau National Historic site. This beach has more sandy area 
than other beaches on Hilo. 

While the sand was fine and clean, the sea at Spencer beach was not
calm.  Wave after wave makes it difficult to relax peacefully in the 
water. At the bottom, there were volcanic rocks of all sizes and 
shapes, some sharp. Juggernaut tried to lay floating on the water, the 
technique he learned at Negrill beach in Jamaica several years ago, but 
the water at Negrill beach was calm and still unlike the unruly waves 
at Spencer beach.  It was hard staying at one spot in the water without 
being hit and moved by wave currents. Using his hands, Juggernaut 
searched to get a grip on the rocks so that he can rest comfortably at 
one spot in the water. While his fingers were searching for rock 
crevices deep enough for a grip, he felt a small round object  in a 
crevice, he removed his hand hurriedly in fear only to find a gold 
ring.  “I found a gold ring,” shouted Juggernaut.  His wife, daughter 
and niece came running to see what it was. It was a gold ring alright, 
a man's wedding gold band. A date 4-3-1940 was inscribed on it, perhaps 
the owner could have married on that day.  It was a good find in the 
crevices of volcanic rocks on the Spencer beach on the Big Island.  
“May be you should put this information in Lost & Found section on 
Craig's List, to find the owner of the ring,” suggested Manu, 
Juggernaut's niece. “May be I will,” or “I may keep it as a souvenir,” 
replied Juggernaut.  “He will make a project out of this,” said Dia, 
Juggernaut's wife. “He will make a project of everything,” concluded 
Sam, Juggernaut's daughter. 


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