Beginnings

In the middle of the vast blue Pacific, some 2000 miles southwest of California, just south of the Tropic of Cancer, you will come across a large expanse of land called the island of Hawai'i, but commonly referred to as "the Big Island". In the Puna district, located in the south-east of the island, not far from Kilauea, the active volcano, my brother Daniel has acquired some land, bordering on the Kapapala Forest Reserve.

To get there, you must drive four miles down a rough country road made of gravel, cinder and dirt. It is marked with car-eating potholes.


The road turns to cinder.

Keep going. Persevere. I know it's bumpy.

And after the road has turned to dirt and black lava rock and ends; at the place the locals call "the End of the World", this is where Dan is building his house. Looking back down the four miles:


This is Daniel, his driveway, and not-so-trusty Dodge 4 x 4.


The land is thick tropical forest. Tall Ohia trees and Tree Ferns.


When I arrived, Dan and his friend Keko had already spent a number of days clearing brush and cutting down trees for the homesite. The first thing to do is to lay down lines to make a square. Take that back. The first thing to do is to put up a tarp for shelter. It rains more than 130 inches a year in this area, and although we employ the philosophy of "when it rains...you get wet" it's crucial to have some shelter for tools, wood, and humans.


Alright. Let's lay down some strings to make a square. I love the fact that to build something, we have to consult with an ancient Greek algebra equation. If it's not a2 + b2 = c2, it's not square. This will take a little bit of adjusting.





After a great deal of furious math, adjustments and counteradjustments, we'd gotten an area of 400 (mostly) square feet squared within 1 1/8 inches. The square is in the background.


Kiave the dog is very excited about this momentous accomplishment, but she likes to remain calm and keep her emotions in check.


The next step is to dig down to the lava rock, and place concrete blocks along the lines as footers. The posts of the house will sit on these. We mix some fresh concrete to fasten the blocks to the bedrock, and make sure they're level.




Note the 4 x 12 x 20 foot beams. The house will sit on them. We carried these approx. 100 feet through uneven swampy jungle. I am afraid to know how much they weigh, but it took everything the three of us had to get them up to the site. This was what we got done on our first weekend of work. Beginnings are always slow starting out.