Pele's Revenge

Please note:  it is helpful to read the post "Hawaiian Ghost Stories" first for background). 

As a child growing up in Hawaii I was constantly told stories about not removing rocks from a) an active volcano, b) a Hawaiian temple called a He'eiau or c) other sites which are deemed sacred to the Hawaiians and/or the volcano goddess Pele.  I love rocks.  To this day I have a large collection of rocks from all over the place (ok, mainly Utah and Wyoming, but just about every place I've been is represented).  Not only do I love rocks but my grandmother had taken a liking to a semi-precious stone found near the volcano called "olivine".  It is an olive-colored glassy stone that is created when the right combination of heat and minerals combine.  There is a beach on Kauai that is made of olivine and it is often found embedded in volcanic rock.  My grandmother had some jewelry made from it and I thought it was so beautiful.

In any case, my fourth grade class went on a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii.  The purpose was to see Volcano National Park, and various He'eiaus and petroglyphs and other things of educational interest.  In preparation for the trip my mother allowed me to use her special bag and a pair of her stylish slip-on wedges which were a bit large for me.  My grandpa gave me fifty dollars as spending money.  I was so excited!  I had never been on a trip without my parents and I felt very grown-up.

On arrival at the hotel, the teachers gathered us into the lobby for a stern lecture from the hotel manager.  He warned us to keep the noise down and to not run in the hall.  We were to stay away from certain areas of the hotel but we could purchase candy from the lobby store.  Most of all, he warned, we were not to lock our keys in the rooms as this caused many problems for the hotel staff! He mentioned this twice at least.  Then we had an hour to put our bags in our rooms and of course, buy some candy.  I held off, not wanted to appear desperate for candy right away.

The first stop on our tour was the volcano, looking very flat compared to all the movie volcanoes.  Even the extinct craters on my home island were steeper, having been eroded away.  In their original state they look like a shield and are called "shield volcanoes" due to the way they erupt.  They don't explode so much as fountain.  There are hundreds of pictures of the fountains of lava erupting from Kilauea or the other active vents in Hawaii.  In some pictures of lava the face of a woman can be seen and it is said that this is Pele. 

In any case, we arrived at the volcano and peered into the vast crater of Kilauea, which was slightly smoking.  There were men in special white suits walking around in it.  They said it was more than a mile down to where the men were walking.  It is an unforgettable sight once you have seen it.  After the crater we drove along the road making stops at various spots.  At one spot, to my great delight, was an entire field littered with - you guessed it - black volcanic rocks studded with olivine!  They were so beautiful and there were so many of them!  Yes, it is against the law to remove rocks from a national park.  Not only that, the  legend was hanging over me too.  She would surely have vengeance on me for taking her rocks.

But it was simply not enough to stop me from taking several rocks.  My grandmother would be so happy that I had managed to bring home semi-precious stones for her.  Perhaps jewelry could be made from them... And those legends, come on!  How could they possibly be true?  Would the park service prosecute a child?  And the people who made the olivine jewelry, they must have gotten it from the volcano too... I could justify anything!

As the day wore on, things began to change.  The group of girls I considered my friends sat with me on the bus as we made plans for spending the evening at the hotel.  All day we sat together, giggling and laughing in between stops at the volcano park.  So far so good.  When we arrived back at the hotel that night, everyone crowded around the kiosk in the lobby that sold candy, myself included.  We took our stash up to the room and proceeded to do all the things the hotel manager told us not to.  We screamed, high on way too much sugar, teased the boys, tried to break in to their room.  I got emotional for some reason and....locked our keys in the room.  Yes, me.  And when my roomies found out it was me, I was out of the club. 

The next day I had to sit next to some nerdy boy on the bus who also ignored me.  I tripped in my mom's shoes several times, finally tearing them.  Someone told me I looked stupid in them anyway and they were too big.  My cool bag that my mom let me use suddenly seemed too big, too touristy.  Was it my imagination or was everyone looking at me like I was a complete dork loser?  No one wanted to sit with me at lunch.  The guy that I thought liked me was holding hands with some other girl.  My friends barely spoke to me.  The trip went downhill fast. 

That night in the hotel room I decided to go through  all the things I'd bought on the trip. It was our last night and my friends left me alone in the room to go have fun.  At the bottom of my bag sat those olivine rocks, glinting and dangerous.  I made a decision right then because it had become clear to me that Pele had indeed punished me and I didn't like it!  I found my teacher, a great lady who I knew would understand.  Gathering all my courage I knocked on the door to her room and silently handed her the rocks.  I told her how sorry I was and how wrong it had been to take them.  She solemnly received them from me, understanding my situation.  She said she would do something with them. 

After that a weight lifted off me and I headed down to dinner happy.  Low and behold, my friends smiled and invited me to eat with them... we had fun, and I spent the rest of grandpa's money (much to his surprise - "what in the world did you spend that money on?")  on more candy and nick-knacks.  We had a great night. 

In the morning we piled on the bus to go home, and I happened to look down at the planter on the sidewalk of the hotel.  There were my three rocks, glinting in the morning sun.  I smiled and said goodbye. 

In case you think this is a bit "out there", here is a website you can go to to read similar stories and it also tells you how to return rocks taken from the volcano.
http://www.volcanogallery.com/lavarock.htm

If anyone has stories they would like to share, please leave a comment and share your story.  I love to hear about things that have happened to others!

Next post:  what happened when my Dad took a rock from the volcano.