Home Sweet Ocean

I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin about half past dead…

This song recurs to me now and then when I’m on the road. In Puerto Jiminez on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica, a kind of dusty border town, the song came to me. And here this morning in Kapaa, on the northern shore of Kauai, I’ve got only a half hour from the airport and I love the  place. It’s got the big touristy hotels, but there’s a healthy local gringo culture here, haven’t been here long enough to suss out local Hawai’ian culture, been here less than 48 hours now, gotta check out of hotel soon, so will post some of yesterday’s discoveries before the maid kicks me out:

My Daewoo beater, duct-taped sunroof, $25/day (30 w.tax), perfect, not being the new Avis/Budget/Alamo brand new tourist rental.

Found a place to lay my head, got into ocean, perfect temp., not too cold/warm, oh my! 3 times in water yesterday, each time with fins, once with air mat, which I’m finding difficult to control, squirrelly; a little body surfing;  the sand is rough and granular, fluffy, soft, nice to roll around when you come back in. Last night swam in rain. No one else at least here, doing anything like this. I’m like a starving man sitting down to a banquet, the Pacific so inviting and comfortable, unlike the 50 degree NorCal ocean.

Small Town Coffee

Annie Caporufscio set up shop in this converted Ford airport shuttle van with her partner Jeremy Hartshorn; Annie had run the shop for 9 years in rented space, but got tired of the landlords rising the rent and “…didn’t want to be bullied in the lease.” Great barista crema, the muffins make a good breakfast. Local hangout, good vibes…


Kauai Beach House Hostel

$40 shared sleeping room, $80 for a solo room (of which there are 3). Looks doable to me, especially in the land of 2-$300 hotel rooms. On beach, clean, wi-fi, young travelers, kitchen, shared baths, cool place.


Shared room.

Paul Iwai’s Rooster Farm

How many roosters, I asked. 200?

More, Paul said. Are they beautiful! Had great visit with Paul, from a Japanese family, on family land, born here, I know chickens, and we talked shop. Oh my again! Look at these beauties; beautifully tended. You should hear the noise!

I asked Paul where I could buy a knife and he gave me two. We ate macadamia nuts from his trees, he gave me grapefruit, tangerines, I’m sending him 3 books. Kindred spirits abound here.

 That’s part of what happened yesterday, gotta pack up and head north now. 

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

8 Responses to Home Sweet Ocean

  1. I didn't want to say anything because the air mat seems so right, but I took mine out and squirrelly and frustrating was what I found. I would encourage you to rent a board so you can score some waves.

  2. to Anonymous…gosh, I was so taken with the bright colors/variety of feathers/roosters, it missed my notice they are tied up.

    seems bizarre to me, to tie them up….and to have so many..
    I hope Martin is not correct in alluding to the possibility of them being kept/used for cockfights…too sad.

  3. These roosters appears to have had their combs and wattles removed: a process known as "dubbing". I cannot see whether their spurs have been cropped or sharpened. The reason that they are tethered and not allowed to run free-range is that they would kill each other if given the chance. They definitely appear to be gamecocks and not your nice little bantams. Whether they are actually used for illegal cockfighting, I cannot say.

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