Friday, June 13, 2008

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, USA

The second Hawaii card.....this time representing the "Waha'ula Visitor's Centre"


This used to be the coastal visitor centre in Hawaii Volcanoes park and was destroyed by a lava flow from Kilauea Volcano on 22nd June, 1989. Only twisted structural steel protruding from the black lava remains to mark its place.


A short legend, regarding this place.

It is said in legend that if any volcanic rock or black sand is taken from Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (or anywhere in Hawaii) that the person that took it will be cursed by the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele until it is returned. While purportedly an ancient Hawaiian belief, historians can trace this legend only to the mid-twentieth century, and it is widely believed to have been invented by park rangers to keep visitors from taking rocks. Nevertheless, the lobby of Kīlauea Military Camp (now a vacation area for military personnel) has a cabinet displaying rocks returned by people attempting to atone for the bad luck that has befallen them, and letters describing their predicaments.

I personally would like to take a small sample to be honest....a friend of mine went to Egypt several years ago and she brought me some sand from the Sahara desert...its nice to take such particular things that are so significant and unique for a place......but if im gonna have some additional bad luck coz of it, id think twice....i already have enough to cope with :)

thanks to Jessica for these two Hawaiian cards

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