Moving to Puna or Hilo? Ya might want to think again... (rent, new home)

[kani-lehua]

Moderator cut: edit

the VOG is going to be with us until the tradewinds return. hopefully soon!!!!

[willdufauve]

Originally Posted by Kohala Coast tennis

I remember being shocked at the unfriendliness and all the other rotten stuff after I arrived. .

In this short thread alone there are three people talking about experiencing the unfriendliness.

Rather than hearing and responding to legitimate criticisms you devalue and belittle the person speaking. A lot of people come away from an experience of living on the Big Island saying there are some serious social flaws.

If you prefer to remain deluded and perpetuate a fantasy of Hawaii, your problem. hawaii isn't a paradise, but it's not neutral either. Hilo is a little ghetto like a lot of provincial ghettos, but with a nicer view of the ocean.

[cynthia007]

Originally Posted by willdufauve

In this short thread alone there are three people talking about experiencing the unfriendliness.

Rather than hearing and responding to legitimate criticisms you devalue and belittle the person speaking. A lot of people come away from an experience of living on the Big Island saying there are some serious social flaws.

If you prefer to remain deluded and perpetuate a fantasy of Hawaii, your problem. hawaii isn't a paradise, but it's not neutral either. Hilo is a little ghetto like a lot of provincial ghettos, but with a nicer view of the ocean.

It's OK, really! Not everyone finds joy, peace and paradise here. People who are considering moving to any part of Hawaii should know that. I can't imagine what this place would look like if every person who moved here stayed here. The poor, already overworked and underdevelopment infrastructure would collapse. People who are considering moving here would do well to heed your advice.

All I'm saying is that for me and my family (as with many other people who have moved here) we found one positive experience after another after we relocated here. We made great friends with local people, as well as transplants. We created wonderful careers, and have had opportunities to experience this VERY rich culture in a way that many will never even begin to know. I consider myself very blessed to have lived here for so many years. I say "THANK YOU!" every day when I wake up. I do believe that a force beyond my physical being had something to do the incredible joy I have found while living here. Call me deluded if you want, but more than one person has told me that Hawaii is a mirror. I LOVE my problem.

I wish you well...joy, peace, and aloha to you!

[croatoan]

Originally Posted by willdufauve

I have to say that Hilo is a dump and the Big Island is way over-rated. I lived for a year on Kauila St and truly came to hate it by the time I left.

I didn't go there looking for paradise or anything foolish like that. I'm a senior and was looking for a warm weather place inside the US to retire.

I'm a very friendly outgoing person usually but, overall, people on the Big Island are not. The VOG just stinks. Hilo Union is a way overcrowded and sub standard elementary school. A lot of the local people are hooligans.

The culture is oppressive...nothing but awful ukelele music and one-sound slack key, bad food, ohana this and aloha that...I can move to Detroit but would I really then have to talk, think, and listen to Motown 24/7? No, but that's Hawaii. And, a lot of the haoles from the mainland are living totally deluded in new age lala land.

I didn't come here to trash the big island, but the OP had a perspective that's worth heeding, and I saw how you all diverted the subject to how precious everything in hawaii is and steamrollered him right out of here. That comes so natural because Hawaii is mostly about self-absorbed people being self-absorbed.

Yeah, I liked what you said about people being deluded into thinking they are in a good place. Lala land is right. It was peculiar when I talked to people in person about the negatives and they asked me why I focused on them and that I should look at the goood things. I told them then the bad things will only get worse. Like feeling breast lump and and saying, "Isn't my hand so pretty?"

I know many people do not want to openly address the problems of the area because it is bad for business. And I think the bullying is a tell that I was right on target.

Well, it is alright. People thought I was pissed off and angry and upset but I was not. I was just making commentary with some jokes in there.

And besides, I was right about the Volcano, yes?
Homeowner: 'It's very easy to outrun lava' - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/29/hawaii.volcano.ap/index.html - broken link)

[leilaniguy]

Puna has a lot of warts and pimples that's for sure, but it's better than some other places, like the place I left, (another retirement mecca). I considered it a hell-hole. Sorry you had an unpleasant experience here, that's not uncommon. I've met more than a few people over the years who came here with notions of living out the rest their lives here in "paradise" only to run screaming for the airport, some after only a couple of weeks. Still, with all it's drawbacks Puna has grown by 12 thousand people in 8 years. It's an odd place, with many odd people (I'm one of them), living on an erupting volcano without a lot of what mainlanders take for granted. Here's a few bumper stickers/ teeshirts I've seen here in Puna that say a lot about the place. PUNA; Where old hippies come to die. PUNATICS; We're all here because we're not all there. Welcome to Appalachia with palm trees. PUNA; The third world with a zip code. Square pegs in the land of holes. if you don't fit in, you fit here. My personal favorite is; We don't care how you do things where you come from. BTW I happen to have a didgiridu, I keep it next to my bong. Got to go braid my beard now. catch you later.

[Jungjohann]

Moderator cut: edit And you know what, if the Bigger Island really did "Suck", how could you explain Kilauea????????? Interesting quandry.........

Aloha and okolemaluna

[kani-lehua]

the volcano has been, "letting forth" since 1983. it hasn't stopped.

[livin_on_a_rock]

Originally Posted by croatoan

Sorry, I have stated nothing but facts.

It's too bad that you see things the way you do. I truly believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I'm not knocking you for that. The Big Island is definitely not the "paradise" that I had envisioned, but there sure is a lot of beautiful NATURAL scenery around every corner (and it sure beats shoveling snow when it's 9 degrees outside). Everyone has their own thoughts of what paradise actually is, I suppose. My family and I moved here with having never been here and, fortunately for us, we've had nothing but positives so far. I think it is a little far fetched to say that you are stating nothing but facts. Aloha is in the eye of the beholder (on old saying rephrased) and it's certainly a shame that you didn't feel any. As far as your comment about dreadlocks, have you ever heard of the term "self-expression"? It's no different than kids who dress up goth or any other passing fad, really. Unfortunately, it's individuals with the same sense of disgust and attitude toward BI that will give Hawaii a bad rap (if they stick around here)! Please don't, no sense staying somewhere that makes you so unhappy, right?

[Paniolo Cowgirl]

Originally Posted by willdufauve

I have to say that Hilo is a dump and the Big Island is way over-rated. I lived for a year on Kauila St and truly came to hate it by the time I left.

I didn't go there looking for paradise or anything foolish like that. I'm a senior and was looking for a warm weather place inside the US to retire.

I'm a very friendly outgoing person usually but, overall, people on the Big Island are not. The VOG just stinks. Hilo Union is a way overcrowded and sub standard elementary school. A lot of the local people are hooligans.

The culture is oppressive...nothing but awful ukelele music and one-sound slack key, bad food, ohana this and aloha that...I can move to Detroit but would I really then have to talk, think, and listen to Motown 24/7? No, but that's Hawaii. And, a lot of the haoles from the mainland are living totally deluded in new age lala land.

I didn't come here to trash the big island, but the OP had a perspective that's worth heeding, and I saw how you all diverted the subject to how precious everything in hawaii is and steamrollered him right out of here. That comes so natural because Hawaii is mostly about self-absorbed people being self-absorbed.

Sure there are hooligans in Hilo, many of them in Puueo where you lived. But not everyone tho. My aunty and uncle lived in Puueo a couple of streets over from Kauila St for decades. My cousins grew up there one is now an engineer and the other one works at Hilo Hospital. So they are not hooligans.

The way I see it there are hooligans in every town on earth. If you run into a few it's no big deal.

As for the "awful ukelele music and one-sound slack key" music, you know there are radio stations that play Brittney and K-Fed and stuff like that.

There's even a classical music station there.

As for the bad food you shoulda tried Nori's Saimin and Snacks for some awesome Hilo style saimin or Blaine's Drive In. The teri beef plate with mac salad at Blaine's is ono! Especially when you follow it up with malasadas for dessert.

Sorry you feel that Hawaii people are "self absorbed". In my personal experience it just ain't that way.

[cynthia007]

Originally Posted by croatoan

Yeah, I liked what you said about people being deluded into thinking they are in a good place. Lala land is right. It was peculiar when I talked to people in person about the negatives and they asked me why I focused on them and that I should look at the goood things. I told them then the bad things will only get worse. Like feeling breast lump and and saying, "Isn't my hand so pretty?"

I know many people do not want to openly address the problems of the area because it is bad for business. And I think the bullying is a tell that I was right on target.

Well, it is alright. People thought I was pissed off and angry and upset but I was not. I was just making commentary with some jokes in there.

And besides, I was right about the Volcano, yes?
Homeowner: 'It's very easy to outrun lava' - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/29/hawaii.volcano.ap/index.html - broken link)

I'm curious. Where are you now? I love to compare and contrast. What makes the space you are in now different/same/better/worse etc. from Hawaii?