Rainforest Living

Here we are a few days into Spring 2019!  It was a gorgeous sunny day, ALL day, until I finally finished cleaning rooms and getting all the laundry done…then came the rain.  Eh, it’s okay! We can’t have all the vegetation without the rain and Volcano Village wouldn’t be the same without either of them!

 It’s a unique place to call home.   Living in the middle of a rainforest next to one of the most active volcanoes in the world!   If you choose to stay with us, it will be your home for a few days too.  Most likely, where ever you live during your non – vacation life isn’t anything like Volcano or the Big Island of Hawaii.  How we live is very different as well. 

We ask you to please remove your shoes upon entering our home.  We provide slippers that you can wear instead, or you can go island style like we do, barefoot!  We ask you to remove your shoes to assist in not spreading germs, dirt and even chemicals that you may have picked up throughout your travels.  It is healthier for you and the next guest after you.

We don’t have central air conditioning or central heating.  Volcano’s average temperature year round is in the high 60s to the mid 70s so it isn’t needed. We can get a cold snap in the winter, and it can get hot (and even a little humid) in the summer. As simple as it seems, if the room is hot, open the windows.  If the room is cold, close the windows or as my Grandfather used to say, “Cold eh? Put more clothes on then!”

All our rooms are equipped with a space heater or propane fireplace to help heat the room during those chilly Volcano nights.  Here is what you need to know. If you turn on the heater with all the windows closed, the hot air has nowhere to go so your room will start to sweat. Now your room is hot and full of moisture which is ideal if you want to live in a terrarium, but not for living in the rainforest.  This is what causes a moldy/musty/mildew smell!  Keep a window cracked a bit to help with the circulation. 

Your bed has a heated mattress pad for sleeping. About 20 minutes before you hit the hay, turn that thing on HIGH.  Once you crawl into bed, turn it on low.  It will keep you toasty warm all night. 

Guess what? As I mentioned before we also get rain…a lot of rain.  We wouldn’t be a rainforest and you wouldn’t see all the greenery surrounding your room without it! The highest concentration of rain falls November through April.  It’s a good thing we get this rain because all the water that we use is rainfall that we catch in gutters and purify through a complex system of filters and UV light technology.  The water is completely potable utilizing this system so you can drink it straight out of the tap.  If you choose not to, you do have bottled water in your room if you prefer.

Our water pressure is low flow, kinda like…standing in the rain! If you are looking to have high pressure, sorry but it isn’t going to happen. All the units draw from the same pump room, so if you happen to try to shower at the same time as someone else, that could be why the water pressure is even lower.

There is a heated towel rack in your bathroom.  Turn it on, put your towels on it before and after you shower.  It will help dry out your towels for your next use!  Got caught in a rain storm?  You can put your clothes on this too and it will help dry them out.

We still have rooms available come check us out and live like a local for a few days!  If you book directly on our website for any dates in April or May put in the notes section “I want to live local!” and we will give you our kama’aina discount  of 10% off your room!