Jen here... Writing my first ever blog... We'll see about this...
We were up for our 3rd consecutive sunrise today - amazing considering I normally sleep until 10! But it was totally worth it. Sunrises here are spectacular, as was our adventure today.
This morning we flew from Maui to Molokai, "the friendly island." We flew in an 8 passenger plane (much too small for me!) where they actually assigned people seats based on their weight. We flew right past the towering cliffs of Molokai (the highest in the world @ 3000 feet) - absolutely breath taking. Its here that they filmed Jurassic Park 2&3. It's also at the bottom of these cliffs where Kaluapapa, a leper colony, & our destination for today, exists.
There are 3 ways of getting to Kaluapapa - fly directly there, hike, or ride a mule. After hiking 13 miles over the past two days, I was awfully thankful that today we chose to ride the mules down these 1600 feet cliffs (a mere 300 ft. taller than the one we hiked up yesterday, I might add.)
We rode down these cliffs, majestically rising up on one side of us, and falling sharply into the clearest, most beautiful waters you can imagine on the other side. It took us 26 hairraising switchback turns to descend to the bottom of the cliffs. They tell you to "trust your mule," which is supposedly a sure footed animal. But let me tell you - that's a lot easier said than done. But after freaking out when the mule stepped too close for comfort to the edge of the cliff on the first couple turns, eventually I just started relaxing, & enjoying, & experiencing the beauty. And oh it was beautiful.
Once at the bottom, we toured the leper colony. That's right - this leper colony is now the #1 tourist attraction on Molokai. It seems somehow wrong & yet it was amazing to visit there, in the wierdest & best possible way.
It's strange, in teaching about Jesus healing the leper, I've often taught kids about leprosy - what it was like & about what an outcast this disease makes people. After seeing this place today, that doesn't even begin to cut it. I have a new appreciation for that story & for Jesus' compassionate touch.
Not only was this disease horrific (& still is - now there's just drugs that can arrest it), but the process of ostracizing people to this peninsula - found overlooking what has to be some of the most spectucular beauty on this planet - was equally horrific. Just outside of the peninsula where Kaluapapa (the leper colony) is located, which let me remind you is at the base of cliffs that rise 1600-3000 ft. tall, are two small islands. When a person was diagnosed with this disease, after their children were taken from them, they were given a one way ticket to this leper colony, which began in the 1860s & closed in 1969. (Today 30 former patients still live there & you can enter only with a permit.) This one way ticket got these patients a boat ride to Kaluapapa. The only problem was Kaluapapa is a difficult place to get to by sea, & so boaters, fearful of their own lives, refused to take people all the way to the shores. Instead, they would drop them off at one of these two off shore islands & then the patient would have to swim this hazardous ocean channel to the shore, where they were essentially condemned to live out the remainder of their lives. 3000-4000 people made it to shore this way... Who knows how many people died trying. Once at Kaluapapa, if a resident attempted to leave by hiking up the hazardous cliffs, they were either ordered back or shot @ the security checkpoints.
While at the colony - we saw pictures from the early 20th century of these patients with leprosy... What a horrific disease. The shame that these people must have felt, first from being ostracized, then from the physical defects they had, let alone the pain they experienced as they began to lose feeling in their extremities, lost their eyesight, & became more & more susceptible to other diseases.
Yet - heroes & hope emerged in this place by way of Father Damien, a priest from Belgium who later contracted the disease, & Mother Maryanne, a nun from New York, both of whom treated these patients with dignity & respect, showing them Christ's love in every way possible.
This place was one of such contrasts - tragedy & despair mixed with hope. Ugliness alongside nature's wonders...
And what an experience it was for us to see it.
On a fun note - we capped off tonight with the best fish I've ever eaten @ Mama's Fish House. Doug about choked at the prices, but after eating it & realizing that if you factor in the four freeze dried meals we've eaten in the last two days, it wasn't such a big deal to splurge - we thoroughly enjoyed it. Mahi Mahi stuffed with lobster & crab, encrusted with macadamia nuts; banana macadamia nut crisp for dessert... The food was incredible & even the presentation was excellent... And we got to enjoy it all while looking out at the ocean. Just perfect!
