We're back home now. Two of us and all of our bags.
When we left on this trip, I knew "Aloha" to be Hawaiian for both Hello and goodbye. But after this trip I really think there is something more.
Aloha is more than a greeting and salutation. It's used all over in naming and marketing. Before getting on the plane, we ate fish "served with Aloha." There was "Aloha" airlines and "Aloha" shaved ice, but there were couple of times when I really got a sense of what Aloha really was.
After our hike / crawl through the Bamboo forest we stopped at a roadside stand offering fruit and smoothies. As one guy was grinding Jen's smoothie in the blender, I started talking to another guy who was just outside the stand carving the pulp out of a coconut. We talked about our hike. (He could tell where we had been by the mud on our shins.) Eventually he asked if we were on our Honeymoon. I said no, we've been married 5 years. "Oh yeah, Aloha Man!" He said. These was a warmth and acceptance in what he said, something deep and genuine.
In Kalaupapa, the former leper colony, our mule guide, bus driver, and tour guide was named Keanai. He had driven the bus for Mark Richards (a former patient and current resident of Kalaupapa) until Mark could no longer continue. Since then he's taken over and runs tours. Every single person we passed in the village, he knew and gave a big wave to. Everyone recognized him and the rusty blue school bus. His wave was somewhere between a full hand and a hang-loose thumb-and-pinky wave. But in each wave, I could sense Aloha.
Its something about community, something about acceptance, and a little about love. Maybe like 'philio' - brotherly love.
Aloha.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Sunday, September 2, 2007
The road to Hana
It's interesting that this excursion for everyone is described as "the road to . . ." That's because once you get there, there is not much to see, but the road, oh the road.
It's 50 miles of twisting turning roads and one lane bridges with a spectacular view all along the way. The other thing about the "road to" is the stop that you take along the way. I'll highlight a few.
We'd heard about this first one from our zipline guide and in our guide book. 6.5 miles in we started down a trail into DENSE bamboo forest. Turns out this first trail was the wrong one. We came back up to road a few minutes later. It should have been a clue that my wide shoulder would only go sideways down the trail. Bamboo makes this incredible sound as the wind blows through it. It's like an entire orchestra of wood blocks. We did find the right trail and followed through the bamboo (wider this time) to our first couple of waterfalls. We had to crawl up a couple of rock faces, but stop short on the 12 foot rope climb to get to the next waterfall.
Our guidebook garunteed us a private waterfall if we pulled off at this unmarked stop and boulder-hopped up the stream for about 20 minutes. Well 20 minutes was a little more like 40, but we did get there and it was magnificent. We both took a couple of falls out of the deal and ended up muddy and bruised.
After overnighting outside of the town of Hana (and invading a family reunion going on below us) we headed out to the National Park. Now this is the same national Park that we were in while we were in the Crater, but on the otherside of the Volcano. This is the windward side, so instead of desolate and barren rock-scape we were in dense rain forest. We swam a little but in the bottom two of the 7 Sacred pools. (I think the kids peeing in them make them holy) and then headed up the volcano to Waikmu falls. This would be our last fall of the trip, and it was amazing. Water plumets 200 feet bouncing and churning and misting all the way down. The 4 miles round trip was well worth the time we got to spend beside this fall. The hike itself went through more bamboo forest, under a giant Banyon tree. All around us Mango and Guava had fallen and were bein consumed by hoards of fruit flys. They put this sweet smell in the air that makes me want a smoothie now that we're back down.
Alright. Only twenty minutes until we need to be at the airport. More pictures and stories after we hit the mainland.
Aloha!
It's 50 miles of twisting turning roads and one lane bridges with a spectacular view all along the way. The other thing about the "road to" is the stop that you take along the way. I'll highlight a few.
We'd heard about this first one from our zipline guide and in our guide book. 6.5 miles in we started down a trail into DENSE bamboo forest. Turns out this first trail was the wrong one. We came back up to road a few minutes later. It should have been a clue that my wide shoulder would only go sideways down the trail. Bamboo makes this incredible sound as the wind blows through it. It's like an entire orchestra of wood blocks. We did find the right trail and followed through the bamboo (wider this time) to our first couple of waterfalls. We had to crawl up a couple of rock faces, but stop short on the 12 foot rope climb to get to the next waterfall.
Our guidebook garunteed us a private waterfall if we pulled off at this unmarked stop and boulder-hopped up the stream for about 20 minutes. Well 20 minutes was a little more like 40, but we did get there and it was magnificent. We both took a couple of falls out of the deal and ended up muddy and bruised.
After overnighting outside of the town of Hana (and invading a family reunion going on below us) we headed out to the National Park. Now this is the same national Park that we were in while we were in the Crater, but on the otherside of the Volcano. This is the windward side, so instead of desolate and barren rock-scape we were in dense rain forest. We swam a little but in the bottom two of the 7 Sacred pools. (I think the kids peeing in them make them holy) and then headed up the volcano to Waikmu falls. This would be our last fall of the trip, and it was amazing. Water plumets 200 feet bouncing and churning and misting all the way down. The 4 miles round trip was well worth the time we got to spend beside this fall. The hike itself went through more bamboo forest, under a giant Banyon tree. All around us Mango and Guava had fallen and were bein consumed by hoards of fruit flys. They put this sweet smell in the air that makes me want a smoothie now that we're back down.
Alright. Only twenty minutes until we need to be at the airport. More pictures and stories after we hit the mainland.
Aloha!
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