Hawaiian Reflections

Erin's feeling a little under the weather today with a stomach bug - which is all too common here - so we've pushed back the start of our trek for a day. Hopefully she'll be feeling better by tomorrow and is resting and recovering in our room. We knew there would be days like this so we're prepared for it. After spending most of the day reading and playing nurse and launderer (the legal kind), I'm now passing some time in a cyber cafe while she sleeps and gets well. It's a good opportunity to recap my thoughts on Kaua'i which I haven't had a chance to do.

So the first part of our trip was work, not play. We're trying to contribute in some way to the places we go and not just play tourist. It allows us to get "closer to the ground" and have a more rich experience than just passing through and seeing the sights. It lets you meet the people and have experiences and relationships and conversations that you wouldn't otherwise have.

We worked in Koke'e Forest on the mountainous west side of the island. It's significantly higher and cooler than the Hawaii I pictured (beaches, sand, palm trees, bikinis, surfers...) It's about 15 to 20 degrees cooler up in the forest than down below. We had very simple, cabin like accommodations and worked real hard. The work of removing/killing non-native species (aka weeding) plants sometimes as big as trees is not easy. It consists of being hunched over all day ripping plants out of the ground if they are small or slashing them with machetes and then treating them with herbicides if they are big. We were spent after every workday.

The goal of the program (Kauai Resource Conservation Program, www.krcp.org) is to eliminate non-native plants in certain areas of Kokee forest. What happens is these plants come in and outcompete the native plants and take over the forest, eliminating the biodiversity and threatening the survival of the native plants. The plants we targeted were kahili ginger (from Nepal ironically) and strawberry guava (from Brazil). Unfortunately, these plants already have a stronghold on the island and dominate large tracts of the forest. It was frustrating and somewhat disconcerting after having spent a full day working to remove and kill these plants and getting into a van for the 10-mile drive on a dirt access road back to the lodge and seeing ginger lining the road on both sides the entire way. So the program has it challenges set out for it. To be frank,I'm not sure what to make of our efforts and those of the program. I understand the goal at this point is not to eliminate the plants altogether but to prevent them from spreading into select tracts where native plants are flourishing - or to postpone the spread of the non-native species until a better and more effects deterrent to their spread is figured out (like a biocontrol or fungus which may create issues of its own). In any event, it's a challenging and complex issue to address and I'm not totally sure what to think about it. I do commend the folks at KRCP for fighting the fight.

In addition to giving back to the local scene, volunteering at KRCP also afforded us with some opportunities to connect with some permanent Kaua'i residents and get a glimpse into their lives. Thanks especially to Katie and Jim for their over-the-top hospitality and generosity. We greatly enjoyed both the local housewarming party and beach bonfire to which you guys invited us.

After the first week of working, we were free to explore Kaua'i on our own accord. We took the local bus and hitched around the island to get to the start of the Kalalau Trail. Kalalau is an epic backpacking trip along the Na Pali coast that is regarded as one of the classic hikes in the world. "Pali" means "cliff" in Hawaiian, and this hike merits the description. I've done a decent amount of rock climbing and some mountaineering in my day and even I was spooked on this hike. Picture yourself on a thin (perhaps a foot or less wide in places), loose, small rock and gravel trail that is in disrepair at times and is perched precariously above a steep drop-off of hundreds of feet (think pali) into the raging and notorious north shore of Hawaii. The high surf was incessantly pounding the rocks below in a loud torrent. Add to this a strong and menacing gusty wind that threatened to throw you and your 35-pound pack off balance and also intermittent rain showers. It makes for a dramatic walk.

But eleven hard-earned miles later you get to a special place. There's a large secluded beach with a two-tiered waterfall that's a hundred feet high and provides fresh water to drink and a shower to bathe in. Kalalau is held to be a sacred place by the Hawaiians who used to have a village here and this is the place that I half-joked to Erin that is perhaps protected by the spirits of the gods they worship.

Above the beach is a lush and fruitful valley this is inhabited by an interesting, eclectic, and free-spirited group of hippies who squat and live there. As every good Easy Rider fan knows, "these people should be proud. They're doing there own thing in their own time. It's not every man who can live off the land." But that's just what these people are trying to do. Some have spent most of their lives there (30 years in some cases) with just brief trips out to the real world. They gather greens and fruits (mangoes, oranges, bananas, lemons, limes, breadfruit) and grow vegetables to sustain themselves. They have a gathering place called "the sanctuary" where they meet in the evenings to share communal meals. One night we attended and were offered bread freshly baked over a campfire and fish and a salad that had been picked that afternoon. They were quite gracious hosts. As Erin mentioned, they need to clean up their act in terms of dealing with their waste and garbage, but if they do that they will be a long way towards sustainable living which is no small feat. There's also the minor detail that living there is illegal so that's a hitch. But it was a cool and unique experience for us to enjoy and observe.

After a few relaxing days at Kalalau and a speedier and less treacherous hike out, we mostly relaxed and toured the beaches and waterfalls of the island. I really enjoyed camping at Polihale State park which is a remote beach park on the west side with lots of sand but few people. (Surprisingly enough, there were traffic jams and bumper-to-bumper traffic at times around the main towns of Kauai, a real bummer.) I also really liked the north side of the island that had cool, hip towns and gorgeous beaches, including Erin's favorite Secret Beach. Another chill spot was the Queen's Bath, as shown among the pic's below. Erin uploaded some more HI pic's by the way so check back to the older posts for more shots.

While in Hawaii, I read the book Hawaii by James Michener. I highly recommend it for insights into the people and history that shaped this island. It's historical fiction so readable with lots of action, personalities, and steamy drama thrown in. It covers everything about Hawaii from geological formation to arrival of Polynesians to arrival of white men (mostly whalers and missionaries at first) to the ensuing plight of native Hawaiians to the blending of Asian peoples (Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos) into the population (at first as cheap labor and later as citizens) to Pearl Harbor and WWII to Hawaii's annexation to the U.S. Lots to understand. Hawaii is no ordinary U.S. state.

Here are some other random "points of interest" about Hawaii. They're all more or less true, exact details not withstanding.
- Hawaii was likely first inhabited by man when Polynesians sailed thousands of miles in a two-hulled canoe from Tahiti or Bora Bora or some far-off Pacific island at a time when no other civilization in the world was even sailing hundreds of miles on the open ocean - an amazing feat.
- The Hawaiian islands are part of a chain of mountains, mostly underwater, that stretch across the Pacific all the way up to Siberia.
- There's actually another underwater "island" in the Hawaii chain that is currently forming off the coast of the Big Island. Check back in a few million years and there may be some more real estate in HI.
- The native Hawaiian people are a small minority of the people on Hawaii. I read somewhere that the population by nationality goes something like 1) Caucasians 2) Filipinos 3) Japanese 4) Hawaiians. For some reason I was surprised by that. There are tons of white people (called haoloes - "howlies") and tons of Asian people but surprisingly fewer Hawaiians than I expected. When white men arrived, they brought with them lots of diseases like measles and changes that the Hawaiians were not adapted to survive. Their population dropped from 400,000 to 40,000 in half a century (or something like that). These people and their culture (which is a very cool one) seem like they are all struggling a bit to find their way. But in the meantime, Hawaii is an amazingly diverse place.
- The original native Hawaiians could recite their family's oral history back over a hundred generations by memory. That's 1000's of years! Totally amazing. In contrast, my siblings and I are struggling to research our family history back 5, 6 generations.
- There's actually a small island off the SW coast of Kauai called Ni'ihau that is forbidden to visitors and populated solely by native Hawaiians. I guess it's a little contrived because the island is owned by a rich white family that has decided to do this but it's an interesting situation.
- The only mammals native to Hawaii are a bat and a seal, owing to the extreme isolation of the place.
- To let you all know how budget Erin and I are, the cost of all our accommodations on Kauai for 3 weeks amounted to roughly a 100 bucks. That's what I fondly call "ghetto living." It consisted mainly of staying at the lodge in Kokee for free because we were volunteering and then small camping fees. But I must say, it was awesome waking up close to the ground every day whether that be in the forests of Kokee, on the lush farm of our friends' family, or looking out over the beach and the Pacific Ocean.

Well, those are my rambling thoughts about Kauai. Perhaps longwinded and scattered but I'm glad to get those things into writing. In each place we go, I'm trying as much as possible to immerse myself in the nature of the place and its people and history by reading, talking to people, asking questions, and observing so as to better understand. I figure I'll share a boiled-down version of what I've learned via the blog to drop some of the knowledge. Hopefully it's well-received.

Now being in Nepal for just a few days brings up a huge array of new thoughts and perspectives and issues related to peoples, races, nations, religions, wealth vs poverty, materialism vs simplicity, and so much more. It's like the wheels in my brain can't stop turning. Check out the blog of a friend of a friend from Colorado who's volunteering at a school in the town of Pokhara that we're currently visiting. www.blogspot.wandertheeast.com He's a skilled and entertaining writer and describes well the issues at hand here. Also, check out the book Annapurna Circuit by Andrew Stevenson for a great read by a man who treks through the same general area we're heading out to see tomorrow and describes vividly the landscape and people and contrasts what he sees to his own Western life back home.

Finally, last thought. Our view every morning includes Dhaulagiri (the 7th highest mountain in the world), Machupachare (the striking mountain in the photo below), the Annapurna massif, and Manaslu. I don't care what anyone says, the Nepalis are lucky!

Off to see the patient. Ciao.

Drew