Jill and I dropped the little ladies off at Montessori school in the morning. Afterwards, she, little man, and I drove into the Manoa Valley so that we could complete what Jill referred to as "the one jungle hike on my trip." Most of the parts of the island that we've seen thus far have been relatively dry; the Manoa Falls hike looked and felt more like what I experienced in Costa Rica. Lots of lush, dense vegetation. Little man did an AWESOME job on the hike. The terrain was rough at points so he rode my shoulder chariot for about half of the trek, but nevertheless, I was impressed with his 3-year-old moxie. And I'm not entirely sure why I wasn't cast in the LOST pilot.
Hawaii Day 6 - Polynesian Cultural Center, Laie, Kualoa Regional Park
After five days, I think I have progressed from Kid Competent: Level 0 to Kid Competent: Level 1 based on the following evidence:
- I know all the lyrics to the Moana soundtrack
- I'm not grossed out by sticky kid hands
- I can cook eggs-to-order and know individual sandwich preferences
- I can carry all various and sundry odds-and-ends that are collected throughout the day (coloring books, bracelets, miscellaneous lego pieces, crafts, etc.)
We started the morning at the Aloha swap meet (located outside of the Aloha Stadium) so I could pick up a few specific gift items for family and coworkers. I hate, hate, HATE souvenir shopping, which is why I take an obnoxious amount of pictures and blog incessantly when I travel (it's about the memories, man...), but there are a few folks back home who have held the fort down while I'm gone, so what sort of a-hole would I be if I didn't bring back some thank-you presents? With that being said, the swap meet is similar to el mercado artisanal in San Jose--overwhelming, tons of cheap tourist goods (most of which probably come from a factory overseas), but it is THE place to buy Hawaiian shirts (or "aloha shirts" as they are called here). Shirts on shirts on shirts. Okay, here's a test to see if the OBS actually reads my blog. I bought three identical aloha shirts...guess who gets to coordinate their outfits next week?? :) :) :)
We left the swap meet and drove out to Laie to spend the afternoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The drive out to Laie was probably the most beautiful drive of the trip. The road hugs the north-eastern coast of the island and the other side is surrounded by mountains. Jill and Cliff are doing an ATV tour in the Laie-area this weekend and apparently they get to drive through the valley where the gallimimuses romp in JP1.
The Polynesian Cultural Center is difficult to describe. I expected a museum. When we drove up, I immediately got Disney vibes. But it's not really contrived like Disney. I'll do my best to summarize:
The PCC was founded by the LDS Church in 1963. The Church's missions were already well-established in many of the Polynesian islands (Tonga, Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand, Fiji) and from what I understand, the Church wanted to create a space in which native Pacific Island people could share their culture, history, and art with the rest of the world. I'll spare you my ramblings and you can read about it here. The folks that work and perform in the PCC are all native to one of the aforementioned islands. Many of them are students at BYU-Hawaii (also in Laie) who work and/or volunteer at the PCC in addition to their studies.
So you get what I mean when I say that the PCC has a bit of an Epcot vibe. It was certainly more touristy than anything else that I've done since arriving, but the PCC's mission and purpose feels more educational than Disney. There aren't any rides. Folks aren't trying to sell you stuff. You can walk around to the different island centers and listen to their oral histories, learn how to weave baskets out of coconut palms, make coconut oil, learn the process of wood carving, etc. The value of the PCC is in the exchanges that take place between the employees and visitors. If someone wants to go in and just have a song and dance show, cool--you could do that, I guess--but I personally feel like I know a little more about Polynesian culture (and specifically Hawaiian culture) now than I did before visiting the PCC.
After the PCC, Jill drove me over to see the LDS Hawaii temple. I'm not active anymore (and haven't been for about a decade) so I couldn't go inside the temple, but it was nice to see the grounds and I had a nice chat with a few missionaries. Fun fact: the female missionaries get to wear awesome muumuus. I love muumuus. I own a muumuu and wear it unrepentantly.
We ended the evening at 7 Brothers, home of delicious burgers that fill you with self-loathing after you eat one. I should have picked up on the fact that 7 Brother is *also* an LDS establishment by 1) the "bar" was a dessert bar-only and 2) it's called 7 Brothers (for non-LDS folks...LDS families tend to be pretty big).
On the way back to Honolulu, Jill let us stop at Kualoa Regional Park so I could snap a few pictures. For those of you who are not Facebook friends with Jill, JRP is where her family took her awesome Jurassic Park-y family portraits.
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