Kala: Be free (and break a rule or two)

Up early for coffee this morning. Seems I can't sleep past 7 am but that is ok. More time to enjoy the view. Yesterday was another exciting experience! After a wonderful breakfast prepared by our fantastic chef, Karen, we piled in the van and headed back up to the north shore. This time we did a river plunge in the creek!

But first things first. One of our group members, Scott, had lost his step-dad the day he arrived in Kauai. Being so far away from home and his family during this time was difficult for him so we decided that first we would do a short but sweet ceremony of love in the river to help him. We gathered around in a circle and put Scott in the middle, chanted a love prayer in Hawaiian and let him release a palm frond down the creek. It was quite lovely.

Ceremony for Scott

Up the trail about 100 yards, there was a hole in the creek bed that was suposed to be about 5 feet deep that the natives would use to cleanse themselves (not bathe, this is a sacred spot). However when we arrived at the hole, it was only about knee deep. Seems a few weeks ago there were some big storms that came through and filled up the hole. That was not going to stop us, however! Each one of us took a turn in the hole dunking ourselves and feeling the cold water rush over us. The weather was quite warm and there were no sea breezes to cool us off so it was quite nice. The mosquitos were another story though!

We next headed to Ke'e Beach right next to the Na'Pali Coast State Park. There is a beauful beach there with reefs to snorkle and hiking trails all around. There is an 11 mile trail that takes you around the cliffs of the coast and you can camp and hike the trail. We were not going to do that today. Today, we were to visit Ka Ulu o Laka Heiau (the first Hula school on Kauai) and see where the first Hula dance was (supposedly) performed.

We headed down to the beach for an afternoon picnic. We had stopped at a local grocery store on the way and I picked up a small container of California roll poke. Now this is not the same sort of "poke" we have back in North Carolina. It was a wonderful "salad" of fresh ahi, onions, avacado, roe --almost like having a California roll with tuna mixed all together. It was amazing! Unforntunately, there is a shortage of ahi in the islands and the prices on poke have doubled. We enjoyed our picnic under the trees right next to the beach. It was heavenly!

View from picnic area

We then headed toward the hiking trails and and just before we reached them, we took a turn up a trail that was clearly marked "KEEP OUT!" I was a little apprehensive at first--mainly because I thought Mishi was going the wrong way, but she wasn't. The area we visited is not advertised for tourists and visitors and we were the only ones headed up that way. Around the corner, we found a small, abandoned shack that was the first Hula school. Apparently there are A LOT of rules you have to follow to practice Huna--no drugs, no alcohol, no sex, and you must take it seriously. Those rules still apply today.

Picnicin'

We lost the trail on the way up, but Mishi could see the top so we sort of made our own trail to get back on the trail. At the top was a sacred alter of rocks. We left and offering and silently explored the area. It is Kapu to take pictures of the area, but you can take pictures of the view and that is what I did. There was an alter in the rocks on the mountain and a rock facing the sea that you could sit on and meditate or just enjoy the view. Mishi told us the story of Laka and Pele and how Hula began. (That story is too long to put here, but if you want to know more about Hawaiian spirtuality, either google it or check out Hawaiian Magic and Spirituality by Scott Cunningham.)

view from the Heiau

I was anxious to get in the water, so I was one of the first down the mountain. I quickly gathered my stuff and headed toward the water. It was late afternoon and it was cold! But so very worth it. There was a strong current but luckily the water was only about waist high. We wanted to get to Queen's Bath before sunset, so we quickly got out of the water and loaded up the van and headed to Princeville.