2016 - Visioning and taking in Hawai'i in Four Islands

Reflecting on my summer adventure to Hawai'i and came to the understanding today, while trying to capture the essence of this amazing learning adventure, that I had not stopped to post anything during the trip here, only some photos on Facebook -  When I heard that my nephew, Charlie, youngest son of my twin brother, tehanshi Gary Engler planned to have a social wedding celebration in Hawai'i I just knew I was "in" to witness it and I could not miss the chance to complete all 50 states to visit in my lifetime!  Never imagined how my life would unfold, and voila, aloha, here I am visiting the Hawai'an Islands and learning about the geology, with indigenous history here and witnessing a wedding of two families, the Engler Family from Minnesota and the Saito Family from Fukoshima Prefecture Japan ------

December 28 2016

Now dropping into being present to my experience and living in the moment at that time - I will employ this as an exercise in writing up on the cloud, as it were, to sort this out writing my solstice letter, well, why not share the highlights as I might offer them in a memoir, like that my mom, Peg Weaver wrote in her Rememberings of an 83 yr old grandma, self published in 1993  -   new tools in a new century, perhaps others might enjoy my musings on the cloud, new beginnings in the cloud, the pahiya oyate My first host, Joyce taught me how to select my first Airbnd right in the Puna lava fields where I centered my entire trip on the Big Island Out of when I arrived in Hilo Thurs June 16

 To get grounded to this new place, I decided to walk from Hilo Airport to the Enterprise rental, as I found the rental cheaper in town that at the airport on this journey ----seeing the foliage and hills actually groking I am really in the tropics on the Big Island!   - Notice my pack with wheels, and the CPAP case, and I have on my back my computer backpack - Staying fit too, is always my want - in cost effective eco travel ---

Here is the simple and rustic open air kitchen where I spent time writing and chatting with Joyce, my host and guide in the greater Puna area  -----

 Living nearby is Clive, the farmer who is responsible for growing the papayas, bananas and other fresh roots and fruits - have ginger and turmeric as well - Giving me the morning shaka sign of peace -Clive was my first contact here on the Big Island that I found through my volunteer work with Mankind Project International- and grateful to be welcomed to the Aina - spirit of the land with 11 men with a jump in fresh water after an inipi - Pidamiyayedo!


Fresh fruit, local papaya's for breakfast with Joyce in the AM, whilst I brew some coffee ----- a local Kona as I recall, the taste from the island  - mmmmm

 
Rainbow view of a soft rain morning from the open kitchen looking to the north  ---- Great to have a home on the island to come back to each night, a very homey B and B, and my beginning to find lodgings all much less than the $99 space my MKP friend Kevin E recommended on the south east coast of O'ahu on the other side of the mountains from the sprawl of Honolulu ---my refuge for 4 days on O'ahu (there is no "w"in the breathing language of Hawai'ian) a'loha

 
Joyce showing where the lava came right up to the recycling station in Pahoa during the last close lava flow - Great memories of waking up to her chanting in Hawaiian to Pele, in respect to honor the fire from Mother Earth in a good way
 
Only in Pahoa, a chocolate volcano dessert complete with flowers at a local cafe' shared with with Joyce in this small town in Puna on the Big Island

 Joyce and I would drive down to the coast and take a dip in the warm waters here at , and then chat with the local artists several mornings   -----

--> Pohoik’i County Park , west of Kapoho

After a couple of days of rest in Puna, I drove for the first time to visit Pele  on Sunday afternoon, and the energy of the Volcanoes National Park,  from my journal "

-->--> arrrived at the National Park at 4, too late for the movie about the place… I walked around the grounds and stopped at the Art Shop and noticed beautiful colorful Hawai’ian images and some very high prices for art.  Glad there are wealthy people who like and can afford such things. 

 Then got a hit to go down the “Many Craters Road to the Sea "where the petroglyphs are….and found myself getting more grounded to this young island.  and knowing that the carvings are all less than 2000 years old as the Polynesians arrived here from the west in their boats.  and then got to the Jaggar Museum around 7 PM and watched the glow of the crater,  the essence of Pele….until 8 or so….and a lot of people there, so I drove back to the SE island coast to get to bed and rest"

 

Halema'uma'u Overlook, one a boiling lake of lava, still steaming with fumes of sulfur--home of the goddess Pele on Crater Rim Trail on my way to the Chain of Craters Road

Stopped to walk through this lava tube on the road down to the coast through lava fields to the coast and petroglyphs 

From a walk on the lava flow on the big island
Petroglyphs carved in the lava by the coast on the big island at the bottom of the road

Drove down to mile 16 on the Chain of Craters Road and walked a mile across the lava field to see many petroglyphs from some of the earlier human inhabitants of the chain of Islands

 The common native tree, 'Ohi'a lehua, that grows on the lava, here at the National Park --

 

and such a gift to be welcomed by spirit and know how to honor with spirits with a give away of fragrant and beautiful flowers  as the fire of Pele' became visible in the crater - such a florid and beautifully alive variety of ecosystems here in the middle of the peaceful ocean, the Pacific for sure ---- ended the Sunday in awe of Creation  ----

On Sunday morning I stopped at a market north of Pahoa, as Joyce recommended a stand that serves crepes, a great breakfast treat 



 Crepe stand where I had my brunch on my way to the west of the Island and visit a National Historic Park of Refuge

 

Family hanging out for a simple meal at the market  ----

 From here, I  headed west at Kea'au through the Volcano Village and National Park through the Ka'u district to the Refuge National Park of Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park, where to escape the violence of the Kapu system, refugees, could find refuge in this place  ----


I remember dropping into a place of deep relaxation as I entered the space of the refuge here  Interesting image of the turtle with the places to sit -- later I would swim with the green sea turtles on the beaches of O'ahu and grateful for a couple of T shirts I picked up at the Market and Uncle Robert's Market Kaima, by Kalapana and the Kava (Awa) Bar where I learned how to honor the local use of the plant in a good way :



 
A reconstruction of a 16th Century six acre temple compound where a transgressor could escape to safety and refuge - kind of like the deep meditation I find in the Tibetan 4th Century Bon Practice of stillness, silence and spaciousness - having my body awake and keeping it simple - not getting hooked into thinking too much - and being present to gratitude in my inner refuge of infinity

 Reconstructed wooden carved Ki'i outside of the Hale O Keawe the temple here now reconstructed once held the bones and therefore the powers of the great chiefs  - the current artists' impressions here and I felt very peaceful and at home here!


#10 The Keoua Stone, a favorite resting spot of Keoua, a high chief of the Kona district in front of the 'Ale'ae'a Heiau, that predates the 16th C great wall - a focus of spiritual power prior to the building of the Hale O Keawe according to the guiding languge of the National Historical Park here

  
Colorful flora by the fish ponds at Pu'uhonua (refuge) o (at)  Honaunau  ----

A royal fish pond, which would have been stocked with fish reserved for those at the royal table

 Halau thatched A frame for storage and drying fish nets etc 

 

Naupaka, a dune binding native plant with "1/2 flowers" that lines the coastline here where I parked near pic nic ers  

View islandward from the black lava rock peninsula beyond the refuge ----

From here I drove up the Kona coast, which I found to be quite populated and more like the mainland -  headed back across the center of the island on 190 and 200 to Hilo and back to my "home nest" in Puna near Cape Kumukahi  the farthest SE part of the big island

---

Another down day on the solstice with an I group at Clives with another MKP man, and then

worked to set my airbnb places and flights to Maui from O'ahu and found my first place , with a guy named Kevin in  Makawau by Pukalani in the upcountry of  Maui for 3 nights, and then with Carrie, a grandma in the town of Lahui, on the final Island where I stayed for 2 nights and then stayed with an MKP brother Fernando that Forrest had referred me to who has a simple place by 

--> Anahola for my last 2 nights on the Islands - 7 on Hawai'i, 4 O'ahu, 3 Maui, 4 Kaua'i - 18 nights in all or 2 1/2 weeks! 

June 22, Wednesday, got up early - and had breakfast in Hilo and from my notes "

--> Easy Does it

And nice balance of water and fire here on the island"

Here are the images from the east side of the big island where there is less development and more Nature!  

I had breakfast in Hilo, and soon   found a few rusty baskets near the bay and played a few holes for fun  ---


 Baskets rust near the salt water - not an ancient activity in the Polynesian era, it seems ---



 
Map of the east side of Mauna Kea, and see where the falls are here ------ 

 'Akaka Falls State Park - had a pleasant walk in this park on the NE coast of the Big Island and see the rainbow in the falls -------

 
Small town on the way to 'Akaka Falls State Park with the state flag and a special place to buy sarongs, the favored tropical attire of many men of the east  ---- and having enough of my own, just took the photo :-)



 On my way to Hawi to meet Forrest for lunch I noticed Lapakahi State Historical Park on the drier NW coast of the Big Island, that here are ruins of a large settlement established in the 14th Century that was inhabited for 500 years, until a water table

 The color of the tunka oyate, the stones is so different, the kind of lava than the newer black color in the south of the island 

yellow flowers on the white foliaged plant in the State Historical Park

View to the north with Maui, and Haleakala in the distance - the second biggest island and the peak where I will see the sun rise over the clouds and being mindful of the Kulenana, responsibility for passing the spirit and knowledge to the next 7 generations  - As is written on the folder I read on Haleakala,  Kukekele Ho'okuleana - No laila, I kou komo 'ana I keia wahi kapu, nou keia kueana e ho'oko  Therefore as you enter this sacred place, the kuleana is now placed upon you ----


My goal was to visit one of the MKP Hawai'i founders in Ha wi, named Forrest whom I met for lunch

I did and shared a meal in mid day  - after he was on the radio and learned that their was no gathering to meet up with guys during my visit - and grateful to be here ! He directed me to the road east to Kapa'au and then the airport road leading past the Mo ikin Heiau to find the isolated birth place of King Kamehameha on the famous much rutted road ---




Met a man,  Forrest ,  from MKP who lives in Ha-wi (had vee) and he directed me to a couple of places here on the north end, Kohala area of the Big Island - here is Kapa'au coast of blue and green--

Stopped to learn about local varieties of pine apple, from a local guy who raises them and worked for a time with Earl Bakken, a Minnesota guy made famous for his work with pace makers for the human heart, here in Minnesota and found of the med tech company in Fridley called Medtronic - here back in Puna I shared it with Joyce and Clive who a familiar with many tastes and colors of pineapples --mmmm fresh fruits  -- from their fruits I got to know them ----:-)

Said to be close to where King Kamehameha was born, quite a big place of stones on the -Aina of Hawai'i - serene and spaciousness here on the far NW coast of the Big Island

Market on the South Shore of the Big Island, at Uncle Roberts, where I tried the Awa Beverage, and purchased some local T shirts, of the turtle and whale! 

Second Island to spend time on was O'ahu----no "w" in O a hu---

After renting a car near the Honolulu airport -----I drove to Waikiki where Gary, father of the groom, my nephew so to speak, ACE, Aaron Charles "Charlie" Engler, was staying at this hotel ----

One the right, 4 members of Saki's family from Japan and Gary and Kathy Engler parents of the groom 

 

Kathy with Diamond Head in front of the hotel on Waikiki beach  

 

Our tour guide with his map of O'ahu, giving us an overview of his route on the island where we saw many sea turtles, went snorkeling, visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation etc 

 

Anoter Heiau site, this one near my B and B on O'ahu on the more rainy Leeward side of the island, and less crowded 

 

Hanauma Bay where I snorkeled as suggested by Jan Marie, my Golden Valley friend who spent time here back in day ----

Third Island for me Maui, where I stayed in an Airbnb on the slopes of the Haleakala Volcano for 3 nights

West Side of Maui, the dry side, Lahaina where Mark Twain hung out and visited this very hotel where I stopped for a ceviche snack

Early morning sunrise on Haleakala -------

History of Hawai'i and Moku and Ahapuaa districts - at the base of Haleakala driving past Hana, on the road past Hana ---

And the last 4 nights on the islands, the oldest of the chain on Kaua'i - 2 nights in an Airbnb in Lihu'e and 2 with an MKP man by Anahola

Water falls by the road near Wiamea Canyon on the dry side of the island

 
Playing the Disc Golf Course Kauai  at Puakea - played 18 holes here for the $20 rental of the cart! Long holes too

 

Hiking the trail on the wet side of the island ----a good workout---