Continuing - Kona

Thought I'd not get back to it, eh? Well . . . here we go:

When we got back from Pahala to the road block area, we were only the third car in line. The officer was now allowing four-wheel drive vehicles and large trucks through. Art jumped out of the car and gave him a bottle of cold water and talked with him a bit. Seems that the road was now only under 2 feet of water, but was going down a bit slower than they had expected. We weighed our options . . . back to Hilo and up the other side of the island to Kona (about 3 hours) or wait a bit and continue on this road to Kona (about 1.5 hours plus the wait for the road to open.) We opted for the wait.

And the road opened right around 11 a.m. We had a few more misses and detours: It's an adventure! we kept telling each other. We found a small cafe for lunch and then carried on.

Our arrival was a bit early for our room - we were told to come back in half an hour and it would be ready. We gave them an hour, but the room was still not ready - given another room. This one was on the parking lot side (away from the ocean view) and was a smoking room. Ugh! But we decided that we would only be sleeping there, not living there, so would not make a fuss.

I grabbed a shower and changed and we headed off for Kona town and the luau at the King Kam. Stopped first to chat with the fellow running the motorcycle rental place and then went across the street to sign in.

We enjoyed the show immensely - and the emcee even announced our names and our anniversary. Pretty cool.

Here are some pics from the show: as before, click for a larger image.

Before the luau started, there was an open bar and crafts going on. The fellow above showed us how to shuck and open a coconut without harming his own "coconuts". Other folks were instructing people on how to perform a hula (I'm Going to the Huki-lau), how to make a fish from bamboo leaves, or could receive a temporary facial tatoo. We chose to watch the coconuts. ;-)

Then it was time to uncover the imu and to show us the well-cooked pig - yummy smells and taste . . . indescribably good.

The Royal party arrived with King Kamehameha leading the procession. The emcee told us of the first king and the kapu of men not being allowed to eat with women, women not even allowed to cook the food, etc. All of those were eliminated with the appearance of King Kamehameha III.

And then the hula began - dances from Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, Tahiti . . . all wonderfully performed.

this one was done in honor of all of our service people, those present and those gone from us, and those serving today.

hubby really liked this big guy - his tattos are of the real variety, btw.

This hula was done in honor of Hawaii's first college educated native born man, Henry _______ (sorry, can't remember his Hawaiian name). Henry left the islands and attended Yale College (before it became a University). He is also considered the island's first Christian. Henry was coming back to Hawaii to be a missionary, but died before he could make it back home. The song was one that we sing in my church, "More Power", performed in the Hawaiian tongue. Very moving.

And, what luau would be complete without the fire/knife dancer. This guy was g-o-o-d - and he knew it. But you wouldn't catch me trying it, so he is entitled to be a bit smug, I would say.

And, thus ended our evening in Kona. We went back to our hotel room - the smell of the smoke was masked by the plumeria lei I was wearing. In fact, I liked the smell so much that I purchased some lotion with that scent before leaving the islands.

That's it for tonight, friends. I am off to bed (again) to rest these ankles. Hope to tell you more of Kona tomorrow.

Posted by Purplemoose at May 22, 2004 10:29 PM