Kapu

I wish there were more to say about Honolulu, but so far nothing too noteworthy is going on. Thanks to Iris, I got my passport yesterday, which was pretty big news. I’ll be boxing some kangaroos in just a matter of days.

Oahu has a really great bus service (called “The Bus”) that goes all over the island. We got 4-day unlimited ride tickets, and decided to check out Chinatown and Foster Botanical Garden yesterday. Chinatown was pretty standard as far as Chinatowns go. While walking through the market we saw a severed pig’s head. I had to look, but it made me weak in the knees. We ended up eating Indian food for lunch, and I think the pig face had a hand in that decision.

The garden turned out to be mostly trees, some of which were really unusual, including the Double Coconut tree, which has the largest seeds in the world, some weighing up to 50 pounds. According to the information we read about it, the fruit requires 10 years to ripen, and before the trees were discovered it was believed that the large nuts seen floating in the ocean came from a mysterious underwater tree. Sailors gave the tree the name of “Coco de Mer,” (Coco of the Sea).

The rest of the day was pretty much like the last three: beach reading, swimming, and eating. The biggest thing to happen to us, aside from the passport fiasco, was Pete’s second pair of flip-flops breaking. I think we’re both getting antsy to move on.

One pervasive aspect of Hawaii that we’ve noticed from the beginning, is the conflict between the native islander and the invading outsider. The ubiquitous “kapu,” “no trespassing” and “beware of dog” signs, the large gates that seem to surround every other house, the warnings in guidebooks that certain beaches are “for locals” or that we might feel uncomfortable in certain less-populated areas, they all contribute to a general atmosphere of unwelcome. Sure there’s the “aloha” spirit that everyone talks about, and we certainly encountered that while hitchhiking and in more tourist-heavy areas, but has been spotty, at best.

I can’t blame Hawaiians for these feelings. After being “discovered” by people like Captain Cook, being banned from practicing their own religions, forced into Christianity, then later annexed by the United States in 1959 when a distinct culture had been flourishing for thousands of years, it’s no wonder Hawaiians are suspicious of outsiders. Yet in a state where the economy relies so heavily on tourism, the pride of the natives is a much more complex subject.

On Saturday, I’m sure Pele will be smiling, as two more mainlanders depart from her paradise. But we'll have the last laugh, with two of her shiny rocks safely tucked into our backpacks.