Jottings

So there's lots of stuff we noticed that's good to remember in some way or another, but not necessarily associated with any certain day.

In no particular order:

Sugarcane: It's HUGE. And I mean huge - perhaps 14 feet tall? And it's everywhere.

Hawaiin Language: They're working really hard on the islands to keep the language alive. Good for them. Many, if not most, parks and natural features, etc., carry at least a partially Hawaiian name. Let me tell you, words can get really, really long! There are only 8 consonants and 5 vowels, so creating words means they get longer as there aren't many short and unique combinations available. I've used a fair number of Hawaiian names in this blog, and, in the interest of full disclosure, must tell you I didn't use all the accent symbols, as I have to admit I don't know how to get to them all on my keyboard. Let me tell you, the park rangers can rattle off the names like we might say John or Mary! For way more information than I want to give here, check out this page: http://www.instanthawaii.com/cgi-bin/hawaii?Language. A few tidbits: Syllables are never more than two letters long, and words never end with a consonant. Once you learn how to break the words up, they're not so hard to pronounce. Amusing side note: June 8 was Pentecost (when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples and they spoke in tongues). At our church, people said the Lord's prayer in many languages. This included Hawaiian - and it was longer than anything else!

Everyone - islander or not - really does say Aloha and Mahalo (thank you). It's only polite to do the same.

Buildings seemed really flimsy to those of us from harsh northern climates. But really, they're perfect for where they are. Why would you build for -20 when temps rarely stray from the 70s or 80s? So floors are tile - nice and cool (and quiet). Decor is minimal - no need for lots of fabrics to keep warm or block drafts. Really open to the outside to maximize airflow. Many buildings didn't seem to have

regular walls - ceilings and pillars to hold up the roof! That made us wonder what they do when there is a storm with winds. We never did find out. This is the Four Seasons hotel where Kendra's friend works. You're looking into the lobby area - and there just aren't any walls! Our condo had a louvered window right next to the door. In our case, that worked because of the layout. You saw a closet and that's it. But for most of the other units, you could see all the way through to the lanai in the front! We weren't peeking - it's just right there. I'd have trouble with the lack of privacy.

Mornings and evenings were just lovely. Really, the weather overall was fantastic, but could be a bit warm and humid for this midwesterner in mid-afternoon. But both ends of the day were cool with light breezes - absolutely gorgeous.

We ran into people from Minnesota, Wisconsin  and Michigan everywhere. And not just as tourists! I think most had moved to Hawaii. Boy, for the most part, you could see huge amounts of sun damage on them - that tropical sun is not kind to pale skins.

I was suprised - shouldn't have been, but was - by how tepid the water in the taps was. When you think about it, that's perfectly logical, but I missed cool water.

Chickens roam everywhere.  I don't know if they've gone wild or if that's just how they're handled, but they were all over. We play something called the cow game in our family. You count the number of cows on your side of the car, and the side with the most by the time the car makes a stop wins. We changed it to chickens for the duration. Ask James sometime about the chicken on the road to Hana.

Theft appears to be the biggeest crime issue on the islands. We read in our tour books about car breakins (nothing about lodging - just cars) and were warned at every turn to not  leave anything valuable in them. This included warnings from a store clerk and signs by several parks.


We saw this row of actual pay phones at the airport. Been a long time.

Expensive! At least grocery store food is - I'm sure because of the distance it travels. I already mentioned some of this, but here are some numbers: Peanut butter (don't remember the size, but I did compare the same jar) 5.69/2.79, milk (1 pint) 1.99/1.19, cereal 6.39/3.33, cuke 6.49 lb/2.00, salad mix 6.19/2.99. Eating out wasn't much more than cooking at home! Again, we think distance has a lot to do with this. We tried to eat native foods - and they hardly go any distance at all, so they're less expensive. We weren't able to get to farmer's markets, and of course weren't growing anything, so I imagine islanders can eat for less if they choose, but it's expensive for anyone wanting imports (as it were - I DO know we didn't leave the country!).


Bathroom signs - lots of places had Hawaiian clothes on the signs - shirts for the men and mumus (I'm not sure what they're really called...) on the women. It was fun. And notice the Hawaiian word!

Our smart phones worked just fine.  Why they were covered in Hawaii and not in Alaska we'll never know.