Part 2 of Christmas in Hawaii

The girls have all gone on a walking tour of the local shopping centre in Laie, which is only about 10 minutes from our rental. So I am going to take advantage of the interlude to add another post.

Yesterday morning I began the day by going on a walk along the beach in my bare feet. While it is a great feeling to have the sand between your toes I have discovered that being shoe bound all the time has made mine way too soft such that, believe it or not, I got a blister on one of my big toes! While it didn't stop me unfortunately I will have to start wearing water shoes when taking any more long walks along the beach. Bummer!

After, we all went touring to the southwest searching for surfers. Being a weekday the number of people at the local beaches is way down so no where as crowded as they are on the weekend. Our first stop was at Sunset Beach. While the surf was way up there was no one out surfing so we continued on to Pupukea beach.

This one is rather unusual in that there is a natural lava break wall that protects a large pool. While the waves crash into, and over, the break wall, by the time the water gets into the pool much of the force has been spent and the waters are relatively placid, although there is quite the flow out the side into "shark cove". Still, while there were some people swimming and snorkeling in the pool, there were no surfers.

Our next, and final stop, was the beach at Hale'iwa. There were several groups learning how to surf, so no experienced surfer dudes but at least we got to see some people standing on their boards and taking advantage of the surf!

We then drove back to the house and had lunch before heading over to the Polynesian Cultural Centre where they have displays of various Polynesian cultures including Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan, New Zealand, Fijian and several other cultures. One show involved a series of rafts coming out on a central canal with dancers representing a specific Polynesian culture. It was very entertaining!

We then had a Luau supper that included traditionally steamed pig where the pig was slow cooked over hot rocks and wrapped in banana leaves until very tender. Also included was some poi (taro root paste that is very bland in flavour but was the traditional source of starch) as well as buns made from poi. What is unique about poi is that it is purple in colour and so the buns too are purple! Hawaiian's traditionally used poi to soften the taste of any strongly flavoured food such as salty fish. I didn't mind it although the colour and texture ( a thin paste) can turn one off.

After the luau we then attended a two hour show that again accentuated the different dance styles and other cultural characteristics of the major Polynesian groups. The main underlying theme (the circle of life) reminded me a lot of the Lion King. It was a very entertaining show and none of us were disappointed!

A "Where's Waldo", or in this case "Susan, Sarah and Linda" question! Can you find them in the last photo!