Finding Aloha: peace and welcome

This is a continuation of the prior post.  You may wish to begin reading the prior post first....

 On Saturday, January 29th, we found a Farmer's Market in Hanalei and purchased many fresh fruit and vegetables, some with strange names and appearances.  We also toured the Mission House, which was built to shelter the early missionaries.  It was a very large and spacious home, needed for the family of nine that first lived there in the 1830s.  We then returned to the condo and had a quick lunch, before traveling to meet Wanda, Glenda, and their friend Marsha (a resident) who was taking us to a Buddhist temple near Lawai (right). 

The Lawai International Center is a non-profit community project to restore and preserve an archaeological and cultural treasure.  This small valley apparently was long recognized as a healing sanctuary, and in 1904 the first generation of Japanese immigrants built 88 shrines replicating an ancient pilgrimage of 88 temples in Shikoku, Japan. Today, it is the only such site existing outside of Japan and is one of the oldest Buddhist temple sites in the country. Volunteers are bringing these shrines and this valley back to prominence as an international center for compassion, education and cultural understanding.

Arriving at the little valley (down a small narrow drive), we were treated to tea and a native cookie.  We then listened to an informative lecture about the place.  The sanctuary is in the shape of a turtle, with his head being a small grassy mound, his neck being a staircase of lava rocks, and his flippers represented by a series of jutting lave walls (pictured above).  One begins by passing through a cleft in a tree, forming a short tunnel; the climb starts up the back of the turtle, where  the 88 minitaure shrines are scattered along the narrow track, as it winds its way up the steep cliffside.  They provide walking sticks at the beginning of the track, which are helpful for keeping balance along the narrow track.  The vegetation all along the track is thick, but shows the signs of constant whacking back, to keep the ever growing lushness from encroaching over the temples.

This must be an ever-constant job--keeping the vegetation at bay.

 Each temple is unique--some are empty and many contain a small buddha image.  Those which are empty either contain a small stone stack or perhaps a shell lei. 

Small piles of coins--often corroded are turning blue from the weathered copper--are piled in the arching door of the miniature temple.

All of the temples had to be dismantled and salvaged before the hillside was cleared, then re-assembled in thier proper place.

As they are about three feet tall, one needs to bend over and peer inside to see whether the doorway leads to a buddha or is still empty, containing only the stones or lei.

The closeup of the interior of one of the temples, shown below left,  reveals a buddha, along with the pile of coins and a small sprig of vegetation which has been placed in the doorway.

These number 88 (double infinity when on its side) and are dotted along the track.  Once you reach the top of the cliff, you must descend, passing still more temples until you once again come out near the neck of the turtle.

The place is tranquil and worth a visit--it is open on two Sundays each month--for more information you can go here: http://www.lawaicenter.org/pages/home.html

The next day was Monday--this was a long day, spent first touring the historical town of Waimea (Wanda, Liz, Helen and I), then going up into the Wamea canyon as far as we could travel. 

The historical town tour was led by a Native Hawaiian lady, about 80 years old, who was spry and energetic--more so than me.  She was born in the area, and related the tales of her childhood as well as earlier times, and taking us past the old church and buidings which had been destroyed and re-built after a great flood.  It was a delightful tour, lasting all morning.  It is clear that Captain Cook (who introduced mosquitos from discarded bilge water) is not a favorite among the locals.

After lunching out, we went up to the Waimea Canyon, all the way to the top lookout where we could look over the roadless Napoli coast.

On Tuesday, Helen and I took a break, as we both needed to rest up a bit, while Liz went down to the southcoast again.  We plan to go over to the  St. Regis and have a cocktail later.