Happy Birthday Ben. Today Ben is 12 and we celebrated quietly at home with Dad's Famous hamburgers and a big chocolate cake for dessert. The party comes later when Grandma Warkentin arrives for the fun!
Friends Kyle and Marilyn flew in to see us on Oct. 18 on their way to hike Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Kauai. (Check out their blog
www.hikemaunaloa.blogspot.com.)
While visiting with us, we accidentally stumbled upon some pretty cool and interesting places, one of them being the ancient Hawaiian village of Kamokila. On our way to view the spectacular Opaeka'a Falls in
Hanamaulu, we spotted a hut in the valley, a sign on a side road and took a chance. Boy, were we glad we did!! For a very nominal fee (from a
very laissez-faire entrance attendant who charged us much less), we entered the pristine grounds on a self-guided tour of the traditional village.
The native village was inhabited in the 1700's along the Wailua River. Fruit trees(breadfruit, banana, apple, mango, etc.) and flowering trees graced the area as well as palms, plumeria and other lush greens. As much as possible the houses are kept in authentic traditional style but have suffered through 2 major hurricanes and many have had to be rebuilt to maintain their structure. Tell tale signs of renovations include thatched roofs with PVC piping, plastic clips and corrugated metal sheeting for support. Likely not the authentic materials from 1700. However, without further dissecting the huts, the feel the village does have a warp zone effect of a primitive era during the 18th century. The 1/2 hr self-tour turned 2 hour for the budding photographers in all of us. Opportunities for great photography presented itself around every corner throughout the village. Thatched roof bamboo huts
seemed randomly scattered throughout the village. Our feeble minds could determine any significance to the placement order of the huts. There seemed to be no preferential location given to those of status or rank. Notable houses in the village were: the Menstruation House where women gathered to make crafts during that special time of the month and the Birthing House,
2 raised flat rocks lay side-by-side. The laboring woman would squat with one leg on each stone and bear down. Funny enough, it didn't seem the most comfortable way to give birth. Down below, fresh green ti leaves were laid out to hopefully welcome the new warrior. Native warriors stood on guard outside the birthing house to announce the arrival of a new boy. No
mention was made on site as to the announcement regarding the birth of a girl. I imagine like other ancient cultures, the birth of a girl was considered of much less significance, if any at all. Other interesting huts were the...House of Doctor, the Warrior House, the Hula Hut, the Prime
Minister's House, the Men's Eating House and the
Sleeping House. A very interesting tour and very well worth the affordable price of admission.
Near the beginning of the long winding snake-like drive up the mountains of Kokee State Park is this incredible unexpected photo opportunity. Many tourists stop along the highway for a quick photo op but don't really appreciate the beauty of this fragment of Kauai. I love this little piece of my new home and feel the need to dedicate this 
entire blog to photos of this tiny but brilliant and beautiful piece of Hawaii. 
Please enjoy these following photos. 
Happy Birthday Ben. Today Ben is 12 and we celebrated quietly at home with Dad's Famous hamburgers and a big chocolate cake for dessert. The party comes later when Grandma Warkentin arrives for the fun!
Hanamaulu, we spotted a hut in the valley, a sign on a side road and took a chance. Boy, were we glad we did!! For a very nominal fee (from a very laissez-faire entrance attendant who charged us much less), we entered the pristine grounds on a self-guided tour of the traditional village. 
The native village was inhabited in the 1700's along the Wailua River. Fruit trees(breadfruit, banana, apple, mango, etc.) and flowering trees graced the area as well as palms, plumeria and other lush greens. As much as possible the houses are kept in authentic traditional style but have suffered through 2 major hurricanes and many have had to be rebuilt to maintain their structure. Tell tale signs of renovations include thatched roofs with PVC piping, plastic clips and corrugated metal sheeting for support. Likely not the authentic materials from 1700. However, without further dissecting the huts, the feel the village does have a warp zone effect of a primitive era during the 18th century. The 1/2 hr self-tour turned 2 hour for the budding photographers in all of us. Opportunities for great photography presented itself around every corner throughout the village. Thatched roof bamboo huts 
Minister's House, the Men's Eating House and the 
and the island of Maui which is the next closest island. Rockslides, power outages, structural damage to homes, hotels and churches, and cracks in the roads were the most obvious damages from the earthquake. Lucky for us, there are 4 islands in between Kauai and Hawaii Island. We were the 2nd island furthest away from the epicentre. The only inconveniences for us were the inability to watch local news broadcasts, listen to news on the radio, and internet usage was down. We were lucky to get off so easy! Though we experienced the actual quake, we were unable to listen to news regarding its magnitude or any threat of an ensuing tsunami. Lucky for us (again) the danger of a tsunami was minimal and the threat was cancelled as the quake was not large enough to generate the monster waves. Anyways the island was all abuzz about the quake experience and news of the occurrence dominated the news rooms of literally every tv and radio station on the mainland USA. Truthfully (for some local people...me not included...as I felt the darn thing!) they wouldn't have known it had happened if it weren't for the media and the desperation of families to have reassurance of the safety of their loved ones.
