Aloha #4

Tuesday:  Me and PW started the day playing in the ocean (as I promised).  It was kinda cloudy, but the air was warm, and the water was warm, so it was perfect, so we just had fun playing in the waves for about an or two, and trying to figure out how that boogie board was supposed to work.  I'm really glad we did that cuz it turned out to be our last chance to do it.  As we were heading back to the cabin, Chuck met us on the way, informing us that the news of his dad's health had gotten to the point where we needed to head back home ASAP.  So while Chuck was on the phone and the computer trying to change our plane tickets, I packed everything up and cleaned up the cabin as best as I could.  (didn't wanna leave a bad impression for the maid, ya know!)  

So what do we do with those tickets that we bought for the Polynesian Cultural Center?  There's no refund for those, unfortunately.  It turned out that the next available flight was in the evening, so we decided to check out of Bellows and go to the PCC for as long as we could.  We decided we needed to leave the PCC no later than 5:00, which was when the luau was supposed to start.  And that was a major bummer because the luau was the main attraction that I wanted PW to experience, and here we are, leaving right at the moment when we could've gone to it.  But life is full of unexpected unpleasantness and we just have to simply accept them.

By the time we got there, we had about 4 hours to walk around and explore.  One thing PW wanted to do was learn how to make a lei, and luckily this stand was one of the first things we found:

I'm glad we found it early cuz we were able to wear the leis for the rest of the day and they smelled really good.

Then we noticed a crowd of people gathering behind us so we went and sat down to find out what kind of performance was apparently about to happen.  It turned out to be representations of several different islands in the area, like Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, etc.  They came out on canoe platforms and did their dances, each island represented by a different color.

My favorite one was Tahiti cuz they were doing the traditional hula dancing.  I didn't know that hula dancing came from Tahiti, so I learned something there.

We walked around some more and watched other shows and demonstrations, and then PW tried her hand at spear throwing:

I was disappointed that he only let her try three times.  It's not like there were other people waiting!

Oh well.

There's those roosters again.

According to the Waimea Valley bird guide, they are actually "Junglefowl".  Huh?  To me they are "Farmfowl".  If it looks like a rooster, walks like a rooster, and crows like a rooster, it's gotta be a rooster.

Then Chuck found this dispenser for fish food, but apparently someone didn't inform the birds that they are not fish.

It was so cute the way this duck just stood there looking up at Chuck waiting for him to slide the coins in and surrender the goods.

And of course it drew a crowd:

I think PW found herself a new BFF.

Our time was running out, so me and PW checked out the gift shop, while Chuck went to the main gate and tried to give away our luau tickets.  He said people were giving him weird looks, cuz who goes to the PCC and gives away their luau tickets???  Everyone he asked had already bought their tickets, and he didn't want them to go to waste, so he took them to the counter and told them they could let someone else have them.  Hopefully our sorrows turned into someone else's joy.

So that was our trip.  There were a few things we had planned on still seeing, like the USS Arizona, and the Macadamia Nut Farm, and PW never did see the famous Waikiki Beach, or Diamond Head (except from a distance).  But we made the best of it, and hopefully she will have a chance to return there some day if she wants to.