Breath Of Life
Today being Sunday, we went to church. We looked in the Yellow Pages, and found a church that looked interesting - Breath of Life Christian Ministries, in Lihue. Their slogan was "Real People Serving A Real God." That impressed us. So we went.
Breath Of Life
We got there in time for the service; unfortunately, since the Yellow Pages listing had been printed, the service times had been changed, so we were a half hour early. So we waited.
Terry Waits
But it was worth the wait. We were very impressed with the church. The pastor, Tom Ianucci, is a charming Italian-American former Marine and martial arts instructor from Brooklyn. His wife D'Lissa is from Kaua'i, but he met her while he was stationed in Japan, where she was working as a model and a TV hostess.
Between services, we were talking to a guy named Mike, and Terry asked a question that had been much on her mind. She had seen lots of things with passion fruit flavor - including the shave ice we ate in Honolulu - but was wondering if passion fruit itself was edible. Mike said sure, you just cut off the end and suck out the insides. Then, shortly after the service started, he came in and handed us a bag full of passion fruit that he had just gone out and picked!
This is as good a place as any for a digression on tropical fruit. As you might expect, there's a lot of that in Hawaii, and we ate a lot of it. Papayas and mangoes, obviously. But also some other interesting stuff.
For example, passion fruit - or liliko'i, as it's called in Hawaii. On the outside, it's about the size, shape and color of a small lemon. Following Mike's instructions, we cut off the ends and sucked out the insides. The insides turned out to be a thick whitish liquid, filled with small black seeds. Mike said we could either spit out the seeds, or swallow them. I have to say that, while liliko'i tastes very good, in the future I'll stick to eating things made with the fruit, rather than eating the fruit itself. Unfortunately, the liquid inside the fruit has the appearance and consistency of... let's say... nasal secretions. With sufficient mental discipline, one can get past the appearance and concentrate on the taste - but it's difficult.
Another exotic fruit that we ate a lot of was apple bananas. There are, in fact, many different varieties of banana, other than the one variety we always eat here in the states. Apple bananas are a smaller, more flavorful variety. I wish we could find them here.
(Hold the presses! I just discovered that we can find them here. Except here, this being Southern California, they're called "manzano" bananas - "manzano" being Spanish for "apple," in case you didn't know.)
After church, Ron and Mindy picked us up (they go to a Christian Science church), and we went and had lunch at Waipouli Restaurant, another local hangout, in Kapa'a, over on the east shore (3:00). We then went shopping at Coconut Marketplace, a large shopping mall. The decor at this place includes water pipes and water wheels painted in a variety of bright colors.
Water Works
So what else do you do at a mall - we shopped. Terry bought a swimsuit and a sundress, and I bought an aloha shirt.
Aloha Oy
We also bought some CDs. Whenever I go on vacation, I always like to buy music that evokes memories of where I've been. And so it was on this trip - we came away from the store (actually an outdoor kiosk) with three CDs of Hawaiian music.
The first CD was by The Brothers Cazimero, the group we had been listening to at Milton and Charlene's house the previous Friday. It included, among other things, a version of the song "Rainbow Connection," from "The Muppet Movie," translated into Hawaiian. Different, to say the least.
The second CD was "Kawaipunahele," by Keali'i Reichel. Mr. Reichel (son of a Hawaiian mother and a German father, hence the name) is a major star of Hawaiian music, and Kawaipunahele, the title song from the album, recorded in 1994, is already a classic. One review I read said, "Locals from Honolulu to Kaunakakai own a copy of the album, radio stations play the songs incessantly, and any tourist who sets foot in a music store is likely to walk out with the CD." And so it was with us. But that's OK, because it's a beautiful song.
And the third CD was a freebie, a Hawaiian music sampler that the store gave us for buying the other two CDs. But it has some great music on it - including (of course) Kawaipunahele.
We also looked at an outdoor fruit stand...
Have some fruit!
...and had some smoothies at an ice cream stand, where I took this picture of Ron and Mindy. My apologies to Mindy for my photography - she's really much better looking than this picture makes her look.
Our hosts - Ron Darville and Mindy Emmons
Our next stop was to see another waterfall (there are lots of them in Kaua'i), this time more up close and personal.
Wailua Falls
On the drive up to the falls, we saw along the road...
A Skull On A Rock
...and...
A Horse In A Field
We then drove back to the house, had take-out sushi for dinner, and watched more of Gone With The Wind.