On an island in the sun.: Iao Valley

Justin and I decided earlier this week that we wanted to go hiking. He had Wednesday off, and I didn't have to work until late afternoon. One of the girls at work mentioned that she had went hiking in the Iao valley, and that it was very pretty. The Iao valley is only 5 miles from Wailuku, so the drive was quick! :)

The Iao valley was very pretty, and full of history as well! The valley is the site of the battle of Kepaniwai in 1790. This battle was between King Kamehameha I and the Mauians. King Kamehameha defeated them, which eventually led to the Hawaiian islands became united under one king. The battle was especially bloody--the name of battle, Kepaniwai, translates to "the damming of the waters" because the numerous dead bodies clogged the Iao river. Crazy, right?

The hiking itself was kind of joke. It's a state park, and the "trails" are all paved with numerous signs telling you not to leave them. The hike to the top of the lookout point took about 5 minutes...haha. But we did wander off the path a bit and hiked alongside the river for a little while. We passed a boulder with some ancient glyphs carved into them. (Maybe that was why they didn't want us in there? Haha.) We hiked for about 20 minutes, but then the path started to climb very quickly, and I chickened out. I don't mind climbing up paths, but its the coming back down (fear of falling) that destroys me. So we turned around and headed back.

Not exactly what I had planned for a hike, but it was fun nonetheless! :)

Oh, and we noticed while we were walking that there were random rocks with leaves wrapped around them. I just googled it, and apparently it's a super controversial act! I pulled this explanation from a reply to someone's question on tripadvisor.com:

"Ti leaves are considered to be powerful and offer protection from spirits, and this is why you will see ti plants planted in front of and around buildings, and especially on entryways and around the front door. So wrapping a rock in a ti leaf might protect the rock but it will do nothing for you personally.

Seriously, this is just disrespectful. You would not go into St. Peters and give yourself communion, nor would you go into Masjid al-haraam and offer salat (unless, of course, you are Muslim). Unless you are a trained practitioner, a kahu, you shouldn't be performing sacred rituals and certainly not leaving offerings. First of all, you need to know what is the proper offering to leave to who, and when, where and how to offer the item. Leaving a random offering to a random akua in a random place results in nothing but a pile of rocks where one should not be."

Interesting, right?