Beaches and Hula
After a few late nights and adjusting to the time change, we got up a bit later today and had a late breakfast for the second time at Bongo Ben’s. No geckos joined us this time, though, which was kind of a bummer. After eating we went to the beach and body surfed for a few hours. The water was so warm and clear!
Then it was time for the real “work:” a hula lesson! Drew even joined me for about an hour, which was awesome of him. The lesson was really fun and much more of workout than it looks! The kumu hula (hula teacher) directed the class, which was made up of both tourists and locals, in the movements of traditional hula as he beat out the rhythm on an Ipu (ee-poo), a percussion instrument made from a gourd. I found out from one local member that the kumu of this halau (hula school) writes all of his own chants and mele, or songs. This particular mele was a new piece about the clouds. I learned that in traditional hula, the movements you see paired with the chants are not random. Each hand, arm, foot, and head movement has a significance and helps tell the story of the chants, which are traditionally about the beauty found in nature. For example, raised hands to the sky and an upward gaze might help bring attention to the chant’s message of beautiful, fluffy clouds floating overhead. At the end of the two-hour class, I was physically tired, but it was an awesome experience to practice hula with a real kumu hula and to get to chat with the locals about the practice. I traded information with two women in the class, one a local woman and another a visiting teacher from South Korea. I’m looking forward to talking with my new acquaintances in the future!
After the hula lesson and on our way to find dinner, we stopped at Kahalu’u Beach Park to watch the sunset. Kahalu’u was really cool because it’s a partially black sand beach with lava rock along the shore. It was so neat to think that I was standing on cooled lava in the ocean!
*Just to note, one local woman explained to me that many native Hawaiians are very private and don’t want their personal work recorded, so I don’t have any photos or video from this experience out of respect to the kumu.
