Day Seven: Kroc Center

Yesterday, we went to the Kroc Center. It is beautiful and was so much fun for both the haumana and the kumu. There was: a lazy river, two water slides, a diving board and a rock climbing wall, all for us to enjoy! Here are some pictures from the day!

Day Five: Bishop Museum

On Friday our class went to the Bishop Museum. We got to go into Hawaiiana hall, the dinosaur exhibit, the science center and the planetarium. Here are some photos from the day!

Haumana (Student) Reflections:

Maunawili Falls. By: Yoon.
   Mauka Makai 4-5 went to the Maunawili Falls to hike and see the falls. We started hiking and it was really muddy, there was mud everywhere. I was with Liz, my partner. The hike was tough because of the mud, but it was quite fun. The stairs were long and very high, also slippery. I was in the group that was later so we didn't get to see the falls, but we did get to walk back early. When we got back to our back I realized that my shoes were really dirty and completely covered with mud. On the way back I accidentally stepped in mud and my shoe got stuck! All the mud went inside my shoe. The mud made my foot feel weird while I was walking. We had to cross a stream but my shoes were already wet so it was easier for me to cross.

Maunawili Falls. By: Ayden.
   At Maunawili falls we hiked through many difficult areas. For example we hiked through slippery mud, steep stairs and slick branches of wet trees. Although it was hard, we also had so much fun. We got to hike through streams and got our feet all wet. When we were hiking through the mud there were tree roots that stuck up. My favorite part was when we got to the waterfall and swam in it. I got to jump of rocks and we had lots of fun. This is why I think Muanawili falls was fun and hard.

Hakipuu. By: Ryan.
   Hakipuu shortcut going down was steep and hard! The cow poop was like a flat big rock! Kualoa is where Jurassic Park was filmed; they still have a dinosaur cage there. There was water around but that lead to one small problem. IT WAS MUDDY!!!! But that didn't matter because they had cows and horses. While we were hiking we had to go to the side because there were a lot of cool tour buses. There was even some neat ATVs and it looked like they were racing. I wanted to try everything! Our guides taught us about a bunch of different plants that the native Hawaiians used. I liked how they used the breadfruit sap to catch birds. Then they would pick the feathers for capes.

Kualoa Ranch and Hakipuu. By: Bella
   Kualoa Ranch was 60 times easier than Maunawili Falls! I took a lot of notes of everything that we were learning. During our hike it kept raining on and off. Once we got to the top the view was amazing and so beautiful it was awesome and we didnt even need a waterfall or anything. I learned the story about Mokolii (Chinaman's hat). The legend talks about how Pele's sister came to Oahu to get Pele's boyfriend and encountered a giant lizard. She ended up fighting him so that he would let her pass. She won and threw the lizards head into the ocean, and that back into the mountains, and finally the tail into the ocean. Mokolii is the tail of the giant lizard that is sticking out of the ocean.

Pictures from Hakipu'u - A morning at Kualoa

Kumu Ian Masterson chanted an oli that he had written for his family. It speaks of the various natural elements and places of the Hakipu'u ahupua'a. Kumu Ian and his family live in the Hakipu'u ahupua'a.

Day three: Kualoa Ranch; Hakipuu Hike

   Yesterday, Wednesday, our class along with Kumu Ian's 6-8th grade class went to Kualoa Ranch to go on the Hakipuu Hike. Driving over to the windward side the clouds were telling us that rain was coming. Many of the kids were happy that it was raining today and not on tuesday when we were hiking through the mud. When we arrived our guides told us about the history of Kualoa. We learned that it was bought from King Kamehameha III by Dr. Gerrit P. Judd, a missionary in the 1850s. We also learned that it was important that this area maintain its natural beauty and that we should work to keep hotels and resorts off this sacred land.
   As we started up the hill we passed cow pastures and lots of cow poop. We learned about "canoe plants" these are plants that were brought over by the ancient Hawaiians on their canoes. Some of the plants we saw was the hala tree, ulu or breadfruit, and hau. Our guides told us about how these plants are not only good for food but also medicine and rope. On our hike we passed by a kalo or taro field. It was so beautiful and we took a moment to take in the nature, we felt the wind, heard the birds and smelt the rain. Finally we made it to the top and was able to look out over the ahupuaa of hakipuu. We could turn and see the top of the mountains all the way out to Kaneohe bay. Our guides and Kumu Ian told us about the legend of Mokolii and the reason the mountains were shaped the way they are.

The start of our hike was through a cow pasture.

Then we were walking through so many tall trees.

This is a very sacred place and also so beautiful.

There are jeep tours here at Kualoa so we had to be           extra careful when one of them drove by.

Here we are learning about the hala tree.

              A view of the taro patches.

We got to enjoy snack with a beautiful view!