J got some more tasty breakfast items from Kanemitsu's while R and I packed up our backpacks. We put our jackets in the backpacks (didn't need them), and we wore cotton cargo pants, tshirt, and a hat. That worked out fine but it was hot in the bus. I was glad I had long pants. My mule sometime got close to brush and rocks that could have scraped bare skin.
J dropped us off at the Mule Barn then had a nice day without us. He went to the coffee place, the Mac nut place, and to the Saturday market. He bought some fantastic chocolate croissants for the next day's breakfast and two tshirts He spent some time at Murphy's beach. Nice but it can't top our adventure!
I was surprised to see Bruddah Roy since Buzzy's funeral in Honolulu was that day (there will be one on Molokai on 6/28) but it looked like he left after checking us all in. He is a very nice guy. You could tell he was a bit sad after missing his long time friend. Roy was the inside guy and Buzzy on the outside. If you don't know who Buzzy is, check him out. He was a legend.
http://vimeo.com/30775479
We had three mule skinners and nine newbie riders. Us newbies were kind of apprehensive since you hear all kind of stories about this. It's scary, your butt hurts for days after, white knuckle ride, it's hard to drive the mule. I guess it's kind of all of that but just a little. My feeling to was just trust the mule who does this 6 days a week. It really wasn't scary even for one guy who has height issues.
What I wouldn't recommend this for is anyone with back issues. Going down the cliff the mules take big steps that can really jolt. If you stand up on the stirrups helps. The thing I didn't expect was trying to walk when you get off. My legs were made of jelly especially the knees. But it gets better pretty fast.
The mule skinners brought out the mules
They say that they pick your mule by your karma or if you look like one of the mules. I'm sure weight has something to do with it but for the most part the mules all behave pretty well. They pull out a mule and call your name. There is platform to make it easy to get on the beast.
I got Poele (means midnight because she is very dark brown, shown above) and R got Ilikea (fair skinned because she is white).
Ilikea always wanted to be in the front and mine was in the middle of the pack. Poele would stop a lot and turn her neck to look at my like "are you still there? Why did they put this worthless creature on my back?" But we made it down and back together.
The crew are really nice and helpful getting these mules moving. The mules know we're don't know what we're doing so they stop for snacks, just stop etc. But there's no big issues and lots of laughter.
The views are incomparable. These are from going down.
First view of Kalaupapa
It seems to take a long time down, but the mules are careful and steady on their feet. I does take 1.5 hours to get to the corral at the bottom. It felt good when we got to the beach.
There were three or four groups hiking down who started early who got down before we did. Besides that there were a bunch of people who flew in. There is only one tour a day and a maximum 80 on the bust tour. The bus was packed, hot and stuffy. Not all the windows opened. It looked like right side is better. You need to drink a lot of water! There are a few places where you can refill your bottle.
Our bus guide/driver Ian lives there part time. It is very restricted where tour people can go. Kalaupapa is now under the National Park system but it is kept as private as possible for the remaining patients. 9 are on Kalaupapa and another 8 in a hospital in Honolulu. 90 or so other people live there to maintain it. It is a pretty setting.
Ian talked about and showed us various places in the town. There are a bunch of churches. We were able to inside a catholic one with a talk by an Irish priest who wore a hawaiian shirt!
The store (only for residents) and the gas station. Some things comes by plane once a week but the big stuff comes once a year by barge,gas included.
St Marianne Cope's grave and the woman and girl's dormitory.
The hospital burned down inthe 69's. The new one is behind the ruins.
This is now the NPS bookstore but it used to be the Japanese club house. We were let out there where you can buy tshirts, books, and pins.
More photos of town
We finished most of town and headed to Kalawao which was the first settlement for the afflicted. At some point in the 1900's moved to Kaulapapa. More sun and less rain is better for the patients. The roads in this area were rather bumpy. And I thought we were having a break from that!
Kalawao is where Saint Damien did his work to organize the chaos. It is a very beautiful and special. This is the location of St. Philomena church and Damien's grave. We had lunch in a picnic area by the sea. It is amazingly beautiful.
We got a bagged lunch that was decent and it filled me up. We got back the hot bus and stopped at St Philomena.
We got back on the hot bus and back through town to the airport. Along the way we passed so many graves
The airport and area
Next stop: the corral (this mule belongs toone of the skinners)
It was so pretty along the ocean.
Somebody was having a nice day
I love this color!
Going up was much easier! Not so much bumping, just a few drops. But still we were all counting the 28 curves
We finally reached level land and back to the mule barn. Had jelly legs again! The mules seemed happy to be home. They are very well kept. We each got a certificate. Too bad we didn't get a back massage after that ride!
I was pretty wiped out after that. We just has Molokai Burger for dinner. Better than McDonald's (but I haven't had one in a longtime). It is a very clean place with nice people working there.
Too tired and full to go out for hot bread. Next visit!
Kim
Enjoyed your photos. We hiked down to Kalaupapa instead of doing the mule ride. On the way down, I congratulated myself on that choice. Halfway back up, I looked enviously at the mule riders when they passed us!
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