Journal entry, 7/6/91 Tantalus Dr., Waimea Falls Park

7/6/91 Yesterday’s drive up Mount Tantalus was well worth the wait. Spectacular views of Honolulu, Pearl Harbor, and Waikiki below us. Diamondhead was breathtaking. We are in a rain forest. Lianas, passion vine, yellow ginger and philodendron bedecked the understory of koa trees and tamarinds. Other trees that I know not the names of, hale mua, aumakua, guardian spirit. Bananas were ones forbidden to women, they were kapu, the hale pe’a, the menstrual but. Hale noa, a place of kapu. We are all kapu here. Hale is earth, haole is strangers, invaders. Waikiki is the gathering place. Aina is land, Ka’a aina, natives. The old ones. Aloha means both hello and goodbye.