My last post I left off with my last sunrise in Hilo, for now anyway. I got everything packed up and in the car, and headed into Hilo to meet River, Adam and Lindsey so we could caravan over to the Kona side to pick up the retreat peeps.
We drove on the Saddle Road over to Kona (same as the other day) and then cut through Waimea on the way to the retreat in Honoka’a.
I guess at this point I should mention some Hawaiian pronunciation things. The apostrophe-looking thing in “Honoka’a” is called an ‘okina.’ But, the ʻokina is not an apostrophe. An apostrophe is shaped like a number nine with a tail that curls left. An ‘okina is like a number six whose top slants to the right (more like an opening quote). It essentially means to take a pause there when pronouncing a name or word. So it would be HON-O-KA (quick pause) AH.
And yes, it is perfectly acceptable to use an ʻokina in close proximity to an apostrophe, as in: Hawaiʻi’s.
Anyway, we arrived at Ahu Lani after 4pm I think it was. Here is my room – aptly named ‘Rainforest.’ And here is a link to the retreat website: https://ahulani.com/
We got ourselves settled and then had an opening ceremony in the Maloka (the round yoga room that we would spend a lot of time in), sharing our intentions for our collective time there.
Next day our ‘host,’ Tanner, took us for a little walk around the property. The sanctuary is on 24 acres and is part of a Koa and Ohia tree reforestation project.
This gully turns into a raging river when there’s a lot of rain (which we didn’t have)
Then it was time for lunch – rice paper wraps – we all learned how to make our own! Chef Lindsey is on the left!
First we would soak the rice wrapper in hot water (green bowl), then lay it out on wet paper towel so it wouldn’t stick to anything, then filled it with whatever we wanted – rice noodles, veggies, sprouts, slaw, basil, peanut sauce (homemade!!). So delicious!
Okay, I think this post is long enough. Stay tuned for Part 2!