Sunday, January 17, 2010

Day 3 - Part 2 of 2 - Polynesian Cultural Center

The Polynesian Cultural Center is one of the major attractions on Oahu. I have been here three times over the years and I would go again in the future. The PCC has villages from all the different islands of Polynesia. They demonstrate the differences in cultures and lifestyles.
The PCC is owned and operated by the Mormon Church. All the employees/performers are students at BYU of the Pacific (Brigham Young University) which is next door to the Center. Most could not afford to attend college on their own so they get scholarships in return for their work at the PCC. Every one of them is as nice and as motivated as any person you will ever meet. We were happy to be able to support their educations through our entry fee while we enjoyed a great dinner and show.
This is one of the many demonstrations of how people lived in the islands. This guy is getting ready to make fire by rubbing two sticks together to get a spark which is then used to set dried coconut husks on fire. It took him just 30 seconds to get the fire going.

Next, he removed the husk from a ripe coconut using a sharp stick .

He then struck the hard coconut shell with a fairly small rock in just the right place and it fell into two perfectly shaped pieces. I couldn't do that with a hammer and chisel.

This fellow is demonstrating how to climb a palm tree. The tree was about 50 feet tall. He got up it in just a few seconds. All these guys are built better than Tarzan.

This was our tour guide. A very nice fellow from Cambodia. He took us around all day to the various villages and presentations and provided a steady stream of information.

The parade of boats showed off the various dances and music from each of the islands.




This was one of several musical performances. The three musicians played various kinds of drums and a nose flute.

The girls couldn't miss the opportunity to get tattoos.


Sigrid's lizard.

Sorry about the same shot twice. I got it in but couldn't figure out how to get it out. I wasn't going to start over with so much work already invested in this lengthy post.
Edel's turtle.

Learning how to hula.

Boat ride through the Center.

Sitting down for the luau.


The show was fantastic. It tells the story of a man from his birth to his marriage and first child.









Future posts will be smaller I hope. We didn't get home until 10:30 pm so we were out of the condo for 14 hours this day. We were all pretty tired but loved every minute of the day.

2 comments:

  1. I suppose you want it red hot and flowing.....it ain't going to happen. You will get lots of cold lava if you look careful at the photos.

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