Before going on the huakaʻi I was very excited to go. My love for water has been established from before I can even remember. I love everything about it, drinking it, swimming in it, listening to it, watching it, etc. I imagined it being super cool and being in a rainforest with a tunnel as well as a water container to hold water. I imagine the tunnel like a tunnel which you drive through and I imagine the water being stored in a big water tank. I felt that on the field trip it was going to be amazing to see where I get majority of my water. I expected it to be more spiritual and emotional then physical.
When I got there, I didnʻt expect the hike to be what it was. It was steeper than I thought it was going to be. Walking through the neighborhood the view of the mountain was breathtaking and I loved watching my classmates enjoy themselves. I hadnʻt been there before although I knew of that area before. During the hike, I loved the way the closer you got to the end, the more you could hear the water. It was almost satisfying and felt like a success because not only were we close to the end but it was cool how the ending involved water. It felt great that people were excited to have reached water, almost like our ancestors would have felt when they reached their water source.The water was so breathtakingly beautiful. In my opinion, the tunnel was the best part. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that we got to go in there, although I thought the tunnel itself was going to be bigger and I didn't expect it to change from cement walls to natural rock. I also didn't expect the water pipe to be in there but it was like following a path. My favorite part overall had to be when we reached the end where we could fill our container with water, turned off all the lights, and chanted. In that moment, I truly felt connected with my ancestors. When we were chanting, I had first closed my eyes then I realized it was pitch black and I didn't need to. The way the tunnel echoed our sound made me feel connected to everyone in that tunnel. I felt like our ancestors were there with us, almost like I had traveled back in time. As soon as we started chanting I got chicken skin and felt chills cover my body. The water in which I filled my water bottle with tasted clean, there's no other way I would describe it. It was amazing that the water was straight from the land and it was so pure and clean. It almost felt like it was cleaning and purifying me as I drank it and I wanted to share that with so many people. I let people drink the water because I wanted them to try it. I also liked the way it was "lucky" water. I felt that from collecting it and drinking good luck and fortune was to come my way. The uncle was very funny, relatable and knowledgeable. He understood that although it was private property and people weren't suppose to be on the land that it was inevitable because people go there and would continue to despite what you told them. He told us that 2,000 to 3,000 feet above sea level is the best height and when the most rain comes. 4 million gallons of water goes to the Eastside. In addition, the wall that looked like a volt has been the only place that put the wall back, being that Waihe'e is the only place to put back the wall. He had so much knowledge and understanding about everything it was amazing. I loved the story he told about when kids jumped in the stream then when they went home their father knew they had because their close was dirty and brown water was coming out of the faucet. It showed how everything truly connected. Overall, this was an amazing experience that I would love the opportunity to experience again. |