Rainbow Over Paradise

The first thing that struck me in Hawaii was the rainbow. One greeted me as I looked out the main entrance of the East-West Center’s Lincoln Hall, across the street from the University of Hawaii. Almost every day of my stay in Honolulu there was a rainbow somewhere– some of them half arcs, others just a short shaft of multiple colors, most others complete arcs you could guess where the pot of gold might be on the island of Oahu.

People who long ago decided to make Hawaii their home call it paradise, and even a brief stay there can make you understand why. Start with the weather: sub-tropical warmth cooled by tradewinds, which means even if the temperature is as high as in Metro Manila, you still won’t feel the need for home air conditioning. On the "big island" of Hawaii, where you can see lava flowing from the active volcanoes, you can get snow in the mountains.

Most days in Oahu, especially in the Manoa Valley where the East-West Center is located, there is intermittent precipitation. Instead of turning the valley muggy, the showers turn everything fresh and cool. Several times my friends and I drove through the streets of Honolulu with the car top down, light rain kissing our cheeks.

The tradewinds also lift air pollution out of the islands. Not that there’s much pollution in Hawaii; standards on vehicular emissions and other forms of air pollution are strictly enforced. There are few heavy industries, which helps keep the air clean.

Hawaii’s main revenue earner is tourism, and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 dealt it a grievous blow. With the island’s natural wonders, however, plus its facilities and a people oriented toward welcoming visitors, Hawaii will inevitably bounce back.

In Oahu where Honolulu is located, the main attractions are the beaches–endless stretches of glistening white sand, all free to the public. Just take a brief stroll from one of the numerous hotels in Waikiki and you’re on the beach, where you can indulge in all types of water sports including canoeing and paragliding.

Surfers prefer North Beach. The waves start getting challenging around November. While waiting for the surf to come up, however, there are enough spectacular sights to explore, islands to visit, cliffs to climb. For diving and snorkeling I still believe the Philippines has the best sites in the world, but Hawaii has its own attractions.

After the weather and the beaches I remember the cuisine. Craig Gima, the Japanese-American city editor of The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, recommended to me a typical Hawaiian cookbook featuring recipes of food he said he grew up with. I didn’t buy it, however, because in addition to Polynesian and Portuguese cuisine, it included Japanese and Chinese recipes as well as our very own pinakbet–stuff I long ago learned to cook.

Ilocanos make up the biggest Filipino community in Hawaii, having been among the first plantation workers on the islands. The late President Ferdinand Marcos must have felt quite at home in Makiki Heights, a few kilometers from the East-West Center.

Apart from Ilocano cuisine, you’ll find adobo and tinola on fastfood menus. I had a taste of Philippine lumpia in a restaurant featuring a Filipina singer. The fried spring rolls were also on the menu, together with tempura and Chinese noodles, in another Hawaiian restaurant downtown.

For Thanksgiving this year, Craig’s family enjoyed their turkey with lumpia. Turkey and other Thanksgiving meats are cooked in a Hawaiian barbecue pit called an imu. The pit, dug in the ground, is lined with leaves and the meats, treated in a unique Hawaiian way, are then roasted. This natural oven must be tended by several men, Craig warned.

For a brief history of Hawaii and the islands in the South Pacific, you can visit the Bishop Museum and Planetarium, where I watched a hula show. Traditional hula, with the accompanying music, is very sensuous, which is why Christian settlers tried to suppress the dance in the early days of Hawaii. The grass skirt on the islands, by the way, is not made of grass.

I got more historical glimpses at Hawaii’s Plantation Village, which features models of a typical Filipino worker’s home, complete with a Catholic shrine and a fake slab of lechon. The tour of the complex starts with a TV documentary featuring Angela Baraquio, the first Filipino-American and first Asian to be crowned Miss USA.

Nature lovers will adore clean and green Hawaii. In Oahu birds of paradise in full bloom dot the landscape. The streets are tree-lined and there are numerous parks, keeping the island cool. At the Foster Botanical Garden I saw for the first time such oddities as the cannonball and sausage trees alongside the tree that yields one of Hawaii’s distinctive products, the macadamia nut. The macadamia plantations are mostly on the big island of Hawaii, but the island tour of Oahu includes stopovers at what’s left of the Dole pineapple plantation, where Philippine varieties are on display.

One of my friends observed that he found it strange to be in a place where the main industries are tourism and defense. Hawaii, as everyone knows, is home to the United States Pacific Command. The military bases in Oahu generate considerable income for Hawaii, and tourists flock to the war memorials at Pearl Harbor.

You’ll see authentic footage of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the way to the memorial built over the USS Arizona, the battleship that remains buried in the waters of the harbor together with more than a thousand men. From the memorial, you can go to the USS Missouri, where the Japanese signed the surrender papers that ended the war in the Pacific. 

Because of the Sept. 11 terror attacks security has been unusually tight at Pearl Harbor. Bags are not allowed at the war memorials, although you can bring cameras. The tight security measures are reminders of a world in turmoil.

In the paradise that is Hawaii, however, it’s easy to forget your troubles and believe there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.