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Located 200 yards from the Kalaupapa Lookout, at the base of Nananhoa Hill, on the north shore of the Island of Moloka'i, is the six-foot high Phallic Rock. Every main Hawaiian island has such a site, but this is probably the best sample. According to legend, the male fertility god, Nanahoa, lived nearby. His wife, Kawahuna, caught him admiring a young girl who was staring at her reflection in a pool. The wife attacked the young girl, yanking her hair. Nanahoa was outraged and struck his wife who rolled down the cliff and turned into stone. Nanahoa himself then turned into stone in the form of a phallus.
Throughout the ages, barren women would bring offerings and spend the night at this site in hopes of conceiving a child. Women still come here with their offerings and pray for fertility. Other stones in the area are carved to represent female genitalia. These rocks were then taken home to make the land fertile.
Molokai Hot Sweet Bread
Kanemitzu's Bakery
To get the hot, fresh bread go down this dark alley after 10pm at night and knock on the window.
Best bread ever.
The Island of Moloka'i
On a remote island that doesn't encourage tourism, the Kalawao Peninsula is even more isolated (and discouraging of tourism, due to its tragic history).
Kalaupapa National Historic Park has a sad history. Located on the Kalaupapa Peninsula, the park is its own county -- Kalawao County -- and it's the smallest in the U.S. at about 50 square kilometers.
Physically, the island of Molokai is entirely sea cliffs on its north side...except for the Kalawao Peninsula, which juts out about 4 miles into the sea directly north from the central part of the island. It's leaf-shaped.
Isolated from the island by the sea cliffs (which are the tallest in the world at rough 4,000 feet in places, though only 1,700 feet here at Kalaupapa), the peninsula became the ideal place to isolate a section of the population.
Originally, there was a cut through the sea cliffs, but it was closed (by dynamite) to keep the cattle from escaping the peninsula back topside (which is what they call the rest of the island). Kalaupapa Trail still exists -- it's a trail with over 20 switchbacks which descends from topside 1,700 feet above to the peninsula -- which was hikable, but more commonly mules were/are used to go up and down. At the moment of this writing (February 2020), the trail is closed due to a landslide. So, it's even more isolated than normal.
Access by land crossing is currently impossible, and by sea is illegal. No boats are allowed within 1/4 mile of the peninsula. So the only way in and out of Kalaupapa is by plane, and the airport is only the size that 10 seater Cessnas can fly in. (One caveat to boats: there is an annual barge that comes once per year in summer -- July or August -- to restock the peninsula and those who live here for the year.)
Following on the barge, they ship in all of the non-perishables once a year. The perishables -- produce, milk, etc. -- are flown in as needed.
So who lives here? And why? Well...as Europeans discovered these islands, they brought every kind of illness possible to the natives, to which they had no immunity. (I think I heard someone say the native population dwindled to 50,000 at one point, mainly from being ravaged by disease.)
Among those diseases was leprosy (Hansen's Disease). The king of Hawai'i, for fear of the entire state contracting leprosy, decided to turn this peninsula into a leper colony and isolating it completely. It was almost a naturally perfect place for this, as I outlined above.
The peninsula was known to natives for hundreds (maybe thousands of years) before, though, and there were native residents -- fishermen -- who lived here.
When it became a leper colony in 1866, the natives lived on the west side of the peninsula (in Kalaupapa) while the lepers were on the eastern side (in now-abandoned Kalawao).
Due to adverse weather and lack of immunity, the lepers were dying at the rate of five a day (and are buried in a mass unmarked grave directly east of St. Philomena Church).
They almost immediately went west, displacing the original natives from Kalaupapa, where they died around the rate of one a day.
I could honestly write a lot more about their history, but will skip to the present. Hansen's Disease was finally cured in the 1940s. Now, less than 5% of humanity is susceptible to leprosy, and it's easily cured/controlled with antibiotics.
The island continued to be isolated by law until 1969. It is its own separate county simply because the residents had entirely different needs than the rest of the population, and needed representation.
At present, there are only five (or nine) former patients, ranging in age from 79-96. As they're advanced in age, they worry about what will happen to this place when they pass. The consensus seems to be that they want it to remain as it is. Maintained, but undeveloped.
Currently, it's illegal to visit Kalaupapa on your own. You can only visit by invitation (permit), which is available through one of two or three tour companies -- owned by the former patients. No overnight visits are allowed to outsiders. No children 16 or under are allowed. These are the wishes of the residents.
If you've read this far and are interested in learning more, feel free to ask me anything and I'll answer or find an answer.