So I lack the motivation to organize the following thoughts into a coherent flow, so instead, I'm going to take the easy way out and give you a few disjointed snapshots of my first few days. If you don't understand, tough coconuts.
Okay, so my first day in Kauai I accidently saw two birds doing something unseemly to the (apparently) romantic mood music of incessant rooster crowing. Awkward. Reminded me of the lizards in California I thought were "playing". And what, you are no doubt asking yourself, is with all the chickens? Well, first of all, about a decade ago (or more) there was a little storm called Hurricane Iniki that blew domesticated chickens all over the island and over time these little walking lunches became feral. This may sound like the plot to a cartoon, but I'm being very serious. So when you come to Kauai, part of the tropical fauna you'll encounter are farmyard cluckers. (Come to think of it, these babies are the ultimate free range livestock and if it wanders into your yard, a little work you got yourself a bucket of fried chicken. And no, that's not why there's only one KFC on the island.) Anyways, so the fact that all the neighbors around here have roosters sounding off in their backyards didn't really phase me. I just assumed they were taking advantage of the low cost food source.
However, I failed to add 2 and 2 and come up with 4.
You see, my aunt lives in Hanamaulu, aka Little Manila. And these Filipino neighbors aren't rasing hens, they're raising roosters.
The other day a great deal of short Filipino men were gathering across the street. I was trying to figure out why they'd chosed the gates of the so-called park (park my foot, it's just a field) as their official 'talk story' site, when a thin, short man pulled out two metal cases with holes. The cases were clucking. The men drifted to the back corner of the park and slowly others arrived as if some unseen signal had been sent. The onlookers included a pregnant woman pushing a stroller, followed by two little girls. Who the freak takes children to a cock fight?
Outside you can hear and see the helicopters fly in and out of the airport. In a way I find them a bit depressing. It almost seems like they're trying desperately to leave the island but are being pulled back by their inadequacies. On the other, funnier, hand, it's amusing to think about the tourists who spend countless hours flying over here so they can...fly some more. To be fair, I have been told that the views on the helicopter tours are spectacular and to my right is a narrow chain of mountains looking not unlike moss covered ridges on the back of a stegasaurous. They'd probably look cool from the air. But speaking of flying, it never ceases to amaze me that we can leave the coast of California and somehow, miraculously, land on a teeny, tiny island in the middle of the largest body of water in the galaxy. Navigational instruments aside, how is it that human beings, who can't ever seem to find their car keys, can find this?
I heard a rustling in my room the other night and was afraid a mouse had discovered my bag of carmels. I squeaked and slapped my hand on the bed hoping the noise would let the rodent know a panicking human was nearby. I clicked on a nearby lamp and found a mouse on the glue trap. I wanted to be sick. It took me a few to realize the only way of getting it out of my room so I didn't have to listen to it squeak all night was to pick up the trap and take it elsewhere. So after a great deal of squeaking on both sides, I moved the quivering thing outside. Put another trap down and a day later another one had committed suicide. There are absolutely no words to tell you how disgusting that is. Please tell me I don't have hauntavirus written in my future.
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