Tomorrow I head off for a grueling day of travel that will take me through Chicago and Miami and end in Manaus, on the equator in Brazil. I have been asked to serve on a multi-agency assessment team to critique conservation efforts in the Amazon. I find myself both dreading and eagerly anticipating the trip. Dreading the 100 degree weather that Manaus has been receiving lately, eager for the views of a new country, far from my previous brushes with South America: Rapanui (Chile) and Galapagos (Ecuador); dreading that I know absolutely no Portuguese and will be a stranger in a strange land; eager to make new friends among those I will meet in Manaus. When it comes down to it, though, I know my jitters are mostly from excitement as I visit the largest of the South American countries and live for a few days on the banks of the Amazon! I'll take lots of pictures and hopefully figure out what kinds of things make good return souvenirs -- sandals, I hear, are a big item.My biggest regret, though, is that this assignment takes me away from halau as we converge for our yearly work at Pu'u Koholā heiau in Kawaihae. On this first return to the August rites since the passing of Kumu Lake, weʻve composed oli in his honor, and chanters must shoulder the kuleana of the protocols of the heiau and the papa kanaka without recourse to Kumuʻs ready leadership and advice. I know they will be up to it, and I only wish I could be there with them. Aloha kakou! Aloha i na waa lalani kahuna o Puu Kohola! Aloha i na pohaku kupuna.a hui hou,ʻOhu
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