Authentic Experiences

Last night I was at a friend's house for dinner. They, along with another family, have just recently returned from a vacation in Mexico. It was very interesting, one family is very well travelled, and the other family, this was the husband's first experience at an all inclusive resort.

After listening about their whole trip, one of the comments he made was that he wished that some of the experiences were more "authentic". He was in Mexico and he said he would have liked to hear more Mariachi music on the resort, at night, in the lobby, etc.

I can totally relate to what he was saying. It was something that we discussed after we went to the Luau in Maui. Since neither one of us had been to Hawaii before, we thought we should considering going to a Luau. We didn't really have a lot of time in Oahu, or Kona so Maui seemed like the place where we would have the most time.

I think that we both had an "idea" in our heads what the Luau would be like. I knew that there is a ceremony where they remove the ceremonial  Kalua pig (Pua'a) from the Imu (underground oven). I had imaged that the Luau would be on the beach, and the show would be there in the sand as well. Maybe there are places that have it like that, but the ones that we saw flyers on, were not like that.

We decided on the Luau at the Hyatt Regency because it was a buffet style meal with a variety of food choices.

When we arrived at the Hyatt we were seated at a long table. There were rows and rows of long tables. Our seats were on an end and not that far from the stage, which would be good for the show.

When the show was about to start, they did have the removal of the Pua'a from the Imu and then it was carried off to be shredded for the buffet dinner. The food (once we ate) was very good.

The show itself was quite good. There were traditional dances from all the different areas of Samoa, Tongo, Hawaii, and so on. There was a fire dancer which was also quite good. The male dancers that had their faces painted like the Samoan warriors were quite entertaining and then of course the hula dancers. The audience had the chance to go and learn some hula moves, which of course I jumped at the chance....when in Rome as they say....

I did a lot of research for this trip, and I think I missed out on finding the right Luau for us. The one we would have liked to see, probably existed. It is one of those activities that you say "been there, done that"..... on my next visit to Hawaii (I will go back someday), I can leave the Luau off the list.

I did come acrooss this link (since I have been home) and I would advise, if you are planning to go to Hawaii, to take a look at these tips:
 

http://www.govisithawaii.com/2007/11/15/how-to-choose-a-hawaiian-luau-5-savvy-tips/

I wish I had!!!

Mahalo - thanks for reading....if you have been to Hawaii and went to a Luau - leave your comments below - where did you go and what did you think???