Hawaii--Day 5 at the Polynesian Cultural Center

We spent today at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) in Laie on Oahu's North Shore. We purchased the passes that gave us a personal tour guide. Our guide, Hinarii (we called her Hina), was a student at Brigham Young University--Hawaii. She hails from Tahiti. Here are some pictures from our day...

Candace and Brooke on our tour bus to the PCC.

We went to "Tahiti" for our first stop where the girls became Tahitian dancers.

The girls got more practice afterwards and were fitted with their own grass skirts.

Us with our new Tahitian friends. (Brooke and Candace liked "Finiki" next to Brooke). SHAKA!

The girls with our tour guide Hina.

We got matching tatoos.

We had front row seats for the Canoe Pageant where Polynesians in traditional costumes treat you to their interpretations of Pacific history and myths in memorable fashion. I believe this was the Samoa boat.

Hawaii, represented in the pageant.

We tried fishing with Tahitian Coconut bread dough but didn't catch anything.

We ended up weaving our own fish out of leaves from a coconut tree.

This picture is for you Dora...Us with the emcee from the Samoa show.

The girls had to get one more picture with an Island guy. This is the guy who climbed up a coconut tree (thanks for arranging the picture Hina!).

Hina gave us a copy of the recipe for Tahitian Coconut Bread. Candace said she wanted to make it when she got back to Albuquerque, so here's the recipe:

Tahitian Coconut Bread

• 2 cups fresh grated coconut
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 4 cups white flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Combine coconut, sugar and water together in a large bowl. Blend flour and baking powder together. Add to coconut mixture and mix until texture is doughy. Gradually add additional flour, as needed, so dough is not too sticky to handle. Separate dough into 5 equal pieces and roll into the shape and size of a hot dog bun. Wrap each piece of dough in aluminum foil. Place foil-wrapped dough on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

FYI: The "shaka" sign is a common greeting gesture. It is often associated with Hawaii and sports such as surfing, kitesurfing, skateboarding, skimboarding, snowboarding and skydiving. It consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while keeping the three middle fingers curled, and raising the hand as in salutation with the back of the hand facing the person that is being greeted; sometimes the hand is rotated back and forth to emphasize the sign.