| I am sorry that I can't describe it better and that I have no photos. We came down an alley, swing around a garage that is falling down, past a
bakery to get to the back entrance (no door - see below) of the Nambu Hotel in Kapaau. Or, what had been a hotel 40 years ago. The last people to stay in it
were PCV who were doing a census. The shower room, main lodging, kitchen and office rooms are connected by porches.
We went up the narrow stairway and on the left is a narrow hallway leading to 10 rooms and a bathroom. On the right
is a big L-shaped room.
David and I spent a good 6 hours scrubbing down the walls, floor, window and dressor. The dirt was unbelievable.
We scrubbed every inch and had the cleanest room by far. Set up our cots and a clothesline. All room were on
the second floor. Below us were an art studio and an old fashioned candy store (Narum, owners from Minneapolis). When we mopped
the big room the water leaked into the store - actually areas of the floor that were rotted away. There were missing screens and about
5 billion mosquitos. Scouted around and managed to break into the office where we found card tables and chairs that we moved to the
big room. The shower was beautiful, hot water!!! It also had a sunken Japanese bath, no one used it. |
| Within the big room there was a smaller one in a corner. For some reason I suspected a pool table might be in there.
I tried picking the lock, but it was jammed. So I crawled out a window and in the dark edged my way along the roof and
"broke in" through a window. I opened the door from the inside and once we had some light we discovered old trunks filled with
clothes and Japanese books.
From a letter: The hotel seems just like home, since we are the only one here and no one seems to own it we can do as we like.
We have all sorts of signs on the walls with sin as the key idea. e.g. - Sin now, pray later. There is a corner with mattresses on the
floor and its called our "sin-corner". We've got a red light there to give it the right atmosphere.
The Door Or rather, lack of one. There was a pack of dogs that loved to come up to sus us out. So I used
a couple refrigerator shelves and horseshoe nails to create a mini-gate at the bottom of the stairs that seemed to do the job. But one dog, Chasity, kept
barking in its discontent.
Darts Jas brought a dart board to everyone's delight. We got up many a game. Mike Coyle and
Bailey were the best. Hoffsis, Morton and I played quiet a lot at the same level. Sean and Downes were rank amateurs
and Blado was too busy to play. Mrs. Hasegawa loaded him down and he took it all so seriously. He had to teach medieval history
and knew nothing about it. I played against Diane once in awhile. Moody dropped in a few times and he really had an eye. |
