The Old and the New

On Sunday, we attended Mass at St. Raphael's, the oldest Catholic church on Kauai. The first Mass was celebrated on Christmas in 1841. The church building, seen to the right, was dedicated on October 24, 1956. While our Mass was held in new church building, very modern open-air Hawaiian style, daily Masses and 7:00 a.m. Sunday Mass is still celebrated in this building. It is impressive that the building has withstood 150+ years of this rainy place. 

From the old to the new, our next stop was the new Wal-Mart in Lihue to stock up the condo with food and supplies. We've talked with some "locals" who feel that Wal-Mart is destroying local commerce and local farmers (hardly a fresh accusation). The local farmers are fighting back by strongly promoting farmers markets. We also did our part by buying some things at Living Foods. This place is a "Whole Foods meets Hawaiian food prices." They actually sell a dozen eggs for $9.00+. In this case, we had to opt for the Wal-Mart eggs. 

After some snorkeling at the Beach House reef, we cleaned up and had dinner at Merriman's. This restaurant is also new in Poipu. They specialize in locally caught seafood and locally grown vegetables and produce. Our meals were spectacular. The ambiance and views were great. If you ever eat here, try to get a table on the veranda. We weren't able to but if we had, here would have been our view. 

Half hour before sunset. The ocean view is to the left.