What is there to do on Molokai Island

St. Damien cared for the spirits of the ill.

St. Damien cared for the spirits of the ill. Tita, my old wolf, climbed to the top of the first serpentine. Another stride and we fell down a steep rock and fell almost 487 meters into the ocean. It is the number one touristic spot on the untouristic island of Molokai in Hawaii.

Fortunately, shrubs were blocking some of the dizzying looks, and I had a muleteer behind me beating his utulele and song in this lovely, gentle Hwaiian masculine treble that calmed the roughest nervous systems. Looking down to Kalaupapa from a curve in the more than three miles long path of Kalaupapa.

He was a stubborn old horned wag. "Tita " is Hwaiian for "sister", and this old nurse had an arbitrary posture that stopped, brazenly pushed and worked on the creepy outer rim of the trails, even on hair pins. This was a prefect place of exile, separated from the island by some of the highest rocks in the underworld.

Today only a few are left, all in the 1970s to 1990s, along with the dozen national and state employees who administer today's Kalaupapa National Historical Park. These long extended burros are sure-footed and faithful to the track. There are three ways for Kalaupapa visitors: You can take a small airplane, horseback riding the burros, or walk the path of the cliffs (Pali), a strenuous walk for the very little ones.

The staff of the National Park Service sometimes pull tired or wounded walkers off the path and demand that the mules be rescued or that the affected persons roll off on a specially designed mobile stretcher that is flew to the outer isles to receive first-aid. Maultiertouren represent their own risk. That is why the owners of the long-standing Kalaupapa Ride accept the tourist's information on insurances, demand that they subscribe to disclaimers and adhere to strict regulations.

It' okay if you have no riding skills - guide will tell you what to do - but you can't exceed 113 kg or be with child, and you must be in good physical wellbeing. The three routes to Kalaupapa are costly and require local permissions and pre-arranged itineraries.

My sum for my hike, including tax and charges, was US$230 ($333). The natives had said to me that Kalaupapa was a "must-do", a holy place with a "special feeling". Whenever I insisted on detail, there were no words. At home they were found by headhunters who received $10 for every suspicious leper case registered with the health department.

When they were little kids, many were torn from their schools, X-rayed and quickly sent to Kalaupapa, where they were still weeping for their mother. There were many themes about how old acquaintances and family avoided them after they were identified and sent to Kalaupapa. Damien was one of them, but only a small proportion of people are prone to the sickness.

Don't lay a hand on the patient, he was informed. "You' re training your hinges on the way down the path. Do you have any idea what's being trained on the way up," our travel leader Norman Soares asked. "Before I got on the tourbus, I asked Soares about a limitation that confused me.

The leader of our group explained to us how over drooling sick people rolled large sheets into a hopper, stuck the small end into the hole and spat to the floor, often through distorted limbs, while listening to the Scriptures. "At Kalaupapa," said a inhabitant of The Separating Sickness, "we are all in the same boat; we help each other.

" It seemed an easy trip for us, the burros were tougher. Our travel leader was right. I was very chafed when we arrived "upstairs" Molokai. When he rushed, I thought of another kind of pain I had suffered the previous morning in the city.

Modelled on a traditionally Polish town, the island's capital is located near Molokai's small town centre in Kaunakakai. US$2-$18 breakfastpan, US$5-17 for lunches and US$5-$37 for dinners. As for the service: "If you are in a rush, you are on the island you are on the other side of the island", the map says. The price include a packed luncheon, a Kekaula Tours and permit tours.

When you are planning a walk, you can also make reservations with the guides. Walkers and passengers can directly with Damien Tours booking an everlasting Kalaupapa trip, which is carried out by patients within the town. When you don't want to walk, take a plane or go riding the burros to Kalaupapa, you can make this short walk along a disability-friendly trail to a well signposted vantage point.

On the other side of the car park is the small road to the Phallic Rock of Molokai. A beautifully renovated pioneering cane mill is also located on the site.