MELON TRACKS
Worldwide Weird Travel with Ben Osto
Worldwide Weird Travel with Ben Osto
Leper Colony, Molokai, Hawaii: Photos and Text by Ben Osto
Just off the north end of Maui is the island of Molokai, the location where Honolulu’s Waikiki Beach strip-harvested its sand. If you have the legs for it, you can take an hour and a half trek down a steep trail to the cut off peninsula where the isolated Leper Colony is located (and then, thank God, fly back up in a tiny plane).
Sheriff Richard Marks takes you on a tour of the colony in his beat up old blue school bus. This eccentric gentleman, who suffers from a mild form of leprosy himself, stops the bus every so often to go and feed the pet of an older patient or check and see if a resident are still alive.
During the course of the tour, Marks details the history of the colony, and points out interesting sights such as the burial location of Father Damien’s hand and the cove where they used to toss the stricken from the boats. (After a few stops, you will notice that he goes through his spiel whether there is a large group on the bus or no one at all.
The few lepers who still live in the colony are shy and don't come out for visitors. One generous patient who ran the book store gave my wife a hand putting things in her bag, even though she was missing all her digits.
Sheriff Richard Marks takes you on a tour of the colony in his beat up old blue school bus. This eccentric gentleman, who suffers from a mild form of leprosy himself, stops the bus every so often to go and feed the pet of an older patient or check and see if a resident are still alive.
During the course of the tour, Marks details the history of the colony, and points out interesting sights such as the burial location of Father Damien’s hand and the cove where they used to toss the stricken from the boats. (After a few stops, you will notice that he goes through his spiel whether there is a large group on the bus or no one at all.
The few lepers who still live in the colony are shy and don't come out for visitors. One generous patient who ran the book store gave my wife a hand putting things in her bag, even though she was missing all her digits.
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