Luau!

The fire dance is always the highlight of any show at any luau

Dinner tonight was a traditional Hawaiian tourist luau.  All the essentials were included in the package.  Roast pork.  Poi.  Pineapple upside down cake.  Hula girls in dance skirts with audience participation in a couple of the dances.  All the great tourist traditions of the 50th State.

It all starts with getting the pig up out of the barbecue pit on the luau grounds.  Large men in native garb is part of the tradition.

Actually, the luau started with an adult beverage.  A mai-tai.  This was an open bar luau.  The mai-tai was good, but then I heard the bartender telling another luau-attendee that he could mix up his mai-tai with bourbon instead of rum.  So I ordered a bourbon mai-tai or three.  The above photo is the part where they remove the banana leaves that had been covering the pig meat during the cooking process.

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The meal was very good.  Food was plentiful and the bar was quite open.  The pork was flavorful, moist and tender.  There was salad, ahi poke (ahi tuna sashimi with onions) (quite good), pineapple, steak, a nicely-cooked white fish of some sort, rice, a dessert bar.  And a food blogger who neglected to get any photos of the food.

After dinner, when the sun had already set -- this was billed as the "Sunset" Luau so of course a sunset features prominently -- the light was dimming and the show started.

The highlight -- of course -- was the fire dance.

It was too dark and the fire-dancer was moving too fast for a clear shot, but the fire in motion made for a great picture.

And with that, the fire dance and the luau came to a conclusion.

Touristy?  But there is a lot about Hawaii that is there for the tourists who are an essential part of the Hawaiian economy.  So, for the 50th State at least, the touristy is the traditional.  Enjoy guilt free.