Maui Moi's Hawaiian Tips!

So here I am, a mere few days before I head back to the mainland, back to reality.  I've been pondering this blog post for quite some time; I'd ponder, then watch a movie or drink some beer.  After watching "50/50" I decided to head down to take a shower.  I turn on the light, and I had two cockroaches occupying the bathroom.  I killed them of course, throwing down a Frank Lloyd Wright visual encyclopedia, crushing their bodies, and tossing them in the trash, as if it were no big thing.  I went on with my business, taking my shower, and started thinking about things that I'll miss here, or things that I've learned about being here that I'll treasure forever.

First off, the GOOD THINGS:

- The basic good things; great weather, great people, blah blah blah.

- Koko Brown beer.  It's an amazing gift from Kona Brewing Company.  It's an ale brewed with toasted coconut, and BOY is it COCONUT-EE!  I'm sitting here, enjoying one while I type this out.

- Hiking.  I didn't do much hiking back home, but always thought I would.  I came here, and I've hiked almost every weekend.  I've loved most of it, too.

- Waking up in the morning.  I may not get the direct sun in my window, but I get mostly direct sun.  With the sun, mixed with the roosters outside my window, it makes for an enjoyable morning.

- Kale.  I'm in love with kale, and never thought I'd say that.  I like it in salads, on crackers with hummus, in wraps; you name it, I love it.

- Being able to relax.  I don't mean relax in the "sit on the beach all day and drink" relax.  I mean the subtle change you start to feel from being away from every day life.  Not that there's anything wrong with my every day life, but it's been great to be able to really take myself out of it and place myself somewhere completely away from it all.


Now for some BAD THINGS:

- I can't wait for the day that I don't have to carry a flashlight with me to the bathroom to check for centipedes on the floor.  Not just any centipedes either; these suckers get to be 6 inches long.  SICK.

- Same goes for the rest of the bugs.  The other day I was in the bathroom, and I hear this rustling noise against the plastic bag in the trash can.  I look over slowly, just like in the horror movie, expecting there to be a serial killer waiting for me, but instead, I find a friggin' cockroach.  I can't even enjoy a moment to myself without being visited by a cockroach.  Same goes with the ants!  I realize that I shouldn't complain - I could be in Australia with some really horrifying bugs, but I'm not.  So I'll complain.  Ants in my peanut butter, ants on the counter, ants on the table, ants in my room.  Bugger off already!

- Snorkeling.  I went.  I tried.  I hated.  It might be something I could overcome one day, but the idea of covering up my nose and trying to breath out of my mouth without actually opening it (that would let in the salt water and that's never good) seems like not a very great system to me.  So what did I do?  Pass the underwater camera off to someone else and I went back on the beach and enjoyed the clouds.  And the people.  And the sun.

- Expensive groceries.  Not a big fan, to the point that I love buying groceries back home.

- Dirty hippies.  The ones that come here and opt to not shower.  Ever.  Okay, maybe once a week, but the point of the matter is they're here because Maui loves hippies.  Hippies are great, just make sure you shower.



Enough complaining, now onto the pictures!!!

A little over a week ago, R and I descended onto the infamous "Road to Hana."  A great drive that took us most the day (We started out early, got a few miles down the road, stopped for a hike, and then the car wouldn't start...so we went back, switched cars, had to go the opposite direction to get gas, and we were finally on our way!...at 10:15)

Anyway, first stop was a little shrine to Our Lady of Fatima...

We saw a few waterfalls, then came across this little nook...

Noted.

More waterfall action...

R and I decided to just...hang out.

We soon stopped for tacos.  We couldn't decide between Kalua Pig and Ono fish tacos, so we each got one and split them.  And of course, our faithful koko brown beer!

We explored this lovely black sand beach after a delightful lunch, and found a cave...

Fast forward a bit and we went to see the Seven Sacred Pools.  Not only are german shepards not allowed in the park, we were also not allowed in the water.  Stupid rain.

 But just in case we DID end up in the water, we wanted to practice our faces when we got saved.

R found a new home, very spacious for entertaining.

And now we start the waterfall gallery.  I learned how to take pictures of waterfalls that day, and man - I went crazy.

So, we decided to climb through the utterly spooky bamboo forest.

And we found another waterfall.  All these waterfall pictures were making me sweat!

No joke, I worked really hard.

On the way back, we were treated to some lovely cotton candy clouds.

And then one of the most horrifying drives of my life - made worse when it was in the dark.  And despite popular belief, Canadian black bears do NOT reside in Maui.

We did make it back alive, just in time for our Lahaina road trip!

I feared for my life.

So, I finally made it to Lahaina, kind of a last minute trip with R, my roommate.  We took the bus into town, and wandered the area like any well-meaning single gals.

This guy may not be real, but he really cracked us up.

How abouts a midday beach beer?  We sat on the rocks, and hung out, watching for whales and the beginner surfers.

Under the banyon tree!  This single tree takes up a whole city block...you can easily climb onto it's many limbs.

Fast forward a couple days...we decided to go to happy hour as a bonding experience.  And bonding, it was.

With shots of tequila, and taste testing different cocktails and beers, it made for a really great evening!  The best part was everyone was in bed by 9.

One day for work, R and I were on coconut duty.  We had to pick out the coconuts that hadn't been cracked, and get rid of the rest.  While looking for something to hold all our coconuts, R came across this container, screamed, and threw it down.  We then decided to investigate this little guy, and take plenty of pictures.

For Valentines Day, R and I had a last-minute decision to hike the trail at Iao Valley, in our flip flops.  During the hike, we ran into a hiking group, with a tour guide named Henry.  Henry was from California, and was extremely chatty.  So chatty that he pretty much ditched his group and just went with R and I.  Afterwards, R had to double check with me what his name actually was.  She was convinced it was Steve, so we started referring him as Steve.

These little rocks were everywhere. R said it was somehow to respect the warriors or something.  But after researching, it's a tourist thing and it's actually very offensive.

Offensive or not, it's creepy.  It brought on a conversation about voodoo and spirituality.

Henry told us that this plant is a natural shampoo, but it's not in season so we couldn't try it out.

Halfway up the mountain trail, I ditched the flip flops.  On the way down, so did R.  We also decided to get into the spirit of things, and put tribal marks on our faces with mud.

We made it out alive, after befriending Rob, who was from California, and knew all about Zingermans.   He talked a lot about his ex-wife, and it was quite a trip down.

We climbed down to some water, and washed our crying feet up.  We also washed the flip flops and our faces, hoping for a better chance at getting a ride.  Nobody likes dirty hitchhikers.

On the way back, we got a really nice ride from Jen, from St. Louis.  She works for a local magazine here in Maui, and she got us to Haiku.  We still needed to get to Door of Faith Rd., so we hitched.  An old beat up pick up pulled up, and we opted to climb in the bed of the truck.  Seemed like a good idea, right?  It. was. terrifying.

We had a container of marinara from Little Caesars, left over from our lunch, and we had decided to just bring it back to the house and offer it up.  Well, that marinara went through a lot. 

We made a pit stop here, so our ride could try and sell some of his poi (ground up taro) but it was a no go.  So he gave it to us.  I also learned that he was a local, which meant his driving would be almost twice as fast as the normal driver.  We crossed over the lane, and I made sure to hold on for dear life.

We made it out alive, and on our walk down, stopped in at a local church, which is a historical landmark, looked around, and headed home.  We ended up meeting one of our neighbors, Riggy (or Ricky - we're not too sure) who was from Tunga, and told us all about true love.

All in all, a really great few days.