Maui Na Ka Oi! Maui is the best!
We just spent close to 3 months on Maui. I have a feeling that all my previous reports from Maui have been much like this: The weather is perfect; shorts and maybe a T-shirt at 11:00 at night; Santa Barbara and Zapallar have that marine layer which makes warm nights a rarity in those places. The ocean is a perfect temperature, allowing you to stay in the water as long as you want. The water time is extensive, either snorkeling, bodysurfing, swimming distances, or just sitting out there soaking it all in. Aquatic life teems in the ocean, an abundance of tropical colored fish, green sea turtles, spotted eagle rays, eels. The scenery, with the blue, blue ocean, green lush mountainsides and expanses of sugar cane fields, and the white puffy clouds, is always a sensory experience for the eyes. The sunsets are consistently gorgeous. And even when it might be cloudy, everything is so vividly distinct. I know I have said all these things repetitively, but it’s all true. I love being in Maui.
Maui Na Ka Oi!
This year’s trip was characterized by not many big wave days. What that meant was the water was unusually clear and the snorkeling was great. Very few days of watching the tourists wipe-out on waves at Big Beach. Other than the usual hedonistic life of water activities and golf, we spent our time with little chores in the condo; installing wi-fi and a DVR, changing out shower heads, repairing a little flood damage sustained in the winter, getting new cushions for the sofa bed, etc.
We were there for our 10th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we took a day trip to Lanai. We don’t make that trip too often, so it was a real treat. The ferry boat leaves Lahaina harbor, so you get the vista of Lahaina from the water as you’re leaving. Part of the treat was just being on the water, the flying fish leading the way to the island of Lanai. Once there, you take a 10 minute walk from the ferry dock through the palm trees and end up on one of the most scenic of beaches (we just missed an hour show by Spinnaker Dolphins). No golf on their great courses this time. No trip to the fancy Koele Lodge on top of the mountain. We didn’t spend the night. We just beached it. We did take a break for a pool-side lunch at the adjacent Manele Hotel, but lounged on the beach, with not many other people present, until it was time to head back to the ferry and on to Lahaina. A quick dinner sitting at the bar at Bubba Gump’s, and our anniversary was complete.
Halloween traditionally has been a big event in Lahaina, getting a reputation as the Mardi Gras of the Pacific. Front Street was closed down all evening and one would parade up and down in the street gawking at all the unique costumes. It was a gay time for tourists and locals, and a profitable time for the Front Street businesses. Four, five years ago the locals Hawaiians decided a large celebration vilifying Satan was not in accordance with Hawaiian tradition, and succeeded in getting Front Street to remain open to traffic. This put a damper on events, and, although the costumes continued to appear, the night was uncomfortable as the people kept trying to push the limits of walking in the street and the policemen spent their time constantly getting the crowds back onto the sidewalk. This year though, the locals and businesses succeeded in getting the street blocked to traffic again, promising to control both the more obscene costumes and the obvious drunkenness. We returned to the street and the gaiety was back.
Janet and Paul came to visit us from Santa Barbara. Paul’s first real trip to Maui, and we showed him a good time in the short time he was here. They were fortunate enough be here on Halloween, so we all partook in the festivities together. After Paul left, Janet had to take a business trip to Oahu before going back to CA. Maria decided to go with her, so the girls had 3-4 days in Waikiki solo. As I understand it, they had a good time 
. Maria hitched a ride back to Maui with our friend Ron, whose cleaning company has a plane for Ron’s use to travel between the islands coordinating jobs. He always goes to Oahu on Fridays, so Maria was able to schedule a return trip with him. We would probably try to hitchhike with Ron more often, except he always leaves Maui early in the morning (we don’t get up early) and he usually has to squeeze us in between the toilet paper and the Clorox.
During our stay we continued our technological advancement. While there, the new iPhone 4s was introduced by Apple. We decided to make the iPhone plunge. Instead of the long, overnight lines of the mainland, on Maui I was able to go at 7:00 am, an hour before the AT&T store opened, and be the 30th person in line. Hence, I was the 30th person on Maui to get the new iPhone. I quickly found that there is no comparison between the iPhone and the BlackBerry, so many more apps, so easy to use. It is obvious when we return to a longer stay in the US of A that I am going to have to upgrade to a 2 iPhone family. While I still don’t need to be talking on the phone much, the phone is so much more these days than just a ‘phone’.
We made it back to California just in time for Thanksgiving. Instead of making the trip up to Nevada City to spend the holiday with my family, we decided this year to head back to Santa Barbara. As it turned out, it was a lot of fun. Most of the Casanuevas were there. Emilio was there from college in Boulder, Colorado. Luis Emilio and Roberto were down from Seattle. Joaquin from San Francisco. Santiago and Tanya from Bend, Oregon, and even bringing along Ava; it was Ava’s first trip to Santa Barbara with Santiago. I have to mention that an integral part of this group are Joaquin Mallmann and his girl Angelie (Joaquin is a mate of Emilio chico). There were of course Andy, Laura, Will, and Camila. Throw in Randy and Maria, who arrived from SF just before dinner was served, and it was quite a group.
We had a pre-Thanksgiving turkey at Andy’s, since the boys were headed the next day, actual Thanksgiving Day, to Janet’s for dinner. After mass quantities of Pisco, and then mass quantities of food, we gathered around the campfire in the backyard and even took time out for a piñata. Of course, the night was finished off with the required dancing. The Casanuevas know how to party, and this one was epic. Not to lose momentum, we had a post-Thanksgiving dinner at Angelie’s parent’s house. Not to be repetitive, but this night was mass quantities of Pisco and tequila, then mass quantities of food, ending with mass quantities of dancing. Angelie’s family got a good introduction to the Casanueva Way.
Then it was a week or so of business; dentists, physicals, eye exams, haircuts. We had to get into our stuff in the Trout Club to repack our suitcases, getting rid of the Maui clothes and replacing them with the Chile clothes. When we left for Hawaii, we had rented our house for a year. Part of the rental agreement was that we could have access to our storage room periodically to swap out wardrobes. Off course, not having our house necessitated staying with friends when we were there those 2 weeks (thanks go to Ale and Niko, and Ted and Mary Anne). We are now off for 4 months in Chile, but when we return, it will still be 4 months until we get our house back. I’m sure we can figure out something to do. A word of warning: we consider you all fair game for a visit
(NOTE: to go to the next picture, click on the larger pic)
