Heading back from Hana we decided not to take the Hana Highway but drive around the South-East end of the island.

We didn’t ask anyone how to do it, we just saw there was a road on the map and went for it. After a few weeks on the island I figured as long as the ocean was on my left I could figure the rest out.

They sell t-shirts here to say you survived the road to Hana but I really think this is a more dangerous route. Fortunately we have been early risers and there was little traffic and no tourists.

The road was windy and sometimes not paved, we drove ridiculously slow in the beginning as we came around corners on cliffs and there was only room for one lane.

Just a tad stressful.

But past the lushness of Hana County we were rewarded with amazing desert views. On our left was the bluest ocean peppered with lava rock and on our right arid mountains that were deserted except for the occassional cattle crossing.

I loved my time in the Atacama desert in Chile and here I felt like we had stumbled onto something really special that a lot of people don’t get to see. It wasn’t the typical views you would expect in Maui but I think they may be some of the most beautiful.

The road less traveled is a post from: Bacon is Magic

The road less traveled is a post from: Bacon is Magic

As I have mentioned I have had a lot of downtime at Travaasa Hana, last night I went to Ono Farms to learn about all the different fruit grown in Hawaii and how pretty much most of it was brought in from immigrants.

It turns out it is the same with music. While the ukulele is an iconic symbol of Hawaii, it was actually brought in by Portuguese plantation workers in 1879.

They slightly changed the instrument and then named it for its appearance: uku means bug and lele means flea – as that’s what your hand looks like while playing it – a jumping flea.

I am not musical at all but I really wanted to take a lesson at the resort. My mother and I sat down with two other guests who were clearly musically gifted.

We were the opposite.

But our teacher Doug explained that the ukulele is actually easier for people who don’t play the guitar as it’s only strum with one finger and we would not have the bad habits guitar players would have.

I think he was just trying to be nice.

But after 45 minutes we learned how to struggle through You are my sunshine and I started to think with enough practice I could actually play the instrument.

And perhaps the more interesting video was actually Doug playing a Hawaiian song because he explained that the songs have many hidden messages. Apparently Hawaiians are lewd and lascivious and when the missionaries came over to the islands they needed to hide all their dirty singing with double meaning.

And I think they do it best, I have never heard a prettier dirty song.

 Image (c) Jayneandd

Learning to play ukulele is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Learning to play ukulele is a post from: Bacon is Magic

A few days ago I received an email from Travaasa Hana anticipating my upcoming arriving and dropping one piece of information on me.

There is no internet anywhere in the resort

except for the lobby.

This is a very good thing to know in advance for someone addicted to the internet. Someone like me. But with my mother arriving only a few days ago I had already been minimizing my time online, cutting way back by only checking email 10 times a day instead of every 5 minutes.

 I know I have a problem.

 But I also know I can beat it. In Peru I hung out with the Hare Krishna for nine days and wasn’t online once. I have felt the immediate, panicky withdrawal symptoms. I know they will go away. I know that life will go on if I am not on Facebook.

It’s hard but it’s not so bad when you are in Maui.

And after landing in Travaasa I realized the no internet thing really fit the vibe you get there. Hana is not like the other side of the island, it is a lush, rainforest and incredibly small. There are no big resorts or tourist restaurants.  Travaasa is the biggest resort but it’s been owned for generations and has changed very little. It’s a throwback to another time and feels like I should be in Dirty Dancing with the little cottages and activity sheets for the next day.

You can bet I was looking out for my Patrick Swayze.

So there was no Patrick Swayze but I did find something else. The joy of having nothing to do.

The sun woke us up at 6am in plenty of time for our 7am yoga class.

We ate breakfast on our patio looking out onto the ocean.

We walked into town to find a fruit stand so we could get snacks and breakfast for the next day.

We took a green juicing class from our yoga teacher Ruth, drinking each vegetable raw and then combining it with fruit to see what we would actually stomach at home.

We spent the afternoon reading, not interrupted by the beeping of iPhones or wondering if someone had emailed us. To break things up we went to the Travaasa spa for a massage.

We had a great dinner at the Hana Travaasa restaurant where my mother wondered how I would make this diver scallop dish. It was amazing but even I couldn’t dissect the ingredients.

We read some more and then went to bed knowing we’d be up with the sun again.

I had a lot of time to do nothing but think, write in my journal and think some more. After a few days of this I didn’t miss being online and really liked the lack of connectedness I had to the world. It made me realize, exactly what I learned last time with the Hare Krishna.

My addiction to the internet burns me out and drains my creativity.

But have no fear, I’m not announcing the end of Bacon is Magic but I am making the decision not to work on weekends. I figure people get a break from their jobs on the weekends so I will not be working on the blog. I’d love to say I go completely Internet-free but let’s start with baby steps.

Disconnecting in Hana is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Disconnecting in Hana is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Spending a bit of time in Maui I realized the population is pretty diverse. At first I noticed a lot of Filipinos, asking around I learned Maui has become a blending of cultures as generations ago the growth of the sugar industry brought many immigrants including Chinese. Filipino, Portugese, Japanese and Korean.

It’s a really diverse mix and once you are aware you can see the influence of these cultures on the food. It was particularly apparent at the Fairmont Ko, which recently opened and chose to celebrate its diverse heritage – ko means sugarcane.

Ko just opened with a focus on celebrating its unique heritage, Chef Tylun Pang created the menu using some of his own family recipes passed down through generations. I don’t know if whipping the purple Moloka’i sweet potatoes with coconut milk is one of those recipes but it is absolutely amazing.

For locals I’m sure they see the fusion of food and cooking techniques as there are so many restaurants in Maui but as a visitor it is not as apparent. It is refreshing to see a hotel restaurant here embracing what makes them special rather than serving up generic “international” food.

Disclosure: I have been a guest of the Maui Visitors Bureau but all opinions remain my own. No one has asked me to write a favourable review or eat every last spoonful of those sweet potatoes.

Food Friday: What Maui likes to eat is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Food Friday: What Maui likes to eat is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Read any Maui guidebook and it will tell you about the iconic and picturesque road to Hana. It’s a must for most travelers and I had already gone half-way earlier with Carol from NYCityMama which was great because I learned two things:

1) It isn’t at all scary like everyone says. The road winds around mountains but there are lanes and guard rails.

2) I needed a guidebook to find all of the stops you are supposed to make, there are no signs so Carol and I couldn’t find a single waterfall.

I would not make that mistake with my mother.

Our first stop was to get Maui Revealed that readers recommended on Maui on my Mind. It’s a great guide for the road to Hana because it tells you what mile marker to stop  and what to expect so you can choose how adventurous you want to be.

At the two mile market we hit a fruit stand with smoothies, it was by a look off so we thought it would be fun to get one and walk out to the look off. We were totally duped, it was just down a flight of stairs and looking out to what we had been seeing from the highway.

Around the 6 mile mark we saw a man with these parrots, other cars had stopped and a family was talking to the guy. Apparently he was offering to have your photo taken with one of them for $20 – the money went to his bird “sanctuary” – who knows if it was legit but I snapped a photo and told my mother to run to the car.

A little past mile 11 we stopped and walked five minutes into the woods to see pool and small waterfall called Haipua’ena Falls. A nice couple offered to take our photo and ignored my instructions to put us on the left so we wouldn’t obstruct the pool and waterfall – oh well.

At mile 12 we stopped at  Kaumahina State Wayside with questionably clean washrooms but hey you can’t be picky in nature. We had brought some Surfing Goat Dairy cheese, crackers and fruit so stopped for lunch to enjoy the view.

The 18 mile marker is the Wailua Valley State Wayside. We climb some stairs for another great view. When we come down another driver has made it impossible for me to turn around so I ask if she can move up to the disabled parking spot while I turn around.

She is very annoyed but I’m not backing out onto the highway and snark back that she needs to move up. We leave happily, she probably stays grumpy for the rest of the day.

We make it Halfway to Hana, which is actually two-thirds of the way. If South East Asia has the banana pancake trail I would say Maui has the banana bread trail, every place says they have the best but apparently this is the original. It’s pretty good although not as good as my grandmother’s.

After thinking we are lost and driving through a washed out road we finally find Kahanu Garden at mile 31. We pay $10 each not to see the garden but Pi`ilanihale, a gigantic ruin made from lava rocks and could possibly be the largest ancient place of worship in Polynesia.

It’s massive but they have trees in front obstructing/protecting it. Hopefully in the future they’ll learn more about it so visitors will have more to do than simply look from afar.

Our final stop in Hana County was at mile 32 for Wai’anapanapa Black Sand Beach, we had been driving nearly five hours and regretted we didn’t have more time because it was a beautiful beach. There’s camping available at the park and it seems like a fantastic place to spend a few days.

But we have to move onto Hana because we have 4 days planned there and I’ve been told there’s no wifi – eek!

The road to Hana in photos is a post from: Bacon is Magic

The road to Hana in photos is a post from: Bacon is Magic

It’s no secret, I started to get hostel fatigue in Chile, perhaps it was because I had worked for one in Cuzco for a month. I just started getting tired of dorms, and I missed the great hostels in Ecuador where I could pay $8-10 and get a room instead of sharing one with eight other people.

Lately I haven’t been traveling in hostels at all, and I haven’t stayed in one in Maui until now. I really wanted to experience the full spectrum of accommodation, both budget and luxury to show that you really could come to Maui and have whatever kind of experience you want.

I don’t want the hostel experience.

I came off the flight from Moloka’i feeling a bit tired and ready for a nap. The girl at the hostel reception was cheery and full of energy and I remembered all those hostels in the past where I had such a good time.

But then I saw my room.

I opened the door to see I was sharing a dorm room with two other girls who were disgusting pigs. I could not do it.

I went back to reception to ask if there were any rooms with a free bottom bunk. I’m taken to a new dorm with only one guy, it’s just as spartan but he is cleaner than the girls so I settle in onto the white sheets concealing a plastic covered mattress.

I just want to be alone and have a nap but my friendly dormmate wants to have the mandatory are you on holiday/how long are you traveling…. conversation. He seems nice so I muster up some friendliness.

I consider taking a shower but then I remember I don’t have any shampoo because I’ve been using hotel toiletries and I also don’t have a towel.

F*&^!

A year ago none of this would have bothered me. I embraced hostels and loved the people I met. But tonight as I hear my fellow hostel dwellers starting to rev up for Saturday night I am kicking myself for not bringing the hotel shampoo from Hotel Moloka’i.

Instead of wallowing in my grumpiness I decide to hop in my rental car to find some shampoo. Because I may be the grumpy girl right now but I don’t want to be the grumpy girl with greasy hair.

Author’s Note: I wrote this in a moment of frustration, not all hostels are like frat houses but every once in a while they are really terrible. When I got back from Wal-mart I met another dormmate who was great and the next day we went out snorkeling. This is why hostels are great, you meet amazing people, even in the frat house-like ones.  

Disclosure: I was a guest of the Maui Visitors Bureau, all opinions are my own. They did not ask me to write any favourable reviews. I did not disclose the name of this hostel because it’s not their fault I don’t want to stay in a frat house. There may be hostels in Maui that are a bit better but I think I’m done for a while.

I’m so over hostels is a post from: Bacon is Magic

I’m so over hostels is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Halawa Valley is located on the West Coast of Moloka’i and home to Anakala. The area is beautiful, you can only discover it with a local as it is public property so Anakala runs tours to a scenic waterfall.

I like waterfalls but I don’t make a trip specifically to see one. After seeing Iguazu Falls there aren’ t many that are impressive.

This one isn’t either.

But you don’t go on this tour to see the waterfall, it is only the backdrop to listening to Anakala share the story of his life and the land. Now 71, Anakala grew up in the valley, he survived a tsunami in 1946 and at 15 he lied about his age to run away from Moloka’i and join the navy.

His grandfather had decided it would be Anakala who would pass on the stories of their family and as we walk through the land his ancestors have lived for generations he tells us about the plants and Hawaiian traditions of natural medicine. It’s amazing to spend time with someone so connected to their home.

Things are different now. He tells us about when he was forbidden to speak Hawaiian and how the language is changing. As English speakers were the ones to document names and places on a map, many of the names were wrong and Hawaiians could not correct them as it meant speaking their language when it was outlawed. Now the language he speaks is different from his grandchildren.

At times he is emotional because he is happy we are there to learn, and without any grandchildren living in the valley I wonder who he will pass all of this knowledge onto.

When the tour is done he explains we do not say goodbye because there is no word in Hawaiian for it – only a hui hou  which means we’ll see each other again if not here, on the other side.

When I get back to my truck I looked at his business card and smiled because it did not say tour guide as I expected but storyteller – and that’s exactly why you need to meet him.

Have you met Anakala? is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Have you met Anakala? is a post from: Bacon is Magic

As Moloka’i is a small island off Maui, one that not many tourists visit, there are no restaurants really designed for tourism. The downtown core, or mile zero, really reminds me of my home town as it’s one block and everything you need is there.

Over the course of a week I was able to check out most of the restaurants so if you’re looking to find out where to eat in Molokai here are my top picks:

Moloka’i Pizza Cafe

This is a local’s favourite and is busy at night. I was told it tastes like Pizza Hut but better and I think that is a fair assessment. I got pizza to go (which I ate while driving in the photo above) for a day at the beach.

Moloka’i Pizza Cafe also sells burgers and other mains. I heard from vegetarian travelers that the veggie burger is great and likely made from scratch.

 Outpost Natural Foods

Definitely my biggest surprise on the island, Outpost Natural Foods is a tiny shop with health food and organic produce. In the back there is a juice bar and a little vegetarian cafe. It seems that Hawaii is very meat oriented so I was so happy to have a meal without it.

Molokai Burger

This is a new restaurant that everyone is raving about. The cashiers at Molokai Burger is really friendly and suggested I try the paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) burger and get extra sauce for the fries.

Yes that is an onion ring on top of the burger and it was probably one of the best hamburgers I have had in years.

Hula Shores

I ate here the most because it was the restaurant at Hotel Molokai, but a lot of locals come here as well as it’s only one of two bars on the island. The menu changes depending on what the fisherman bring here.

What I loved about this place was that I could make substitutions as long as they were reasonable. I was really craving green vegetables so they put broccoli on my salad or substitute broccoli for a side salad. It’s strange how you really start to crave vegetables but I was so thankful for it.

Disclosure: I was a guest of the Moloka’i Visitors Bureau during my time here although all meals were on my own. No one asked me write positive reviews or insist that I make strange broccoli substitutions.

Food Friday: Where to eat in Molokai is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Food Friday: Where to eat in Molokai is a post from: Bacon is Magic

I heard there was a ghost town on the island but no one gave me any details so I imagined the Wild West. One my way to the beach I missed the turn and ended up in Maunaloa.

But it was a weird Twilight Zone episode because while everything looked new, no one was around and everything was boarded up. I almost expected zombies to start creeping out with the smell of new flesh.

Okay maybe it wasn’t that bad but it was weird.

The only thing that was open was a kite shop so I stopped in. I was in a modern day ghost town.

Maunaloa was the site of Molokai’s only luxury accommodations, home to a gas station and the island’s only cinema. As I mentioned in my last post Molokai Ranch, owned by a Kiwi company, wanted to continue development but the community was concerned that its plans were too aggressive and urged them to focus on the current property.

That wasn’t in the plans for Molokai Ranch.

In 2008 things came to a head and the two groups could not come to an agreement so Molokaì Ranch shut down completely and abandoned the island. With 120 employees it was the largest employer on the island. They were all left unemployed and the village was boarded up.

This is all that remains.

Disclosure: I was a guest of the Moloka’i Visitors Bureau but all opinions remain my own. No one asked me to write a favourable review or desaturate the photos in this post.

Moloka’i's ghost town is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Moloka’i's ghost town is a post from: Bacon is Magic

One of the first things I noticed driving around the island were signs protesting different things. People had painted enough of them that I started wanting to know what was going on.

At first as an outsider I didn’t want to intrude but I noticed a petition in a cafe and discovered that people LOVE talking about what is going on around the island.

Save La’au

An older issue but the signs remain. Moloka’i Ranch of Maunaloa fame wanted to re-zone land at La’au Point for luxury homes. Not only is the area spiritually significant but residents were concerned about the environmental impact.

Moloka’i is not a commercialized island and when residents heard what was happening they took action and protested. According to some the environmental assessment was incorrect and so far the development has been rejected. There is so much momentum against this development I don’t think it will ever pass.

Cruise Ships

This was a confusing web to untangle as the signs made it look as if the community hadn’t agreed to it. But after some digging I learned the cruise ship was really a 34-person yacht that stop in Moloka’i and its visitors stay a few days to tour the island. At one point a protest stopped the people from disembarking the yacht but today it has been permitted as people have lost interest in protesting on site.

I guess you win some you lose some.

Wind Turbines

The residents are concerned there haven’t been adequate environmental assessments. But the biggest argument is that all of the energy will go to Oahu and there is no economic benefit for the island. They see it as a David vs. Goliath story as they battle big business and the government. This one seems to be gaining support as I have seen many signs and a website dedicated to it.

But what is most interesting is that Moloka’i has a high unemployment rate and many people need to take a ferry to Maui to work. Despite the promise of jobs that commercialization of the island would bring, the community has a strong desire to keep their lifestyle as is.

That doesn’t mean they don’t want tourists, they were all happy to see me. They just don’t want tourism to change their lifestyle.

Moloka’i is small and feisty – just like me.

Disclosure: Moloka’i Visitors Bureau hosted me during my visit, but all opinions remain my own. They did not ask for favourable reviews or that I take so many photos of the protest signs.

David battles Goliath in Moloka’i is a post from: Bacon is Magic

David battles Goliath in Moloka’i is a post from: Bacon is Magic