Piggies!
My new camera – I love it! I’ve been having a great time photographing all kinds of things on the island.
It’s not uncommon to see me lying on my belly in the sand at the beach while trying for a different angled shot or in some other awkward pose to capture an image of a bee harvesting pollen. In a land of tourism, I blend right in!
I’ve been finding my love of photography growing again and each excursion fans the flames of this lifelong passion even higher. It feels good to be alive and with camera in hand.
I would like to have more photos to put up here today, but for now I’ll start with a cute pig who lives across the street. Occasionally him and his siblings would escape their fenced area to forage in the lush grass on the other side of their enclosure. I was lucky enough to come home for a day out with my camera to see them all running down the road. Barely waiting for the car to stop, I hopped out with a quick “Meet you at home!” tossed to Jeremy as I hurried off after the pigs.
I hope you enjoy the first of what will be many interesting shots from the island of Maui here in beautiful Hawaii.
A Sweet Potato Pie Birthday!
Last week was my 35th birthday. I had many ideas for how I would be spending the day, but ultimately a week long asthma flare narrowed down my choices.
Yet, that didn’t stop me from having a fantastic day. Ultimately I knew my day had to involve two things – I needed to be at the ocean and it there would have to be pie!
The day began with a beautiful sunrise. It’s difficult to describe how incredible the sunrise can be here. We have an east facing apartment and some mornings I can hardly wait to get out of bed after glimpsing the magnificent colors in our window. I would have posted a picture, but my camera has yet to capture the clarity and brilliance of the dawn.
Breakfast, a bit of early birthday pie, and presents soon followed as we made sure to have a lazy morning. Then it was off to the beach!
This time we went to a small beach we frequent, called Lower Paia Park. Other than the occasional tour group, this seems to be more of a locals beach. The waves had a couple feet of swell, which looks daunting from the shore, are a blast to go swimming in!
Sometimes you can float over the waves, they simply raise you a few extra feet higher than you were before quickly passing on and leaving you in their wake. Other times you have to be quick to duck under them when they are extra large and break before reaching you.
These are the more exciting waves because each time they pass over you, its an amazing amount of energy running down your back and tugging at your feet while the surf surges toward land.
After a surprisingly long swim, we changed out of our swimwear and headed to a second beach – Ho’okipa. We were off to watch the surfers while having our picnic lunch.
Shortly after we found a spot to sit, a surfer chick came along to try surfing in front of our position. She was very new, likely has only tried surfing a couple times so far, and it made for some good entertainment. We quietly cheered her on each time she struggled to catch a wave, her legs wobbling under her, and hoping this time she would be able to stand on the board.
During a lull in the surfing action, we ate our lunch and Jeremy sung me Happy Birthday. This is the first time in many years we’ve had a candle. They were never something we thought of while living in the tent and luckily an Aussie friend fixed the problem by sending one along as an extra secret gift just in time!
The sweet potato pie was amazing. I’ve never had it before, though I’ve always been curious as to what it would taste like. Our sweet potatoes are purple on the inside which added to the festive nature of the pie.
After swimming, picnicking, and surf watching it was time to go home. After paleo meatloaf for dinner (and more pie of course!), we watched a couple movies that both turned out to be rather dull.
Bad movies didn’t change anything – it was still a fantastic day!
Adventures!
Wow, I have been wanting to post here for weeks, but never find the time and energy at the same moment while also remembering.
Life is moving along much faster than either Jeremy or I are used to. Due to a few MCS related problems both at home (neighbor) and simply learning about which places are too toxic for us, we have been having less energy and more brain fog. It is at times frustrating, but overall we are doing better than we have for years and that is something we always try to remember.
Given time we’ll no doubt be doing better again. Mainly need our neighbor to stop his toxic repair project so the air becomes cleaner for us again at home. We have spoken with him and it’s mostly finished, though he’s currently waiting on a part from the mainland before he is completely done.
Our big news – we now own snorkel gear! We have been snorkeling three times in the last week and would happily have done more if the snorkel conditions cooperated. I suspect the snorkeling is also partly the cause for our fatigue. It is easy to lose track of time while exploring the reefs and shoreline looking for treasure to bring home. So far we have found a few fishing weights and some nice shells.
Our first trip out we saw two sea turtles. One was HUGE, though we only caught glimpses of it before it swam off. The second was a much smaller turtle, likely a fairly young one still as it was no more than a quarter the size of the adult. We swam along behind him as he surfaced several times for air and had a bite to eat from the coral reefs.
We also had an adventure to the westside of Maui (we live on the eastside). This tiny bit of beach is a great place to find sea glass. I think we came home with a couple pounds of glass, much of which is jewelry quality. Now we just need to turn it into necklaces, bracelets, and earrings! 
Aloha until the next adventure!
One Month Later…
What does a month in Maui look like? All of these pictures are from today, exactly one month since we landed here.
We wake up to greet the morning sky brightening off our lanai (porch).
Jeremy waters the sunflowers he planted less than three weeks ago.
Stepping into our slippers (Croc sandals) we head out for groceries and the beach.
Wait a minute! We forgot Jeremy's AAA Hawaii card, just in case!
Hop into our car, turn on the stereo for some reggae, and off we go!
We get to Mana Foods as they open. For $83 dollars we have all the organic, locally grown veggies and eggs we need for over a week. Our grassfed, organic beef will be purchased from a local guy tomorrow. Veggies in picture: 4 red leaf lettuces, 3 savoy cabbages, 3 broccoli, 2 cucumbers, 10 sweet Maui onions, 6 sweet potatoes, 1 jicama, 8 kolrabi, 1 bunch of rainbow kale, ginger, and 1 leek.
We tried a new beach this morning, Baldwin Park Beach just outside of Paia. It is only 20 minutes from home and was a great place for swimming.
I had to be a little careful at the beach as the sunburn at the top is from two days ago. Luckily my Mexican heritage has already turned my burn to tan!
After a short swim we headed home to some tasty fruit. Each day we take a small walk and pick fruit from the organic trees on the property where we live. Clockwise from top: 1 Papaya, 2 Limes, 2 Jamacian Passionfruit (lilikoi), 1 other type Lilikoi, 2 Guavas, and in center 1 Mango. Bananas, Oranges, and Avacados are also here but they are between ripe batches.
Time for a nap! Our bed is made of several blankets for padding, another for the pillow plus a coat, and a few to keep warm with while sleeping. It's basically the same type of makeshift bed we had used the last 10 years of tent life, but a bit nicer with a flat floor and fewer bugs. At some point we hope to have an organic bed, but for now it's not affordable.
After my brief nap, I had a bit more energy and made dinner for us. Paleo meatloaf with assorted veggies. Tasty!! For some strange reason I often day dreamed of meatloaf the last few years, though I had never made it in my life and ate it rarely as a kid. This was a fine way to end my adventures today with one last new experience in the kitchen.
Snorkeling!
Our big snorkeling adventure was a blast!
It’s also a lot of work on this previously bedbound body. Amazingly we snorkeled for about an hour before needing to get out of the water. I spent a fair bit of that hour simply floating while watching the fish on the coral below me. I have never snorkeled before, only wore the gear in the swimming pool a few times and the bathtub as a kid.
It was just as peaceful and relaxing as I had always dreamed it would be. I think the experience will only get better as my physical conditioning improves and I can move around easier. Though we spent an hour in the water, we both would have been happy staying in there all day.
My mom always said I was part fish because I would often be the last kid left in the pool or river even after everyone else was long since out. It was nice reconnecting with the part of me who adores swimming and feels incredibly one with the water.
We did learn one interesting fact shortly after we were done swimming and went onto the beach to dry off – there is a price to be paid for that much fun. Not only have we both ended up with sore muscles all over and various light sunburns, but apparently the ocean water is going to stimulate heavy detox.
The sore muscles and burn was expected, but the detox was a big surprise. Complicating things for me was having water trapped in my ear making me even sicker. Luckily some of it passed within an hour out of the water, but the majority of detox symptoms persisted all day and into the next.
While detox is a good thing, it can be a little overwhelming at times – especially when caught completely by surprise. We will be more prepared next time and recover quicker. In time, this detoxing should allow our health to improve considerably as long as we do not push our bodies too hard, but instead keep it slow and steady.
Again I find myself wondering where our health will climb to in the next several months as everything seems incredibly promising for the first time in a decade. If ever there was a doubt moving to Maui was going to be a life changing adventure, those doubts are fading like fog hit with the first rays of a welcoming sun filled morning.
Here’s a few pictures Kimberly took of the trip:
Threadfin Butterfly Fish
Jeremy in the middle and I'm on the left.
Coral, Threadfin Butterfly, Sea Urchin
Jeremy looking for hidden treasures.
Another Adventure?
The good news – yesterday we bought a car! It will need some work to be low toxic and fully comfortable, but for now it is enough to get us to the store without problems. We just won’t be going on hour long trips in it for now.
Within five minutes of paying for it, we were on the road heading back to Baby Beach. It was nearing sunset and we wanted to explore what having the freedom of a car felt like again.
It was great.
The bad news – while we played in the waves and walked along the beach, someone was stealing the last couple gallons of gas from our car. We naively left the car open, windows down, so it could get fresh air through it. For the thief, this plus the cover of near darkness made a tasty target to get easy access to our gas tank’s lid release lever and our gas.
It was a bit hair-raising on the way home when we noticed the gas light on – tank nearly empty!
Luckily we did make it back, but the nearest gas station is further away than we feel comfortable driving to on an unknown amount of gas with a car we are not familiar with. And so our first adventure turned misadventure in the end.
We will find a friendly bit of help somewhere to get a gallon or two of gas brought home, then make it to the station to finish filling up. This is the first time we have driven a car since gas prices became over twice what I remember last paying, a good lesson was learned last night and won’t be soon forgotten.
Meanwhile… off to snorkel today and another adventure!
First Pictures From Maui!
A few photos to show we really are in Maui! I have many more I will work on uploading over the next several days.
First up – we have gecko lizards who hang out on our windows, especially the bathroom window. They have learned light attracts moths and moths are a good meal. It is interesting to watch them hunting at night. They mostly stay on the outside of the window, but this guy decided to go for a walk around our apartment before scurrying back to the bathroom window after I took his picture.
It seems to rain at least a little every day here in Haiku, Hawaii. Our first day here was a beautiful sunny day and then it rained the next 6 in a row! This picture was taken a couple nights ago off our front porch. Fantastic to see a double rainbow out our windows!
Next is a few from our big day out today. I met Kimberly through an MCS forum, The Canary Report, and she lives here on Maui too. She offered to take me and Jeremy around to the farmer’s market in Makaweo for some fresh produce then into Paia to Mana Foods for the rest of our grocery shopping as we still don’t have a car.
Kimberly brought her daughter Emily today and it was a blast meeting them. This is the first time in a huge number of years I have had a friend I could actually walk up to and give a hug.
A hug was the first thing I did too!
I forgot I had the camera for the first half of our day and will post pictures of the Farmer’s Market next time I go. It was a very small one compared to others I have been to, but the produce looked really nice. Good prices too – we picked up two cabbages probably close to 5 pounds each and they were only $3 a piece! It looks like the market will be a good spot to order organic, free range chicken once we get a car and can pick it up after it grows from a young bird.
We also stopped at a small produce stand on the outskirts of Paia. It did not have much variety, but the proceeds go to help the disabled people who are being retrained to grow and sell their food through the stand. It gives them good jobs and is nice to know I’m helping to support them.
Paia itself is a cute little community right on the Northshore. Kimberly had offered to treat us to lunch at one of her favorite places here – The Flatbread Company. It turned out we were early and so to kill time Emily drove us all to Baby Beach.
Finally after 9 days on Maui, Jeremy and I met the ocean. The sand was warm, but not to hot. As the water lapped at my calves it was refreshingly cool. The wind was a bit strong today and a constant force to stand upright against.
I washed sea water over my face and head, wishing I could find a deep area to jump into full body. As nobody had brought a towel and much of the trip was still ahead of me, I opted to keep everything but my legs dry. Thank goodness Jeremy and I bought shorts before coming here!
I manged to come home with only a few pieces of coral in my pockets, Jeremy had a few shells to share from his. It was with great effort I resisted the temptation to fill every pocket I had with bits of wonder found in the sand.
Next stop was for lunch. Did I mention The Flatbread Company is a pizza joint? Fantastic, fire oven pizzas on the only gluten free pizza crust I have actually enjoyed immensely. I’m not usually a fan of thin crust pizza, but I was aiming for the crust on this one!
I had thought the pizzas were small personal ones and so Jeremy and I ordered one each. It was a surprise to see they were approximately a foot in diameter each. While we were there, Kimberly had another daughter join us and she brought a friend so the extra food worked out well. Kimberly even let us take the leftovers home – yay! I must say, this pizza is worth stopping for if ever you find yourself in Maui. The pepperoni and mushroom is killer – all organic and super yummy!
Our final stop was at Mana Foods to finish off our grocery shopping. One thing we forgot to pack had been our toothbrushes, they were left behind in our rush to make the plane. We did pick up a pair from the local store in Haiku last week, but they were lousy ones. I am thankful Mana Foods carried everything we needed today from MCS friendly laundry soap to toothbrushes and canning jars – along with a huge assortment of produce for rounding out our next couple weeks of eating.
At the end of the journey we had a bag for Kimberly of fresh limes, guavas, and a couple bananas we picked ourselves yesterday. It felt really good to be able to share some of the fruits growing here around our apartment in thanks for the trip today.
Another hug and plans to meet up again next week, this time likely for snorkeling, saw Kimberly and Emily on their way.
The wind made for an interesting picture, maybe more luck next time!
For those who have been long time Sundog readers or browsed back a ways, you’ll know how much I have longed to be free to hug those around me. It has been a bane with my MCS to be unable to do so all these years other than the rare occasion I was in my ‘town clothes’ and could come in contact with whatever toxic products were on the other person. I don’t know what has happened here in Maui, but from the moment I set foot off the plane my MCS has been considerably improved.
Today I hugged a friend for the first time in years and I am sure it won’t be the last.
