The last three weeks

So let me start of apologizing again for the unruly mess of the text/pictures here. I'd really like it to match up, but really don't know how to edit it to make it right. I'll take any pointers anyone has...

The weather has turned, and now it’s been raining for the past two days after a beautiful weekend.

I’ve felt a bit like the weather too- a little sick the past two days after an amazing, high energy weekend.

Saturday I went on an adventure through a bamboo forest to find four amazing waterfalls. Bamboo is beautiful and a ton of fun to climb on. In fact, there are so many great climbing trees around here, banyan, eucalyptus, and others of which names I don’t know. I’m enjoying all the monkey play. So we found the first two waterfalls which were beautiful- like all the rest. But then to get to the third fall you have to climb a 15’ rock face (rope provided) continue hiking, stash your things, jump into a pool, swim through it through a “hallway” and then you get to the last fall, which is about 150’ and an absolutely amazing sight (apparently there is a 400’ fall on the island that I hope to get to one of these days). And to top off Saturday I learned how to make kale ravioli from scratch. It was tasty :) I’ve been making lots of hummus and pesto from scratch too. I did bread once, but will have to continue to perfect that art.

Sunday, Shiva, the on site manager, took the whole group (minus the sickies) to La Perouse Bay, which is the end of the road on the south east part of Maui. It’s apparently great for snorkeling, but no one brought any gear for that. Our destination was an isolated black sand cove with amazing clear blue water. We had to hike a couple of miles over lava that ranged in size from a pebble to chair size. I love hiking, but hiking over lava is definitely the least enjoyable walking medium. It didn’t help that I don’t have closed toe shoes either, and lava is sharp, so I got some good slices to show from it. Oh well. We grow turmeric here so I’ve been putting some of that in paste form on the cuts to prevent staph infection. (Turmeric is amazing, so good for you and so many medicinal properties) But the views from that part of the island were pretty incredible. The lava itself was pretty awesome to see, all the different and crazy formations it makes. And the white coral on old black lava is beautiful as well. From the location we were at you could see the south western side of Haleakala, the west Maui mountains, Molikini, Lanai, and the other island that starts with a “K”. So we got to the beach and played in the water and waves all day.

The weekend before was pretty low key- spent a rainy Saturday playing with oil pastels and watercolors, reading, and relaxing. Sunday, Easter Sunday, got a ride into town to go to the hippy church. It’s amazing that living my whole life in the Bay Area and then 4 years in Santa Cruz, I never really thought I could go anywhere (in the U.S) more “hippy” than those places, but then I came to Maui ;). The CA coast is very politically “liberal”, environmentally conscious, etc, but I now realize there’s very little spiritual connection to mind, body, earth, spirit out there (maybe because it’s so developed? Maybe because we’re so highly educated and “rational”?) Out here spirituality seems to be the dominant force behind action/belief as people understand the connection between mind, body, earth, and spirit in order to make sense of how to live and take care of themselves and their community. (But then I don’t get too far out of the jungle, so maybe on the other side of the island tourism has broken that connectivity?) But anyway, the church was fun, lots of singing and dancing, and the “congregation” got to participate in music making with maracas, chimes, tambourines, etc (connecting the spirit and body together with music!). I didn’t too much like the preaching part of the service or touchy feely part. But it was still a fun experience. (Don’t worry, not a cult.)

After the service made it to the beach, swam for a bit, and then got rained off the beach- that was definitely a first. Megan picked me up from there and I went with her and her boyfriend to one of his co-worker’s Easter

BBQ. It’s always fun and interesting to meet new people and hear what their deal is all about.

The weekend before that!- Megan picked me and a farm friend up on Saturday after she got off work and we went back to Kihei with her for a night on the town. We met up with some other farm friends who just happened to also be staying in Kihei with family/friends for the weekend. We woke up with Megan at 3:30am to go to work with her to catch the famous Haleakala sunrise. It was pretty awesome, but for what it was worth I might rather sit in the hot tub here and watch it. But anyway Haleakala is amazing. We hiked into the crater about 3 miles and it’s just such an awesome landscape, the scenery subtly changes so often- that plus the 10,000’ elevation really is an awe inspiring feeling. My camera died about half way down but I’ll be back to take better pictures. It’s pretty hard to describe or show how fantastic it is up there, it's a very surrealist kind of look/feeling. The silversword is an endangered plant that grows in the crater. It's a pretty awesome looking thing when the sun hits it right. I didn't see too many in bloom, but it looks pretty good in bloom- it also looks pretty good when it dies- like a Dr. Seuss picture :)

Anyway, I’m still enjoying the farm- feeling happy and healthy, calm and confident. I’ve made the decision to move to Seattle for the summer and I am excited to see where the next adventures take me and what I will take away from those next adventures!

One last thing I will mention- and another thing I have been very grateful out here for is a feeling of connection with my Dad. Maybe it’s the tranquility, the stars (when they are out), reading a Carl Sagan book, being in my own mind and remembering, reflecting, and continuing conversations we often had- which helps to guide me and I can feel his pride for his daughter. It’s really nice. I hope those of you who are reading this who had a relationship with him will sometimes reflect on meaningful conversations you once had with him, and continue that dialogue in your head. It’s healing :)

Love to you all.