Letters from Maui
Created | Updated Aug 21, 2023
Letters from Maui
A travelogue compiled from letters to co-workers at the Dedham Public Library, 1995
[My brother, sister, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, parents and I flew to Maui, arriving in the airport at Kahului. We rented a car in the airport and drove to the condo that we had rented. Maui has areas that get 400+ inches of rain every year, but it also has some very arid zones. There are mountains in the northwest, and a big-ass mountain, Haeakala, in the center of the island. Generally, wherever there are mountains the rain clouds hug the slopes, but where there is no elevation it's apt to be dry. A lot of the island is protected from development so that indigenous plants and animals can survive. Environmentalists can get very upset if anyone wanders into the protected areas, particularly the area around Haleakala. No one wants invasive species to be introduced. Apparently these lessons have been learned too late. After rats arrived on the island, they became such a problem that someone got the bright idea of importing mongooses to control them. Well, rats are nocturnal and mongooses are diurnal. But not to worry aout the mongooses' chances of survival; they feasted on the eggs of ground-nesting birds. Yikes! I noticed that sheet metal was wrapped around the lower trunks of palm trees, and asked why. Turns out this was to discourage rats from climbing to the tops and ruining the coconut crop.]
Wednesday, June 5, 1995
Dear Gretchen:
The first morning I was here, I was awakened by exotic birdcalls. Then, my nostrils were filled with the fragrance of the flowers that were blooming everywhere -- brilliant pinks, oranges, blues, and whites. Whenever it gets too hot, a cool sea breeze comes along to provide comfort.
There are botanical gardens, pineapple fields, sugar cane fields, tall mountains with cloud-covered summits, waterfalls, lovely public beaches, gorgeous butterflies, and every backyard has papaya and coconut trees.
The only thing wrong wth this place is very high food costs. If I ever become independently wealthy and could live anywhere I want, this place would be on my short list.
Take care, Paul
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Wednesday, June 7, 1995
Dear Dora and Heather:
Little by little, I'm learning my way around Maui. Today I was at Iao State Park. According to legend, “Iao” was the name of the daughter of the god Maui. The park is a steep canyon that contains several botanical gardens plus a natural rock formation called the 'Iao Needle,' which rises 1,200 feet from the valley floor. The needle was once used as a natural altar to the gods. Thick clouds hover perpetually overhead. I had bought an Australian-style hat to protect my skin from the sun, but as I climbed to a little gazebo with a good view of the park, the wind blew the hat off. This was the site of the battle of Kepaniwai where the forces of Kamehameha I conquered the Maui army in 1790. If you walk a little ways uphill, you can see a rock formation. Some say it looks like John F Kennedy, others that it looks like Kamehamehea. Take your pick. According to the guidebooks, " It is said that when the battle was over, the stream was so damned with all the bodies that the water ran red with blood." This valley is what remains of the West Maui volcano. The valley gets over 400 inches of rainfall a year.
Later we had lunch at a plantation. I bought the postcard you are reading I bought at the gift shop next door.
There are flowers in everyone's yard, as well as papaya and coconut trees. When we go sightseeing we pass pineapple fields, sugarcane fields, and exotic plants like banyan tree, cactus, and pomegranate. The birds think they own the island. I'll tell you more after I get back to
the library.
See ya! Paul.
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Wednesday, June 7, 1995
Dear Jean:
Thanks for covering my book discussion group. While you were tlaking about frozen newfoundland ["The shipping news," by Annie Proulx], I was swimming in the warm Pacific, smelling white oleander blossoms, and watchign butterflies in a botanical garden. It's hard for me to do all these things, but somebody has to do it.
The birds here think they own the island. Half a dozen of them came into the restaurant where I was eating lunch today. (The food is great as long as you like club sandwiches.) When the birds were finished doing whatever they came for, they left.
That's all for now. Sincerely, Paul
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Wednesday, June 7, 1995
Dear Maureen:
The front cover of this postcard sums up Maui quite well. The island is one big flower garden. The bees and butterflies are everywhere, and the birds act as if they own the place.
The condo where I'm staying has banana trees next to the garage, papaya trees next to the driveway, and flowering bushes almost everywhere else. The white oleanders are especially fragrant. There's night-blooming jasmine next to the house. I was in a mountian canyon this morning, and the wind blew my hat away. I guess the God Maui needed a hat, and who am I to argue?
That's all for now. See ya! Paul
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Wednesday, June 7, 1995
Dear Michelle:
I've been here three days, and there's no sign of lava yet. Most of the rocks here are grayish; a few are pitted like avocados. A lot of the soil is reddish-brown like Mars or Pennsylvania. There are fruit trees and flowers everywhere. My favorite is the oleander blossoms. When I get riedof smelling them, I watch butterflies and birds.
Later in the day: Okay, now I've seen lava. There are signs warning people that it's illegal to remove any of it. Let me describe what it looks like: lumps of dark brown soil after the plow has gone through. Up close you see little holes in each chunk. This is *very* irregular stuff. In some places the lava is black, like charcoal. The last volcanic eruption in Maui was in 1790, but the lava flow from it still looks fresh.
See you soon, Paul.
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Thursday, June 8, 1995
Dear Pat:
Greetings from 6,000 miles away. Today I went to the top of Mount Haleakala (elevation 10,000 above sea level) and gazed at a volcanic crater so big that Manhattan would fit inside. Not much will grow at that altitude except dandelions and a rare, exotic plant called Silverswords. Ladybugs and onarch butterflies seem to thrive there too. After I cam down from the mountain, I used an ATM machine and found that my bank balance was printed on the receipt. My sister tyalked on the phone with her son in Amherst, Mass.
Hawaii is farther from other populated areas than any other placeon Earth, and yet technology makes it seem as if we're all next door to each other.
Take care. I'll see you soon. Paul
[On the way up Haleakala, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. There was a butterfly bush, a.k.a Buddleia next to the parking lot, and this was covered by a swarm of Monarch butterflies.We were advised to wear sunscreen at the top of the mountain, as the air is a bit thin, and there's less filtering of the sun's damaging rays.
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Saturday, June 10, 1995
Dear co-workers:
Here I am on a one-day visit to the Big Island of Hawaii. The bird and plant on this card are to be found in a forest I hiked through today. Amost all the plants here are indigenous to Hawaii. There are giant tree ferns and exotic vines and flowers. The air is cool and moist. The trail leads through a lava tube which was once fed by the volcano Kilauea. We ate lunch ibn a restaurant on the edge of the Kilauea crater. The view is spectacular. Naturally there are gift and souvenir shops everywhere.
I also saw a mongoose and a banyan tree named Amelia Earhart. This is quite an interesting place, but it also has Subway sandwich shops. Who expected that?
That's all for now, Paul.
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Saturday, June 10, 1995
Dear Marie, Mary, Maureen, and Terri:
Here I am riding around the rim of the big volcanic craters on the Big Island of Hawaii. Every so often we pass a lava flow. The lava loks exactly like asphalt, or occasionally like shale. The color is black to medium gray; somtimes the surface looks rubbery. I looked at the coastline where Puna used ot be. In 1868, an earthquake caused such a huge tidal wave that every village was washed away. More recently, lava flows have washed away or covered up the ruins.
A little further on, the road itself is closed because a recent lava flow has covered it up. Some people try towalk through the area, even though a sign warns them that volcanic fuems are hazardous to their health. I can smell burning rubber; maybe that's the smell of volcanic output. I've been told that all Hawaiian lava is made of basalt.
That's all for now, Paul.
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Sunday, June 11, 1995
Dear Gretchen and Michelle:
This morning, some of us went to the beach at Wailea. The waves were so huge that the rst of us had to hold onto my father so the waves wouldn't wash him out to sea. The waves are rougher than anything that's been seen in decades. Several experienced surfer have been killed, so this is a serious problem.
We had lunch at the Maui country club, and then my father and brother played four sets of tennis. I playe in one of those sets, and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the club's swimming pool or sitting around the deck.
Tonight we will go to a barbecue at B.K.'s house [B.K. is our Mauian host; her sister is married to my brother], and toorrow night we will go to a genuine luau. This may be a tropical place, but the sea breeze can be powerful and seem cool.
That's all for now. Stay tuned, Paul.
[The luau was a lot of fun. There was plenty of fish, but that should not be a surprise in an area so close to the sea. What I mainly remember is the yamaha grand piano in B.K.'s living room. Yamaha pianos are famous for their ability to resist going out of tune. This is a prized quality in areas near the sea. Salt in the air can cause problems with tuning.]
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Monday, June 12, 1995
Dear Jean;
This is the tale of my doomed attempt at snorkeling. At 8:30 this morning I went to the beach with my brother Bryan and his sister-in-law B.K., who has lived in Maui for 25 years. B.K. is so adept at water sports that she has been know to rescue swimmers several miles out at sea. We set outform a beach in Wailea, but the waves were abnormally high, and really big one capsized my little raft, flipped me upside down, and dashed me against the beach. B.K. promised that if I ever come back to Hawaii, she will take me snorkeing in the Honolulu Aquarium.
There is a vast banyan tree in the center of Lahaina. It covers an acre. Across the street is a three-story urban mall with a koi pool. Further down the street is a store with a sand floor.
Take care, Paul.
[On the way back from Lahaina, I persuaded the driver of the car to let me swim in the ocean. The water was as warm as bathwater, but I didn't get to stay in it very long. Oh, well.]
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[Tuesday, June 13, 1995
We left the condo for a trip to Hana, the southernmost community in Maui. We stayed in a rented motel that had geckos climbing the walls and bananas growing in the yard. Oh, and we were next to a poultry farm. The roosters made sure than we got up early the next morning. On our drive north along the narrow teracherous road, we stopped at a greenhouse. My brother bought some birf-of-paradise flowers as a gift for B.K. While he was doing that, I was feeding the koi in a pool. There was no safe place to put the flowers, so they rested on my lap the rest of the way. ]
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[I don't remember much about the flight back to Massachusetts, but all of us were seriously jetlagged. I can't remember sleeping for such a long time before or since; I was grateful to be able to sleep in my parents' house in Bolton, before driving back to Boston. One other thing I remember about the trip to Maui is that my brother-in-law had a serious tooth problem, so the pain aggravated by the heat had him in agony much of the time.]
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