Hawaiian Prologues

I’m wrapping up a lovely, intense two weeks in the paradise of Maui, Hawaii. I was never quite sure when I would make it to these remote islands that make our 50th state, but I’m glad it finally happened. When I started cobbling together ideas for Digital Nomad travel through Asia, a conscious decision of dropping in on Hawaii on the way popped into my head early and never left. And so here I found myself for a two week layover at a cultural crossroads in paradise.

It’s hard to talk about Hawaii without first addressing the sky high costs of visiting. At least on Maui anyway. My ‘wing it’ nature nearly got me burned here pretty badly here after booking cheap one-way flights to get me to and from here. The costs of having the most humble place to yourself seem to start at about $250 a night! Yikes. So I figured out a split of a studio, a campervan and hosteling to close out the last few days on my own. And then once I was settled on vanlife, finding THEN that there’s no legal free camping meant that I had to work on reserving the campgrounds that were at capacity and be without services or wifi. It all worked out though, for the most part. With the help of Elaine, we got good reservations for most nights, I took vacation from work to accommodate, and got the privilege to explore the island and its culture very thoroughly. I can’t understate how stressful it was to get everything together a month before, and the financial pressure even with multiple compromises was intense. Plan if you visit, unless you have infinite bucks or are fine hosteling.

This trip with Elaine was my first time vacationing with a partner. There were a lot of thoughtful moments and help that came with having her company, and as a glass blowing artist of sea creatures, it was a perfect themed trip to join me for. The time was defined by some ups and downs, alas, with some ‘trouble in paradise’ moments where it felt like arguments were cropping up over tiny things that could have been solved with more communication. I think that the undercurrents of a relationship reaching an end in such a romantic locale also just complicated things. Nor does it help that I’m an intensely solitary and driven person at times. It’s a good lesson for me that I still have a lot of work to do in intuiting others emotions and figuring out the right amounts of compromise, candor and care to offer, especially when traveling with others who have differing visions and dreams of a shared time together to realize.

Any down feelings were hard to dwell on as each day’s twists and turns opened up new fronts of jaw dropping beauty. Elaine got me started on snorkeling, where a guided trip we took together revealed the undersea to me in high resolution for the first time. Besides a cornucopia of weird fishes and their coral habitats, I saw an eel, reef shark, and sea turtles that all amazed me. But the true highlight was a color changing octopus that seemed to recognize us. It was so cool to see so many varied animals so easily. And in the distance, humpback whales in Hawaii for mating season lit up the sea like fireworks. And we could even hear their song while snorkeling which is just mindblowing to conceptualize.

Along the shore and to the mountains we’d also see vivid forests and florals. After a few days in the condo and me working, we swapped Elaine’s car rental for the van and a journey away from the tourism dominated west end along the vaunted Road to Hana, a two hour twisty-turny jungle drive across the coast with steep cliffs, single lane bridges and hairpin turns. There’s lots of cool stuff to see along the way, and it felt super privileged to have two full days exploring most things of note whereas the average tourist needs to wake up at dawn and rush to do whatever they can in a day.

The highlights on the east end included starting each day with gorgeous sunrises, a “Neapolitan” of beaches in a day with black, red and tan lava rock composites, and hikes to waterfall fed swim spots. I even got my first cliff jump in! One was enough, but all the kids there were definitely vibing as a pastime. We also had the opportunity to see a lava tube cave and a botanic garden with well preserved Hawaiian structures.

About the Hawaiians, Elaine’s GPS guide gave us a real history of the islands after he was done pointing out tourism spots. We learned about the Polynesian origins and tradition, then contact, commerce and proselytism from white explorers, which inevitably led to colonization and cultural suppression. Hawaiians had their own electoral government that was nominally allied with us before it was overthrown in a coup by American business interests! I also found it very amusing to learn Southern segregationist states opposed Hawaiian statehood on the grounds of it being too diverse a population; it reminds me a lot of the debate over Puerto Rico’s status today.

I feel that few people who visit here wish to pierce the veil and prefer to keep it out of sight and mind while they vacation. That’s not me. I’m glad that my island journey let me personally uncover this stain on our national history, much like what happened with mainland tribes and to aboriginal peoples globally. Hawaii, however, is a paradise worth exploring, and with this context, as well as humility and openness, I think it can and should be enjoyed today. If you visit just make sure you spend some time to learn and understand the culture at least a little bit, and not just relax on the beach. That pain is still present in hearts and minds here.

Our last stop in the van brought us to the summit of Haleakelā, Maui’s volcanic peak. A winding drive up to the top brings one above the ocean clouds that collect around it, and a favorite tourist activity is to watch the sunrise and sunset from this unique vantage. As a certified mountain man ™️, this was a highlight of my trip, with a full day hike from the summit into its desolate crater being a unique experience for me. If I come back to Maui, I am definitely going to set a backpacking itinerary in the park. It is even possible to hike up from the shoreline to summit!

After saying goodbye to Elaine after a last day of shopping and beach activities in Lahaina, I ditched the van and found my way to hostel for the last few days in Wailuku, Maui’s administrative center. The area is tourist repellant minus broke backpackers crowding the hostels, so it was a pretty good spot to just chill for a few days, catch up on work and just do a couple minor excursions on Maui’s functional bus system while collecting myself for the odyssey awaiting as Japan loomed closer by the day. I had a lot of interesting chats with the people coming and going, mainly optimistic Europeans and Canadians, as a swell pastime. Really being in a hostel and seeing the energy ebb and flow much like waves on rocks is something I’ve done a few times now and kind of a nice safe space mid-adventure.

Finally, predawn on the 27th of March, my Hawaiian ‘layover’ would end and I’d be off to Japan for two months, starting in Osaka, as my splash into the real deep end of this trip. Even if I consider Hawaii the prologue, it’s not in doubt it will be starkly in my memory for just how much I did here, the splendid landscape and amount of effort I put in to see as much of it.