Recently we had friends visiting from Canada and we decided that a visit to Maui is not complete unless you have driven the road to Hana. From past experience we know that as you wind your way along the spectacular east coast of Maui, through the tropical rain forests, past cascading waterfalls and quaint little towns, you become acutely aware that this amazing adventure is all about the journey. We also know that once you arrive in Hana you must spend at least one night there to connect with this very spiritual place. We had already booked our Hana vacation home from owner Lee Lopez whom we had met the day before at his home in Haiku. Hana Aloha Hale sits on 2.5 acres overlooking the ocean.
Surrounded by beautiful palms and tropical flowers, the vacation home with its many windows is designed to bring the outside in and offers a peaceful retreat where you can relax and enjoy just being alive. The garden also hosts a variety of fruit trees and Lee, very hospitably had told us to help ourselves to avocado, papaya and passion fruit. We enjoyed a wonderful happy hour accompanied by the delicious guacamole that we made from an enormous ripe avocado.
Also on the property Lee has built an original Hawaiian Hale crafted as in ancient days when there were no nails or screws and everything was made by hand. For those who want to experience traditional Hawaiian living, the Hale is also available to rent.
In the morning after a pleasant night sleep we awoke to a musical symphony put on by the resident tropical birds and then an amazing sunrise over the ocean. Breakfast was complete with the papaya and passion fruit that we had found the day before. We also enjoyed some amazing tasting juice from some organic oranges that Lee grows on his Haiku farm.
After breakfast we took a walk that Lee had highly recommended. As we made our way along a path overlooking the ocean we came to a large deep bay and were rewarded by the sight of
humpback whales enjoying the warm Hana waters. Further along the trail we saw a monk seal resting on the black sand beach and further again we walked through a lush green field past a large herd of grazing cattle who looked at us with a bit of suspician. Luckily for us there were no bulls in the herd so we didn't have to worry about being chased. Our Irish friend Carol, noticed that most of them were laying down, which she said was a sign that rain was on the way. Superstition or not, it did sprinkle a bit of warm pineapple juice, so maybe the lucky pennies she kept finding really were pennies from heaven.
We were sad when it was time to leave our
Hana Vacation Home but Carol, Fred, Les and I will be back to the
Hana Aloha Hale and highly recommend it if you want an unforgettable Hana experience! Many Mahalos to our native Hawaiian host, Lee Lopez, for sharing his beautiful Hale with us.
If you have a Hana experience to share please leave a comment.
Kris Nelson, a Maui photographer, had the idea of making 450 photos of a trip to Hana, into a 45 second slide show. Perhaps if you have never been there you need to look at each photo for a longer time, but for me it just brought back the great memories of our many trips to that magical place. Below is the link to his blog post.
