The Heavenly Road to Hana

THE best thing to do on Maui is to drive to Hana - a small village on the lush windward side that is the way Hawaii used to be before tourism hit. The road hugs the edge of the mountain and had 57 one lane bridges and 617 curves in the road. Many people drive up and back in a day but Gerry wisely rented a cottage in Hana for 2 nights so we could take our time and we did indeed do that. There are many waterfalls along the way and we stopped to see them all - hiked to some and several were right along the road along with pools at their base for swimming. We saw a mountain biker bouncing his bike up a steep hill with huge rocks that he bounced from one to the other in the ascent. At Wa'inanpanapa State Park, there is a lovely black sand beach, a huge blowhole and lava tube caves. Tropical flowers grow in profusion - bird-of-paradise, enormous proteas, ginger, and bamboo forests so dense they waved and rippled in the breeze - amazing!! We saw seveal mongooses (geese?) running after smalller rodents - they were brought to th islands to eat rats but ar now a pest themselves.
Our cottage in Hana was lovely with papaya, banana and mango trees surrounding it and and a mile from Hamoa Beach. The next day we explored some more - found Spam sushi in the local grocery store - Hawaiian LOVE Spam! We also found the grave of Charles Lindbergh buried at Palapala Congregational Church right at the edge of the ocean. Two falls- Wailu and Makahiku - flow to the ocean at O'heo Gulch and the Seven Sacred Pools. The last pool overflows into the ocean - and can be a dangerous place to swim after a rain - but it was quiet when we were there. This area was used by ancient Hawaiian kings as a special place for sacred ceremonies and burials high on the mountain.