Road to Hana

Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to share in Lahaina some insight on the gratitude,  obedience and discipline I have learned through my higher power over the years. It was a beautiful morning and I gained a lot of perspective listening to those around me as well as taking in the silent moments of the heartbeat in the room. It was to be my second full day on the island and today my childhood friend,  Kyle was taking me to Hana on an adventure.

Beginning the morning in Lahaina,  which is on the west side of the island about 40 minutes from Wailuku, I had packed a bag and didn't bring my motion sickness medication ( another story another day). The road to Hana is something like 620 turns and 59 bridges up the hill, which leads for several opportunities to potentially get nauseous. The upside is you get to encounter a flourishing rainforest filled with waterfalls and thousands of different species of plants; I lost count and couldn't keep straight all the different types of ginger we saw.

Luckily on the ride up i didn't get sick. I had a few moments of nausea but didn't lose my breakfast. We got out at several different locations to look at plants ( Kyle is a plant fanatic and I love it because I get to learn so much I didn't know about them, from nutrition down to how they survive or expand), waterfalls and even came across some black sand beaches!

The first black sand beach we came across we were welcomed by a few ducks. I got the biggest kick out of them shaking their tails when Kyle sang, "bend over , let me see you shake your tail feather"

We ventured off into the sand. Black sand beaches are interesting because they go from fine sand to pretty much a river rock, back to fine sand again. They're absolutely breathtaking with the vibrant green lush vegetation.

We came to the town of Hana and had some lunch. I had a veggie Taco bowl that had so many flavors I couldn't eat it fast enough.

We continued all the way around and I kid you not, as we headed over to the west side as the sun was heading down, my nausea returned with a vengeance. We pulled over twice and basically I got to taste my lunch twice again, but we made it back to Lahaina. I jumped in my car and headed another 40 minutes back home to crawl safely into bed. What a remarkable day it had been.

I never thought to think what I pictured Hawaii to be like. What I saw I envisioned Costa Rica to be like, but I couldn't have been more grateful to call this my new home.