Maui Fires

Posted bywordsandcoffee1Posted in#travel, PoetryTags:, , , , ,
Image from Los Angeles Times depicting Wainee Street in Lahaina, Maui during the fires on August 8th.
the orange blaze
stole our tears
and bled our hearts
leap into the Pacific
as the banyan tree groans
on Front Street
the moans of 
hurricane winds
history in flames
Kanaloa, hear our call
the world cries for Lahaina

On Tuesday evening, I sent my husband, who was away at work, a message: I’d just come across a news story that Maui was experiencing a catastrophic wildfire. My husband and I had traveled to Maui ten years ago for our honeymoon. We’d stayed in Ka’anapali, just north of Lahaina, where the wildfire was. The honeymoon was a bit belated, almost two years after our wedding because we wanted to save up for the trip, and it was completely worth it. My husband, who grew up in an orphanage in the Philippines until he was adopted by an American couple at age 10, said that Hawai’i felt like home to him.

Since that trip, we’ve often reminisced about the beauty of Hawai’i, planned returned trips, seriously wondered about the possibility of moving to Maui or even retiring on Maui. Maui has a special place in both our hearts. Hearing about the wildfires this past week were heartbreaking: the devastation of the historic town of Lahaina, the death toll that keeps rising and is already over 80 people as of this weekend, and the knowledge of loss is all overwhelming. My husband considers himself a Pacific Islander and feels a deep connection to Hawai’i. I wanted to share some pictures from our honeymoon as a tribute to Maui and its beautiful people. Mahalo, hoaloha.

The historic banyan tree in Lahaina. The image on the left is from the New York Times showing the banyan after the wildfire; the image on the right is my hubby under the tree in June 2013. Lahaina was once Hawai’i’s royal capital, so it’s especially sad to see the devastation on Front Street. This article from NPR describes it in more detail for those who are interested.
At a luau during our stay.
Traveling on the Hana Highway, a road that, according to many travel guides features “620 curves, 59 narrow bridges, and one potholed stretch of dirt track; one of the most-challenging drives on Earth”. We road on a tour bus with an amazing guide from Hana who shared local insights and jokes.
Wailua Falls near a black sand beach along the road to Hana. Many of the tourists with us claimed it was too cold to swim in the water, but we were quick to hop in. After all, it’s not every day you can say you swam in a Hawai’ian waterfall!
Distant view of Mount Haleakala.
The view from the top of Mount Haleakala at sunrise. The elevation is 10,023 feet, rising up from sea level, making for quite the exciting drive up the mountain, filled with hairpin turns and frantic traffic to catch the stunning morning sunrise.
Cascading sun on Mount Haleakala.
We fell in love with the little Filipino community in Lahaina. I hope this shop and “Little Manila” made it through the fires. Hubby felt especially at home with his Pinoy kabayan.
Lahaina, Maui. June 2013.
Ma’alaea Harbor.

14 thoughts on “Maui Fires”

  3. We were just there at the beginning of May – This is so sad and when I told my husband that the banyan tree was singed he was very distressed. I think that the tree was his favorite part of the island…

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    1. Lahaina was one of our favorite places there, and that tree is so unique and special. My husband and I had a bit of a humorous memory associated with it. On our last day in Maui, we were seated under it, and I had received a pretty awful sunburn the day before (actually, the worse sunburn I’d ever had in my life, unfortunately). Two scruffy-looking guys with large backpacks exchanged a glance and then one said to me, “Wow, you got burned really bad. I feel bad for you!” My husband’s joked that when even homeless people are feeling bad for you, you know you have really bad sunburn. It’s kind of been an ongoing joke with us now where he always asks if I have my SPF 50 because I only had SPF 35 on Maui and it apparently wasn’t enough.

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  5. This is so sad! I was able to visit Hawaii in 2010, definitely blessed. I’m so glad you guys were able to make a visit, That’s stuff only worth it for anybody that can plan the trip and go. I hope one day your boys will be able to see it as well. My heart goes out to the families keeping the island and my thoughts and prayers as well.

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    1. I agree. It’s such a special place, and it has been devastating to see the footage coming out of there. We plan to return to Maui someday, though unfortunately the boys won’t be able to see the same Lahaina we were fortunate to visit.

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  6. Yes that is very sad, hopefully it will be beautiful in a new way for them & one day when they are old enough you can show them pictures of your visit & they well know how it was and how it is, and appreciate the new beauty of this magnificent island.

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  7. Really tragic to learn about the wildfires at Lahaina. 😦 Also, to brighten up things — thank you for sharing some bits about your husband! You’d been mentioning your familiarity with Filipino culture, courtesy of him, with some of your comments on my blog. 🙂

    His pose in front of the Ilocandia store does reflect the substantial population of Filipinos hailing from the Ilocos province in the Aloha State. Those from Ilocos (located in the northwestern part of the Philippines) are often pictured as cheapskates (kuripot in Filipino, pronounced coo-reap-put) — imagine Mr. Krabs level of stinginess. But a friend explained that this attitude stems from the mentality that every cent matters, and spending should go a long way.

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