The last day of the Maui cruise...my trip to Hana with surfers, waterfalls and bamboo forests!

I always say I haven't peaked yet. My philosophy
is to never stop learning, dreaming and
challenging myself. So guess what silly dream I had?

One day drive a mustang convertible.

By myself. No husband...no man involved.
Just me on my own.
I don't want to own one. I just wanted to
rent one sometime.
No big deal...just sometime.
A convertible. And it had to be mustang.

So I did. It was a frivolous silly thing.
Meaningless really.
But something I wanted to do and is
now crossed off the TO-DO list before I die.

This is me taking a picture of myself...driving my
silly convertible mustang. I didn't do such a great job
of taking a self-portrait here did I?

My brother had a mustang when we were growing up.
He had a regular tan mustang, not a convertible.
Back then, I thought it was really cool.
I drove to Hana in a mustang by myself. I'm glad I did.

I was in Wailea, so I drove north on Kihei Road
pass Maalaea Bay and headed north on Route 311.



I drove on Route 36, Hana Highway

The map said,
"Do not drive between
these points.
Driving on unauthorized
roads
violates car rental contract."



I passed Memorial Park and Pauwela Point
but figured I would be OK.



Suddenly I caught something out of the corner
of my eye. I pulled over
and jumped out of the car.

What was that?


Holyfreakinggeesupeets.

Look at all those windsurfers.

I never saw so many in my life.

The wind kissed the wave of each surfer
at the appointed time...

Like clock work, I went from
windsurfers to surfers...one next to the other

It was like watching two cello Sonatas

Windsurfers on one side, surfers on the other...
in such harmony, one with the water and
the wind. A symphony of body,
mind and spirit with the elements of nature.
It was inspiring and humbling.

Generally when we look at people, events or things
we see the surface. We don't look deeper at what lies
beneath. We don't take the time to understand
other people's perspectives. Their
frame of reference.
Then, we don't self-reflect do we? Do you?

Surfing and Windsurfing is an art.
It takes great talent. Yet many
brush it off as nothing more than some
silly jock thing. Intellectuals fail to
understand how one must control the
mind in order to control
the body.
We minimize the intellectual
pursuit of physical skill.
Why is that?

You wonder why the United States
is so fat?
Recently #2's girlfriend said,
"nerds don't understand
the big deal about crew. They
think it's just rowing
a boat down the river...any
idiot can do that."

I laughed.
Similar to the mother who was angry
her "gifted" daughter
didn't get into the ivy leagues.

I have taught my children that
being well rounded is critically important...
they all had to learn to
play a musical instrument.
They all had to play a sport.
Why?
In order to function in the world,
you need to be well-rounded.

It was a requirement in our house.
We read the bible,
Shel Silverstein and T. S. Eliot.


Intellectuals trying surfing!
You will be exhilarated.

Now the highlight of my trip to Hana
was the bamboo forest...and the waterfall I discovered.
I have to tell you
I was REALLY scared. The road was barely
wide enough for one car,
twisted more tightly
than any pretzel I've eaten,
my stomach
so tight in knots I thought for sure
I would end up
dead or missing.
Finally, I saw a couple of young men
from Australia and the minute
there was a place where I could
pull over and stop shaking, I did. I asked,

"Is it safe?"
"Sure."
I kept driving.
Then I needed a diaper.

I pulled over because I was so TERRIFIED.
I was petrified walking
into this forest, down a muddy steep hill.
Quite frankly, I was an idiot
doing this by myself. I caught
up with some honeymooners
and clung to them like cement
until I found some other people
and then I picked them up! I wanted to
go into this forest in the worst way
and darn it I was going to do it.
At my age,
it was really dangerous by myself.

But I didn't care.

I was INSPIRED.

I caught this young man walking
along the water and watched him.

I'm hanging onto the bamboo
tree for dear life.
How old is this young man?
Twenty-three or so?

So I yell to him
"Hey look up here."
I want to get a perspective shot...

His bride was somewhere around me.

I follow him with my eyes and my camera.
I'm hanging
on for dear life with my right arm
wrapped around the bamboo praying
I don't die. My other arm is wrapped
around another bamboo tree with
the camera in my left hand...and
it's following him.
This is where is lead me to...this amazing waterfall.

Can you believe this?

Isn't this incredible?

As I stood there I remember being more
scared than I have ever been in my life.
The forest floor was all mud. I could
have slipped down into the forest...and
no one would have found me...for days?
Weeks? Who knows? I was by myself.
I did this all on my own.
Course that was my plan.
And I'm thinking about
Tarzan and Swift Family Robinson.
I'm thinking that's a silly show you idiot.
Then I began to wonder
what it was
like years ago on Maui
before the development.

I began to wonder how beautiful Maui is
elsewhere on the island.
Was it like this everywhere before
the condos and the hotels?


How horrible if the island had
been destroyed and
it looked like this...

And even though I am deathly afraid because
I am hanging onto this bamboo that could
break in a minute, I'm thinking
about the beauty this island still must
possess
and I know that
I can't go any further
by myself on the road to Hana.
That I have reached as far
as I can alone...and I get a little sad.

But I stand there thinking to myself I
achieved what I wanted to achieve.

I had an important mission and plan for this
day...and I achieved it. Now I can move on.

It wasn't to go to the bamboo forest.
It was to say good bye to some old ghosts.
And Hana is where you do that.
Hana is where you start new.

I watched this young man and hear his bride
yell to him...and I think how wonderful
for the two of them to start their life together
discovering something so wonderful
as Hana...I will not have a
chance to see the most amazing place of all...Hana Waterfall.

So I promise myself that one day I will return
to Hana with my husband by my side
so that I too can go on to the most
beautiful and dangerous parts
of the road...which I would have loved
to have gone to, but know if would have been
irresponsible on my part, as a mother
of three, it would have been foolish to do it alone.

Disappointed, yet realistic, I get back in
my convertible mustang and I head south to Paia
where you aren't allowed to feed the hippies!

And here I walk around and
find some place to eat my last meal for
the next 24 hours, for that's how
long it's going to take to get back home.

And I pick up a few t-shirts for my sons.

And spent a few hours writing in my journal.

And so you finish with me my trip to Maui.
I came to Maui for the Maui Writers Retreat
to improve my writing,
to work on my manuscript for the first of
three books.
I made some wonderful new friends
I worked with some of greatest
authors of our time
and I was blessed to have this experience

Thank you for sharing with me
my trip to Maui.
I'll let you know how the books progress.

Thank You for Being Here. It really means a lot to me that you take time out of your schedule to come by.

Copyright 2007 Ev Nucci
ev-nucci

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