Day 10
Hana
74 F
Charles again broke the promise of “you can sleep in tomorrow, Pete”.
I know better when he says these things, of course; I've known him for long enough. But as I am ever the optimist, always I hope for that little extra bit of sleep. But no, like Lucy with the football, Charles yanked away what little trust I had in him.
For silly, stupid things like this, I mean. I would of course trust Charles with my life in important manners. But I never trust him with certain things, about which he will habitually distort the truth. Typically, Charles cannot be relied upon to provide true or accurate information on the following topics:
- What time we will be getting up in the morning
- What time a flight leaves
- When we need to be somewhere
- How far or difficult a given hike is
- where the nearest bathroom is
- How long we've been doing a particular thing
This last one might not be so much Charles warping reality intentionally, as it is his true ( though incorrect ) perception of how much time has passed. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, here. : ) Be warned.
Today was a leisure day, taking 7 hours to drive around to the Hana side of Maui, and see the sights. This particular drive takes you through pretty much every type of climate and habitat the Hawaiian islands have to offer; from lush rainforest to bleak, windswept dusty Afghanistan-like mountainside. The drive is almost totally around the coast, which is pretty cool.
Hana is the small city on the far side of the mountain and from Kahului ( the country seat of Maui ) as you can get. It is lush and is almost overrun with cow pasture. All the better for the bustling Hana hamburger trade. We were quite hungry by the time we rolled into Hana, and the smell of burgers was in the air. Charles and I are both carnivores, so this was a thing of joy. My apologies to my friends and readers who are not.
So, we parked, and went in search of the source of our aromatic bliss.
We found that source, at one of the resorts in Hana. Asking price for their hamburger: $19
I shit you not, as they say in the Midwest.
I was of course tempted to pay, wanting to know exactly -what- a $19 burger tastes like... but cooler heads prevailed and we boogied over to a walk-up window elsewhere, selling burgers.
This one only cost me $6, though I could not get bacon. For that special treat, I'd have to sit in the restaurant, i was informed. Which of course was served by the same exact kitchen and cooks, and would have cost me dollars more. True to form, I could not resist pointing this out to the nice lady at the counter... but let's sum things up here by saying that conversation was "unproductive".
Charles didn't want bacon on his burger... but neither did he want anything else, so he ordered it plain. “We can't do that,” the stern buger lady told Charles, fresh from a verbal altercation with me. “You'll have to pick off what you don't want.”
Welcome to Hana, home of the $19 burger.
Have it our way. No, really.
So, after that, we were on our way through even denser rainforest and crappier roads, emerging on Maui's rocky, bleak ( some would say hauntingly beautiful in it's barrenness ) side. This part of the ride seemed to take longer, as I had to shishi and then unko. : /
After getting back and showering, it was off to another wonderful dinner at Marco's. More wine, more excellent food.
After dinner, we saw Memoirs of a Geisha, a movie I don't recommend if you're feeling at all down on yourself, life, the plight of women, or love. As long as you're happy with all of those things, and otherwise free of sadness, depression and despair... you'll like the movie just fine.
If not, you might have the desire to take your own life with a nearby sword, or a frisbee. Seriously, a good movie... but a definite downer. Back then to the condo, for another bit of wine and guitar.
My time on Maui for this visit was at an end, but I would be taking many things with me. Some things would cause my body to peel and ache, or put me in the ER. Others would make me stare a bit out the window and smile, slightly, to myself. We left Maui the next morning.
Up early, of course, despite promises of being able to sleep in.
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