Pouring Rain and Lonely

So, I think today was my first lonely day in Hana...not in a bad way, but in a way that makes you feel tired. I got some really awesome news that my sister is coming out for my birthday on the 16th, and it was a great morning of being excited about that and baking a couple batches of bread...maybe it was missing my sister that made me feel lonely, I'm not sure, but today was just one of those days that made me really wish for someone who already knows me and I have history with...

Anyway, it was just a long, rainy, overcast day, and everyone is going through their own shit and we all just have to deal...one of my friends is going through a brutal breakup, one is having a huge feud with their former boss about backpay, one person i know even just went back to the Mainland because they broke both of their wrists when they fell down a shallow ravine. Yikes! So i'm pretty sure one lonely day in my book is not bad...and what better way to deal with it than go to the beach and enjoy the amazing beauty that is Maui? So that's what i did this afternoon...not a cure-all, but better than buying a bottle of tequila instead--ha!

Oh, and for any of you who actually use the postal service (i know, weird, right?), I have a PO Box now if you want to send anything...
Andria Miller
PO Box 721
Hana, HI 96713

woo hoo, I'm official!

wow, crazy times...

So, a brief synopsis of the last couple days...

Thursday:
-Worked at the stand
-cleaned my cabin
-went to the hotel bar with my friend Rebekah because i refused to stay another evening in my cabin reading, writing, cleaning, or listening to music (at least, those are the only activities that I will let on about). We had a great time, some drinks, an awesome burger, and I actually went to bed around midnight instead of 9:30

Friday:
-Red Sand Beach. All day. Me, some Miller High Life (it is the champagne of beers, you know), and a LOT of sun. I spent the entire day there until the sun went behind the cinder cone that creates the magic that is Red Sand (if you don't know what I'm talking about, look it up).
-Ananda (the manager of the stand who has been gone for six weeks in Maine) comes home. She goes straight to our good friend's house (Glen and Athena) and we end up partying with about ten people until all hours of the night.

Saturday:
-wake up on Glen and Athena's couch, hungry and thirsty and hot from the morning sun. Another person who slept on the floor was already awake from the sun and regales me with the story of how they woke up at 5am (I was totally dead to the world, apparently) and found a coconut candle burned down to the base and in flames on the kitchen table about four feet high. Yeah, let's just all be thankful that everyone is alive and all's well that ends well--wow.
-get kahula pig tacos and breadfruit, then hike through the jungle to this place called Stoner's pool (the family whose property it is has the last name of Stoner--hilarious, right?), and swim around under a waterfall for a couple of hours with no one else around....amazing.
-work at the stand, then go to Ananda's house for dinner, yum!

Sunday:
-wake up early, go to the stand and work, then Ananada and I go grab Athena and go to Venus Pool, a great jumping spot (I was the only one who jumped from anything higher than 8ft., they're not big fans of heights). Watched some guy jump from about 50ft. The water was perfect.
-pick up some food and beer and head to the Landing, which is a spot overlooking the ocean with a 250 degree view of the ocean and horizon...really, really amazing, great for sunsets and bonfires, always people there.
-go to a friends house who live in a treehouse, have a BBQ and sit around and hang out enjoying the full moon til late...

Monday:
-bake. Clean. Getting ready to go running...I made this running CD and i think it is the only reason I can rouse myself to go...screaming along to the songs (at least in my head) is good therapy...anyone else experience this phenomena?


...Anyway, busy, fun, amazing times...still can't believe i live here...can't wait to see who my first visitor is! Miss you!

Hamoa Beach

So, after going to the kitchen at 8am this morning, I started baking around 8:30 and am still working out a few kinks in my process...but, I'm getting better...I got done about 12:30, dropped off some stuff in town for a local vendor, put some gas in the truck, and then went and did the most important thing on my list today--mail out some banana bread to friends and family...which is freakin' expensive! But it was okay when I thought how happy they would be when they got it.

Did you know that Hana is one of only like three places in the whole country who does not have overnight delivery? There is no way that your package will get there the next day, not with FedEx, not with anyone. It's that remote. You just have to wait.

Then I went to the beach at Hamoa. Apparently, Hamoa is one of the top 10 beaches in the whole country and it is one of my favorite spots in Hana. The only thing that sucks (can i really say that? is that i am on the eastern side of the island and if i don't make it out to the beach before around 3'oclock, there is not much laying out to be had...needless to say, with baking and working and getting used to my role here on the farm, my beach time has been limited, and my sun time even more so...I am craving one morning at Red Sand Beach (you know, lose the tan lines...) from about 10:30 to 3:30...not sure when that's gonna happen, but until then I will enjoy any spare moment spent laying on the black sand at Hamoa, getting sand all over me and watching the crazy sand crabs all over the place, hopping around and dancing sideways and trying to fight each other. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon...

Thanks for all the comments you leave, and you can also sign in anonymously (without a blogger account) to leave comments, just so you know you don't have to sign up to say hello...

Beach Day

so, it was a gorgeous Sunday morning...I got up early, went running in the rain, and the sun came out on my way back and there was this gorgeous rainbow all the way across the sky...it was awesome...definitely an excellent way to start the day. Then I worked at the stand until 2, and the weather seemed like it couldn't make up its mind...first it was rainy, then clear, then rain, and then the sun finally came out and it was unbelievably gorgeous...there were so many cool people who came by today too... I had a local woman come by and chat with me for like an hour (she is 5'11, so that was cool too), then I had two truckloads of local guys stop by and buy like a dozen loaves of bread, and then I had these people from Santa Cruz who shared some awesome "Nor Cal love" (if you know what i mean), so I was definitely a happy camper when I got done at 2.

Paul and I were super hungry, so I ran into town for some awesome Thai food from a local woman who only makes it on Sunday and Monday. She totally remembered me from when I came to visit in June, and even hooked me up with some free food! After dropping off the food, I had the van for the afternoon and spent the first sunny day in a week just soaking up the sun at the beach...I saw a family with their two sons that I had met last week, and hung out with them for a bit while they surfed, caught a fish, and played in the sand. Their boys were making "sand angels" instead of snow angels and burying themselves in the sand...it was pretty hilarious.

I ran to the store and bought some pickles on the way home, and I think I am addicted...i ate like the entire jar in ten minutes. Pickles, my new favorite food...ha!

Still need to wash the saltwater off, so it is time for me to go chill out in my cabin...leave me a comment or send me a text if you think about it...

This is the Life...

wow.

Um, yeah, today was a good day...maybe even great...maybe so far as excellent...yup. That sounds good. An Excellent day.

I am laying on my bed in my cabin, listening to Pearl Jam, in my swimsuit and jeans, with a good internet connection and a plumeria tucked behind my ear, my hair still damp from the saltwater.

Nice, right?

So, a blustery couple of days with Hurricane Flossie rolling by, I have been staying in, doing laundry, reading, cleaning my cabin, playing on the computer, watching movies, and burning CD's (somehow, I arrived in Maui without ANY music...if you feel like making me a cool mix, please, PLEASE, do so, and send it ASAP...that would make my day) because it has been nothing but cloudy skies and rain the last couple of days. Yesterday we saw some sun and it looked like it would be a nice Friday today, but I woke up to screaming birds and a cloudy sky--boo! So I ended up going to the kitchen with Paul and learning how to actually make the banana bread. Oh yeah, I can do it all now...hee he :)

After seeing some sun break through around 1 o'clock, I jumped into a swimsuit, hopped into the truck, and headed over to Hamoa beach. The sun completely disappeared on my way through town, and I was totally disappointed as rain droplets started hitting the windshield. Figuring it might pass over, I stopped at Hasegawa store for some beer and mosquito repellent and made a phone call (one of the few places in Hana that I get reception). After a ten minute phone call and no change in the weather, I just decided to go to the beach anyway...it's not like I have a free afternoon and the truck every day, and it is Maui, which means the water is still warm even if it's raining, so I went for it. The beach looked pretty dreary when I got there, and the surf was really rough (a holdover from the hurricane), and after getting tumbled a couple of times, I almost gave up and just wrote it off as a bad day for the beach...However, I gave it another try, and after swimming out past the break, a beautiful sun broke through the clouds, and it turned into a gorgeous afternoon. The sun comes out and everything just becomes amazing....the water turns so green and clear and you can see the bottom and the light makes everything sparkle and it was so nice to feel the heat on my skin after nothing but rain and wind for three days.

After swimming for about an hour and meeting some people who had stopped by the stand earlier in the day, I walked up the path and was just hanging out enjoying the view before I left. I ended up meeting an older local guy who i recognized because he drives his little motorbike past the stand regularly, and he had a couple cold Bud Lights and gave me one and I chatted with him for a while, which was cool. It is always nice meeting the locals and getting to know what is what in a new place. Now I am chillin in my cabin, still salty and in my swimsuit, feeling very content...

...EXCEPT for missing everyone terribly. Wish there was someone here right now who I could make some dinner for and then we could open a couple of cold beers and watch a movie...if this sounds like a good time, then hurry up and get your a** over to Maui and let's make it happen! Can't wait for my first visitors! I will be a banana bread PRO by then!

Rain + Tourists = Good Combo

---oh, can i just say how much i love "The Daily Show?!" God, John Stewart is so freakin' hilarious....I'm dying laughing right now---

Ok, so now that I got that out of the way...

Um, today was nasty weather. The hurricane (I have to stop typing every couple seconds because i have to bend over laughing at the Daily Show) is not hitting hard today, but maybe tomorrow...

Overcast and rainy all day, we thought the Hana Highway would be slow and intermittent...apparently we were wrong. I worked from 9 this morning until 7:30 tonight with about an hour break in-between, and the stand was busy almost all day...good stuff for us, with lots of people loving the banana bread...Needless to say, I didn't make it to the post office today to send out some bread, but I'm working on it...

Ha, thank God for cold Sierra Nevada, internet, bug repellent, and South Park...

Hope to hear from you soon, send me a text message if you can...esp in this hurricane weather...

Hurricanes, Famous People, and Pigs

So, it has been an eventful couple days...I still am getting eaten alive by mosquitos, but that is old news....the new news is better and more interesting!

So, they say there is a hurricane brewing a couple hundred miles from Hawai'i, but we should only get a tropical storm, which should hit some time tomorrow...needless to say, not a whole lot of tanning going on for me. Not to mention the fact that I have been working a lot, so I haven't really had time to go to the beach because I have been tending the stand. Oh, the lovely banana bread stand...for all of you at the Chieftan, I will try to send you some delectable bread tomorrow, and I want feedback! :)

Besides being busy with work and rainy weather, there has been some fun things too...One of our local guys, Glen, and his girlfriend Athena, had a wild boar roast at their house the other night which I was able to go to. Also called Kahlua Pig, wild boar are not native and are a huge environmental nuisance, so people are encouraged to hunt and kill them. Charlie, a local native, goes pig hunting all the time with his dogs, and he and Glen ended up getting three pigs, which they haul out of the jungle on their backs like backpacks. It is a totally dirty, bloody, messy endeavor, and we got the fruit of their labors, which was some awesome wild pig (esp. the ribs, which Charlie slow-cooked forever).

There was a big bonfire, tons of food, and plenty of cold beer. Also, some serious Boston accents! Glen is from Boston, and his friend from there was also visiting, and after about 8 beers, his friend decided to go "bobbing for beers" in the trashcan/ice/beer cooler. After dunking his head in the freezing cold water about ten times, trying to get a beer with his mouth, Charlie walks over, takes off his beanie, sticks his head in the trash can full of ice and beer and comes up with one on the first try! It was hilarious...lots of drunken guitar playing, more pig, and more beers...good times.

The next night, I ended up getting invited to a get-together at Honokalani Ranch, where my friend Rebekah works as a landscaper. She works for David LaChapelle, whom I had met earlier that day at the stand (and I didn't even realize it). For the unfamiliar, David is a internationally renowned photographer, and he has a huge piece of property down near the beach, where he invited all of his employees for dinner before he leaves to go back to the mainland (apparently he has to do J-Lo's new video). It was a really cool night, met a bunch of new people, and ate some awesome vegetarian food.

So, a good couple of days, with plenty of crazy bugs and toads and rats and spiders thrown in for good measure...I hope you are enjoying the blog, and if you want to write an email, you are welcome to at andriamiller50@yahoo.com, or leave a comment, which I love to read.
Missing you in Hana!

The Whole Story

Ok, so I realize that you might not realize why I am in Maui (in the freakin' mosquito-infested jungle in Hana), so here's some backstory for those of you with whom I have been less-than stellar in my communications...

So, after a wonderful stay (and hellacious roommate which caused me to leave) in the lovely Ventura, CA out by the beach, I set my sights on San Francisco...because of the whole scary roommate situation (which some of you know about), I left in a bit of a hurry. This caused my move to SF to happen in Dec. instead of January, leaving me high and dry for an apt and a job.

In a most providential happening, my friend in the East Bay (near Berkeley) had a room available and the patience to deal with me and my joblessness. After a particularly rough (finanacial) month, God blessed me with an awesome job at this little Irish Pub in downtown SF called the Chieftan (I was the day bartender--that is a really cool story for another time). I made lots of friends and had awesome regulars, and one of them happened to have some property in Maui on which they ran a roadside stand that sold banana bread, fresh fruit, and the like.

After talking at length about the success of their stand, the beauty of Maui (and seeing pictures), and their need for help, I ended up visiting Maui for a week at the beginning of June. After meeting the people on the property (Paul and Ananda) and the other girls at the stand, I came back to SF with a desire to go back, but unsure of when. My friend then came back into the Pub and said they had been sent on a mission to keep pestering me until I returned to Hana.

You know, flattery will get you far in life.

HAA HA! Ok, ok, so I was flattered, but also glad that Maui seemed like such a natural fit for me (esp. since I didn't have a lease, a super-permanent job, a boyfriend, kids, a mortgage, or anything else to really hold me back!).

So, after much deliberation (and wishy-washy-ness on my part...I loved my friends, my job, and the city), I finally got the guts to buy a one-way ticket to Maui and throw caution to the wind. I am now living in the literal jungle on 7 acres of property along the Hana Highway mountainside, I can see a stunning view of the ocean from my driveway, I live in a cabin that only has ply-wood and screened-in windows, and I am learning not to completely freak out every time I see a spider the size of my fist, a cockroach the size of my thumb, or a million ants on my porch railing. I DO, however, still freak out everytime my skin literally forms WELTS from all the *&^$%#%% mosquitos bites that I get every day.

I went to the beach for the first time today since being in Maui, and it was awesome...so gorgeous, and warm water, and amazing views of cliffs and jungle in the distance...sweet. I was so happy, I even momentarily forgot about my mosquito bites (hee he).

Plus, for the first time in six months, I actually have a real bed. I had been sleeping on an Aero bed at my friend's house because my California King bed wouldn't fit in my room (*tear*). So that's awesome...now Im just hoping that the enornmous, evil, scary-looking, size-of-my-fist-spider (not kidding people!) doesn't like my bed too. Ewwhh. I can't even think about that.

Thanks for your comments, I love hearing from You!

Mosquitos

Things I learned today...

1. My mosquito net over my bed is not big enough.

2. Hot showers make mosquito bites feel better (for about 10 seconds).

3. There is no greater force in the human brain than the desire to scratch an itch--comparable to the desire to pee when you've been holding it for hours and you think you're going to die--that's what it feels like to have mosquito bites all over your body.

4. I am really, REALLY, really allergic to mosquito bites...ie. welts all over my body--sick.

5. Mosquito bites on your face (especially if you're really allergic and they cause welts to rise on your skin) make you look like a psycho. Sweet. I'm ready to make some awesome first impressions.

6. "They" say that you eventually get used to the mosquitos, but there is no guarantee and the way they look at all my bites (with an extremely doubtful face) makes me totally disbelieve "them."

7. If deet (the main ingredient in bug repellent) is really as bad as people say, I'm going to die of deet poisoning. Awesome.

So, that is all I feel like writing today...I'm going to go take a hot shower...and then reapply bug spray all over my body...bleh. Oh, and if anyone feels like sending me some Deep Woods Off, let me know...I will love you forever.

First Day In Maui

After staying up half the night with friends and rushing home for last minute details, I left all my stress at the car door as my friend gave me a ride to the airport and my check-in was effortless. Needless to say, due to lack of sleep, I slept almost the entire time of the 5-hour direct flight to Kahalui, Maui.

-----A HUGE toad just hopped across the floor of the cabin and Paul just caught him and put him outside (toads freak Paul out)--ha!

So, Paul is one of the owners of the property, and he picked me up at the airport and we hopped on the Hana Highway with his dog Aki after running a few errands.

If you've never driven the Hana Highway, it's one of those crazy, hair-pin, twisty, windy roads that just keeps turning into better and better views around every corner...and makes you sick to your stomach if you're susceptible to that sort of thing.

Everything was feeling pretty idyllic and we finally drove up to the banana bread stand and up the hill to the house. Rebekah (another girl who does landscaping and works at the stand) was just moving the last of her stuff out of the cabin, and as we're chatting, I suddenly realize (about ten minutes too late) my FATAL, terrible mistake...

...and then it was too late, my odds against the SWARMS of mosquitoes were completely destroyed. In 3 minutes I had about 20 bites and couldn't even concentrate because the itching was making my brain melt.

HOW ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH DID I FORGET MY BUG SPRAY!? Oh wait, I forgot to even freakin' buy any before I left...stupid, stupid, stupid. So now I'm sitting here; tired, itching, hungry, and sweaty, but ultimately happy with beer in hand (cold, even!) and a new adventure in front of me.

Missing the city and the pub and, most of all, the people...write, call, or email when you get a chance!