One of the interesting things that strikes me about Maui, as I reflect on it, is that although the island is small, and thus so is the number of true towns and villages, that each village has a distinctive character depending partly on its location on the island, but more specifically on the degree to which the town has been built or transformed to cater to tourists, and the degree to which it retains some character that pre-dates the explosive growth of tourism in the last several decades. Even a town that caters to tourists in a way that harkens to the 1980s would seem like a throwback now.
Kahului, in the north shore in the central flat part of the island (exactly where you'd expect the airport to be)---we didn't see much of it beyond the Costco and the food trucks, and then used the highway to get out of town. It reminded me of the airport town in Kauai---modern conveniences without an emphasis on leisure, and often the most bustling pat for locals to use.
Wailuku, where I bought my Lahaina t-shirt in the shop downtown--feels like the old "capital" of the island. There is a small state office building downtown. The main street has one- and two-story businesses reminiscent of downtowns in many small towns across the America. Many houses, especially on the north edge of town, reflect a moderate income of their occupants. In some ways it feels like the most authentic of towns on Maui.
Lahaina, which was the most historic but is now burned to the ground. The remaining north part of town will be the seed of whatever comes next.
Kapalua is a short drive north of Lahaina on the west coast of the island. Completely untouched by the fire, it is a golf resort community and is the location where we ate our Thanksgiving dinner at Merriman's restaurant. In that way it reminded us much of Princeville on the north coast of Kauai, where even the grocery stores feel upscale. See the movie The Descendants which is partially set (and filmed) there, and which addresses the transformation of Kauai from rising real estate prices. Kapalua feels much the same as that.
Kihei. along the south coast in the central part of the island. Great long beaches here and the town is a hodge podge of apartment complexes of various vintages crammed along the main road, with shopping centers full of snorkeling gear rentals and coffee shops, etc. Busy and very crammed for space. If you came to Maui for the beaches this is probably a good place to stay.
Waihee-Waiehu. A laid back working class community of older small homes on narrow streets of the highway, just north of the "capital" Wailuku, as one proceeds along the highway up the coast. Here there are some primitive beaches accessible down obscure lanes.
Kahakuloa we didn't get there. Located on a remote cove. This is the "isolated traditional community" where the haole from Scottsdale got beaten up in a "hate crime". It is accessible only by a long drive on a narrow one-lane road along the cliffs. We turned around because it was getting dicey, especially from oncoming traffic of locals, who clearly don't appreciate too many visitors. Can't say that I blame them too much.
Makawao in Upcountry near our second location. We got to know it well during our stay, as we drove through it almost time we left our second place in the forest, and dined there on one occassion. An old agricultural community with legacy grocery stores and other shops sprinkled in between restaurants and small professional offices. Crowded just still feels quaint and local in character. I hope it remains so.
Hana is an isolated community of the eastern tip of the island. Accessible by a long drive along the coast (the famous "Road to Hana"). I will discuss this in an upcoming post.
Paia a tourist oriented community on the north coast near fabulous beaches where surfers ride the dramatic waves. If Kihei is for middle class families, Paia is a more upscale, with an old downtown transformed to having small art galleries full of hand made gifts. We dined here on our first day at our new place near Makawao, descending from our forest hideout after checking in to eat a fish restaurant, the Paia Fish Market. where one stands in line to order and they bring you your food. Delicious it was. The picture on their website (see link in name) has been sanitized to make it seem like a modern minimal, but it is actually more appealing and rustic than it appears.
Every time I go to Hawaii, I get more interested in the Hawaiian language, a subject which I have multiple books over the years as part of my huge collection of language literature. I like figuring things out on my own at times, as the insights stay deeply with you. On this trip I realized that many communities and geographical features in Hawaii start with the prefix Wai-, which can be very confusing as all the names begin to look the same. The prefix Wai- means water. The distinguishing part of the word, in the Saussurian linguistic sense of variation, is what comes after Wai-, so one should concentrate only that and the names will become much easier to remember...
WaiMEA, WaiKULU, WaiLUKU, WaiKIKI, etc.
which gives us the variational pattern.
Wai- MEA, KULU, LUKU, KIKI.
With this in mind, I found it much easier to distinguish places as we drove around the island.
So do you think Lonely Planet might hire me now?
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