Mana is a Hawaiian word for spiritual force akin to the Chinese term for qi / chi. Some places & people have more mana than others, while nothing on this island so far has given me the heebee jeebies I have found some places that feel like they have more mana flow than others. Take that as you please – it’s really difficult to describe in that ‘you have to be there’ kind of way.
Upcountry
I finally ventured “upcountry” which is up along the outside of the Haleakala volcano crater. It’s always cooler there and it’s where a lot of the farms are. The drive is impressive and breathtaking in both fun and scary ways.
I visited the much famed Ali’i Gardens and spent the rest of the morning checking out art colonies and out-of-the way places that my friends recommended. The drive was impressive and luckily the tuna can and I made it there and back. I’m totally addicted to local Hawaiian food which is a mash up of a bunch of different cultures. I stopped at the Pukalani Superette and grabbed some of the best local food I’ve had here – and it was super cheap too. Win!
Nakalele Blowhole
Yep, that’s what it’s called and I drove there windy roads, single lane bridges and all. The cliffs are impressive and downright scary. I started the hike down to get closer to the blowhole and my phone slipped out of my hand and bounced down the cliff side – luckily it landed before the next big drop into the ocean. Wheeewwff! I managed to crab crawl down v-e-r-y slowly and carefully to retrieve it. This is me after I got back up safely. —->
And here is a short video of the famed blowhole doing it’s thing.
La Perouse Bay / Keoneʻoʻio Bay & Lava Fields
This has to be one of my favorite places on the island so far – granted I have *not* been to 2 of the most popular places, Hana and the top of the Haleakala crater. I went for a morning hike and ended up staying pretty much all day. Bay is the end of the road past a very large beach park called Makena. If you have a tough enough vehicle you can keep going on the trail/road but it will be very tough going over scrub and lava. I hiked in and kept walking till I found a sandy bay to sit and have lunch. I can’t put specifics to it but I just felt really good there, like time slowed down and I felt like I was supposed to be there. The lava fields go all the way to the ocean and it’s a great place to fish. I hung out with a family of locals that was fishing there. Evidently they had started catching fish when I showed up so when I got up to leave they called over and asked me to hang out. I said sure – gimme one of those beers. It was a really lovely afternoon and I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story.
julienne givot 