The town is now a 100% percent tourist trap but a charming one. The main waterfront street is still full of 1900's western style storefronts housing an impressive array of art galleries, shops, jewellers, restaurants and upscale souvenir shops. This is not a town where you will find 2/$5 T-shirts.
You can however find 6 ft tall statutes made of marble or jade or something expensive that the store would be happy to ship back to your waterfront villa for a small additional fee. I don't know about anyone else but the damn things always keep ripping a hole in the side of my backpack so I don't buy them anymore.
We decided to visit the town on the Thursday because we wanted to attend a Rotary luncheon meeting. Our thanks to the Rotary Club of Lahaina for the warm welcome and especially for the Hula dancers that performed both traditional and Christmas hulas for everyone. It gave White Christmas a whole new meaning for me.
As a member of the Vernon Silver Star Rotary I would like to formally recommend that we consider adding Hula to our meetings. That is assuming that Club members themselves are banned from actually performing it.
On that Thursday we were also extremely fortunate to be joined in the streets of Lahaina by everyone off of the mammoth cruise ship docked off shore. It certainly took me back in time to when the Pacific fleet would have taken over the town. The only difference being of course that most of those sailors didn't wear black knee high socks with their plaid shorts.
Next we turned up the coast to see the seemingly endless string of concrete resorts and gated communities that have taken over this side of the big island. We wondered if any of the people coming to these even knew there was an unspoiled up-country not too far away. On the other hand if they really did enjoy the Hilton or the Fairmont then Grandma's Coffee Cafe would not appeal to them. Just as well.
Did I mention that each night Lana has been making some very tasty dishes at the hostel? Hostel cooking is limited by what you bring or buy and what you can find there. Our Swedish friends for example had been eating huge bowls of oatmeal for over a week for both breakfast and as a night time snack because someone had left what looked like, a 25 lb box of oatmeal with the major word “Free” on the side. (All your food at a hostel is labelled with your name otherwise it is fair game. All leftovers have FREE written on them. If your name is let's say “Tom Free” you should never stay at a hostel)
Somehow Lana had been creating some great rice and chicken things along with some very tasty pasta. Whatever was left over we offered to whomever was sitting around. One gentlemen, after trying one dish was gracious enough to comment that he could see why I would “keep her around”. Hmmm. Obviously the relationship dynamic was something that was beyond his power of observation.
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