I can’t believe its been a month since I last wrote something here.  Things have been crazy as you can imagine.  I’m going through a ton of stuff here, bidding on projects and trying to make the transition over to focus on my photography.

You see, my goal for this year is to focus on honing my craft until I can get to a point where I’m really happy with my photography.  Then I’m hoping to approach some local art galleries and see about getting my works displayed.  I’ve seen a lot of stuff out there in some high end galleries, that’s really just not very good.  I’m pretty confident my works are better than most that are out there, but the daunting task of marketing, making appointments, setting up showings, getting a couple of galleries to take a chance, all that stuff takes a lot of time, money and effort.  But, alas…. that’s the goal…

So, how do I plan to market for fine art photography online?

Well, the first thing you may have noticed is I’m changing some things up with my branding.  I bought a few new domain names and am having them all point to a new domain that I’m going to be using from here on.  The new domain is mknbr.com.  And  if you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s my name (mike neubauer) without the vowels.  I know its kinda strange, but the benefits to it are 1) It is a 5 letter domain name – which is incredibly valuable.  2) It’s a lot easier to spell than mneubauerphotography.com or neubauerstudios.com (both of which I own as well).  And 3) Once it is understood, its easier to remember and link to.  Well, these are my thoughts anyway.

And of course I still own EarthTrot.com and will have that forwarded over to this domain as well.  So that any time someone types in one of these other domains, for example earthtrot.com, it will automatically redirect your browser to the new mknbr.com.  By using a derivative of my name, I’m also helping to promote myself as a person, not just Earth Trot which people who don’t know what it is, may not understand right away.

Social Media

Yep, this is a big one.  And one I don’t know too much about… but I’m working on it.  I’ve setup a Facebook page for my photography.  I’ve also setup a new twitter account (@mike_neubauer).  Granted, I’m terrible at writing on Twitter, and I think I only have about ten followers (if that), but I’m hoping to grow that.  So if  you have a twitter account, please follow me!   Chances are I’ll be posting new photos to Facebook and Twitter before I post them here.

As far as I can tell, those are the big two.  However, Google+ has some really cool features.  I just set up this account, though I don’t think I have any friends yet, so if you have a Google+ account, please add me as a friend, I could really use some!

Flickr is another great social media site for photographers.  Of course there are tons of others on here and a lot of people you can interact with.  I’m not sure who has time to do that, but it is possible… On Flickr?  Add me as a contact!

There are a couple additional photo sites that I think are really cool.  There are two that I use that have really big followings.  One is 500px.  This is a very cool site with tons of great photographers from all over the world.  The second is actually pretty similar, it is called Fotoblur.  Fotoblur is a magazine with all kinds of different types of photography.  Another cool site to check out.  If you’re on either of these, hit me up as well!

It’s almost impossible to be on every social media site.  Of course there is Pinterest and LinkedIn which I’m also working with. But there are a gazillion others, too many to count.  In my opinion the best method is to focus on a couple and try to grow your following.  Don’t ask me how to do this, I’m not quite sure, yet.  Though if you have suggestions, please let me know, I’d love to here about some new techniques!

Contests

There are plenty of online photography contests out there.  Some of them are scams, some don’t do more than collect your email address and contact information (and probably sell them), but there are some really reputable ones too.  I haven’t done much with this yet, but I’ve been looking into some and gathering information.  A good place to start with this is through PhotographyCompetitions.net They are like a database to all kinds of contests.  Some are free, some paid entry, and many worth looking into.

Blogs

Other than this blog, I submit articles (usually some of the same ones I write here) to a variety of blogging sites.  This increases my exposure and by writing about photography, it authenticates me (to a degree) as a scholar in the field.   Even though many of my followers don’t care what I’m writing about, they still follow me.  Why?  Because they want to see new images.  And, most of the people that follow me like to see landscape photography of Hawaii.  Maui sunsets, beautiful waterfalls, and amazing long exposure photography.  These are my signature styles, and its what keeps people visiting my website, blogs, Facebook pages, etc.

Blogs like this are a great way to market yourself because you can riddle your blog with keywords that can get picked up by search engines like Google.  In fact, did you see what I just did?  In the last paragraph I used key phrases like “Maui Sunsets,” “Beautiful Waterfalls,” and “Amazing Long Exposure Photography.”  These keywords get indexed by Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others so that when someone searches for these keywords or others that pertain to you, like “Hawaii Landscape Photography” or whatever, my site gets placed higher in the results than my competitors.  Well, theoretically, that is…

Of course, I’m learning all of this as I go.  By no stretch of the imagination am I an authority on any of this online marketing stuff.  So take what I write here with a grain of salt.  But stay tuned, as the year goes on, we’ll see how everything develops and maybe I’ll have built a substantial enough following and who knows maybe I’ll even have a few art galleries take a chance on my fine art landscape photography.

But for now, let’s get to the good stuff.  Here’s a few of my most recent works.  Hope you enjoy!

Aloha,

Mike

Sunset from Mokuleia in West Maui.  I really like the colors in this shot.  And I like seeing my old friend Moloka’i in the background.  I Aloha Moloka’i!

Ahihi Bay in South Maui.  Just before sunset on a cloudy evening.  Water like glass!

Another shot from Ahihi Bay.

My friend Mike lives right across the street from this beautiful beach in South Maui.  Sometimes I meet up with him here as the sun sets to talk story and enjoy scenes like this!

Kihei, Maui, Hawaii.  One of the most photogenic places on Earth.  Well, in my opinion, anyway…

Not a bad shot from Makena, Maui.  Wouldn’t mind seeing the sun set from here every night!

Man, it’s been one of those days. I’ve got 18 million things on my todo list and more stuff keeps on accumulating quicker than I can check items off! Well, at least I’m getting this newsletter off! Priorities, ya know?

Because of all the feedback I got when I wrote about making sea salt, which if you missed it, can be be found here, I’m writing another similar article today.  This one is about how to make homemade laundry detergent.  This one’s pretty easy and can save you a fortune!  Check it out:

How to Make Homemade Laundry Detergent

There’s several reasons why you may want to make your own laundry detergent.  First, you won’t have any of those chemical products in your detergent, which because of “trade secrets,” these big detergent companies are not on the hook to let you know what they are.  I know a lot of people complain about the residue left on clothing or skin irritants, which by making your own, you’ll avoid completely.  But the best reason to make your own is because you’ll end up saving a ton of money over the long term.

All things considered, your cost with all the ingredients you need will be less than a quarter of the cost of buying that store detergent.  Not only that, but you’ll have enough supplies left over to continue making batch after batch of this stuff with minor additional costs.

So what do you need to get started?

Basically you’ll need 4 items.

1. A bar of Fels Naptha soap (or other bar soap, Fels Naptha seems to be the preferred method from what I read, so I’m sticking with it).

2. A box of Borax (20 Mule Team)

3. A Box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

4. A 5 gallon bucket.

Directions for Making Your Own Liquid Laundry Detergent:

• Boil one quart of water.
• Grate two cups worth of the bar soap.  This should be around half to 2/3 of the bar of Fels Naptha.  (Make sure it is finely grated)
• Add the grated bar soap to the boiling water.  Reduce heat to low, stir until soap is melted.
• Transfer your soapy water to the 5 gallon bucket.
• Add 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of Washing Soda.  Stir until soapy water is dissolved.
• Add two gallons of water, stir until well mixed.  (You may want to use filtered water here if your tap water is not clean)
• Let sit for 24 hours before use.  Use 1/4 cup per load.

Additional Considerations:

When we made ours, we noticed a lot of people making it with the same ingredients but in much varied quantities.  Some people used 3 gallons of water to 1/2 cup of Borax and 1 cup Washing Soda.  I decided to make ours strong, heavy duty kind.  In fact, I used the whole bar of Fels Naptha.  It is after all, just soap.  Because I made it as potent as I did, we don’t need to use as much of it to clean our clothes.  You can experiment with your own variations on this to find the consistency you like.

Another option some people are doing is using their favorite essential oils and putting a couple drops per gallon in with the detergent to add a scent.  I thought about doing this, but when reading the ingredients on the oils I noticed it did say not to let it get in contact with skin or clothing.  So, I thought better of it.  But if you can find a safe essential oil, that might be a nice touch.

One other thing to note, is that the consistency when you finish may be a bit gloppy.  This is apparently pretty normal.  What I did with ours is run it through a strainer before I bottled it, then I shake it up a bit before adding it to the wash.

Prefer the powder?  No problem, check this out…

Directions for Making Your Own Powdered Laundry Detergent:

Here’s what you’ll need:   2 cups finely grated soap, 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax.  And here’s how to make it:

• Mix well.  Store in an air-tight plastic container.
• Use two tablespoons per load.

Now if you can’t do that….

Some of the items you’ll need.

Grate the bar soap.

Mix boiling water with grated soap.

Mix soapy water with borax and washing soda

Add a couple gallons of water… (Those aren’t my feet.  Just so you know….)

After its all mixed together you can leave it in the bucket or move it to another container.  I used this rinsed out old Costco one.  Of course, you can use whatever you want.  And feel free to make your own label….

Now let’s get to the fun stuff…

Few new pictures since last time.  I’ve been posting these things all over so, if you haven’t seen them on Facebook, Google+, 500px, Fotoblur, Twitter or anywhere else, check them out here!  If you’ve already seen them EVERYWHERE else, I’m sorry.  Scroll no further….

Have a great weekend everyone!

Aloha,

Mike

Papaula on the North shore of Maui.

Palapalai fern with fiddleheads

The Pelekunu overlook.  According to one of my friends who used to work for the Nature Conservancy here, very few people make it to this area.  To their defense, it is a heck of a hike to get here.  But the view is pretty good…

Waves hitting the rocks at sunset.

Sunset by our house on Maui.

One final shot from Moloka’i.  Boy, will we miss this place!

Sorry for that last AF being so short. At least there were a couple good photos in there though, right? Anyhow, what I want to talk about today is lenses…

Remember, what I write about here is just a guide based on my opinions.  There is no law to any of this, just what I’ve found works best for me.  I have had many, many lenses over the years and I have used many, many more.  A lot of the photographers I know can’t leave their house without 5 or 6 lenses in their bag.  Not me.  I own three lenses.  I travel with two, and 90% of the time I’m using the same one.   Which one?  Keep reading, I’ll get there.

How Do You Know Which Lenses to Buy to Take Great Photos?

Well, this really depends on what type of photography you’ll be focusing on. Are you planning on shooting a lot of people? If so, you’ll want to make sure you have something with a really big aperture like an f2 or f2.8. What a big aperture like this does is it helps to take in a lot of light very quickly so you can take very fast photos.  Usually the benefit of this is not just to capture moving objects, but it also allows you to have your subject in focus and the background blurred away.  All those model photography shots, those wedding portraits or family portraits, yep, f2.8.  Not only do you want to look at the aperture, but you’ll also want to stay away from wide angle lenses as they will distort your subject.

Say, however, you’re not as interested in shooting people as you are with shooting landscapes.  Typically, landscape photographers aren’t as concerned with the big aperture numbers as they are with the focal length of the lens.  A good wide angle lens is key, something in the 16mm to 18mm range is usually very desirable.

Maybe you fall in between.  You want a lens or lenses that are very versatile.  If this is the case you’ll have to look at the focal length capabilities of a lens and get something that can shoot wide enough yet still zoom in far enough to get those nice close shots of people, with a little background blur.

Now before we go any further, I have to warn you, lenses vary in price quite a bit.  And that old saying, “you get what you pay for” really rings true in this department.  Plan on spending your money here.  But the good news is, a good lens, well maintained, can far outlive your camera body.  So even though you’ll likely gawk at the price, the value of lenses doesn’t depreciate very much of taken care of.  And they can last a long, long time.

Best Lenses for Portrait Photography

Many off brand companies like Sigma and Tamaron make really nice lenses, but if you want the best, you’ve gotta stick with Canon or Nikon.  They’re just better.  Better glass, better internal components, smoother operations and built tougher.  I use Canon products, so I’ll be speaking about Canon lenses, though Nikon makes a lot of very similar lenses at similar price points.  If you shoot Nikon, use Nikon glass.  If you shoot Canon… you get it.

And when you’re looking at Canon lenses, be sure to look for that little red ring around the rim of the lens.  This lets you know that its going to cost you a fortune, but you’ll be getting “L” glass as well.  Which is the best that Canon makes.  You may also see lenses with a few other colors.  A dashed gold ring indicates the lens has an Ultrasonic Motor (USM).  Pretty good stuff.  A Green ring signifies the lens uses Diffractive Optics (DO).  These are lighter weight lenses that are built very well.  A silver ring means that it is a non-professional series lens.  Definitely a more affordable lens, but not as good of construction or glass involved.

Many portrait photographers really like prime lenses.  When I say prime, I mean lenses that are at a fixed focal length.  50mm prime lenses are very nice, 85mm prime lenses are very nice, 100mm and 135mm lenses are very nice.  Prime lenses generally have much bigger apertures than telephoto lenses.  f1.2, f1.8, f2 these are not uncommon sizes for prime lens apertures.  Which is one reason they are GREAT for shooting people.  You can blur out the backgrounds and focus only on the subject’s eyes if you want to.

Because I shoot a full-frame camera, the 85mm prime is my favorite length.  There is an f1.2, and an f1.8  version of this lens.  The f1.2 goes for about $2199.  The f1.8 goes for about $420.  Big difference in cost, both are excellent.

Sometimes, your subject isn’t sitting still and you want to shoot sports photography or wedding photography.  Then you’re going to want a telephoto lens.  Probably one that can still hit those big aperture numbers.  One of the most common lenses in this arena is the Canon 70mm -200mm Lens.  Now, there are several variations of this lens, but basically, one has a big f2.8 aperture and one has a slightly smaller f4 aperture.  There’s even variations with an Image Stabilizer and Ultrasonic Motor.  The best one is the EF Canon 70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM L lens.  It’s pricey, but just about every wedding photographer out there shoots this lens.  This bad boy will run you about $2500.

Another popular lens for wedding photographers is the Canon 24-70mm f2.8L II USM lens.  It is very good.  Much lighter than the 70-200 but just as sharp.  The focal length isn’t that long, but as an alternate to a 70-200mm lens, this is a very nice option.  This lens runs around $2300

For sports photography, you may want one with an even bigger focal length.  400mm, 500mm, 600mm maybe more.  A 600mm f4 IS lens from Canon can run around $10,000.  These are really nice if you’re on the field for a football game or shooting surf photography from shore.

I don’t shoot a lot of portraits, sports or weddings (in fact, hardly ever… just not my thing), but I do have a lens in my quiver that is excellent when I have to shoot an impromptu portrait.  I choose a Canon 85mm f1.8 lens.  It’s excellent all around.  And the cost is only $420.

Best Lenses for Landscape Photography

Wide angle lenses are the favorite of most landscape photographers.   If you can pickup a lens between a 14mm and 18mm you’ll be sitting pretty.  Especially on a full-frame camera.  If you forgot what the benefits were for full-frame cameras, click here and read up!  Generally, however you may want something more than a prime lens here.  Something that can give you that wide angle, but also have a little bit of a zoom.  Well, you’re in luck.  Canon makes a couple top-notch lenses in this field.  Both of which are L glass and will blow your socks off.  First is the 16-35mm f2.8L II USM lens.  This thing is unbelievable.  Excellent in every factor.  Cost on this lens is $1700.  The second lens in this category is a 17-40mm f4L USM lens.  Another very good lens, at about half the cost.  It does have a smaller aperture, but for landscape photography rarely is that a factor.

If you can afford the 16-35mm lens, it is the better lens.  For me, however, I shoot the 17-40mm f4L USM lens.

Best All-Around Lenses for Everyday Shooting (Most Versatile Lens)

For versatility you’ll want something with a wide enough focal length to get those landscape shots but something that can zoom in enough to shoot people on the far end of the room.  Canon makes quite a few good lenses in this range.  One is the 24-105mm f4L IS USM lens.  This lens goes for around $1200 and gives you everything you could need.  Great range, super sharp clarity, its fast, quiet and rugged. The other lens I think is very good in this category is the 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM lens.  It is a steal at $470.  I used this lens for years with great results.  Personally, I think it is the best, most versatile lens on the market for under $500.

I shoot the 24-105mm f4L IS USM lens, Its greatness far outshines anything else in its class (In my opinion).  The 24-70mm lens is very, very good too, and it does have a bigger aperture, but to me, I’ll sacrifice the aperture to get a little more focal length.  That’s just me, you may prefer the aperture.

 So, What do I Shoot with Most Often?

90% of the time I use the Canon 17-40mm f4L USM lens.  In fact, all of the images below were shot with the 17-40mm lens.

9%  of the time I’m using the Canon 24-105mm f4L IS USM lens.

1% of the time I’m using the Canon 85mm f1.8 lens.

As a travel photographer, I love to pack light.  The lighter the better.  And I’m all about stripping down weight wherever I can.  That’s why, even though I love to shoot Canon’s 70-200mm f2.8L IS II USM lens, the thing weighs over 6lbs.  I can’t have that.  I swap that for a nice versatile 24-105mm and I’m dropping significant weight and space in my bag.  Now throw in my 17-40mm and I’m done.  That’s all I need to travel with (lens wise).  Oh, yea, I travel with one backpack.  With everything.  All my camera equipment, toiletries, clothes, etc.  Bare bones.  You’d be surprised, but it can be done.  That’s an article for another time, though…

Hope this helps give you a little better glimpse into the world of lenses.  Here’s a link to Canon’s extensive lineup.  Don’t just take my word for it, read up!  Learn more, shoot more and you’ll figure out which ones are the best for you!

Aloha,

Michael

Sunset at Kawakiu Beach on the far Northwest corner of Molokai

Sunrise over the East end of Molokai.  That’s Maui island in the distance.

This is a shot from Pepeopae, deep in a bog in the center of the island.  Very long way to get to this place, but well worth the journey!

Mark my words: One day I will have a home on this beach.

Sunset at Papohaku.

Beautiful Halawa Valley.

A hui hou, Molokai!  We will be back!

I was going to write a long article about lenses, but its late Thursday night and I’m beat! Been cruising around this island for almost two months now pretty much non stop so I need a little sleep. However, I am going to post a few photos here that I think you might like. Hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them! Have a great week, and hopefully the next newsletter will have that article on lenses…

Aloha,

Michael

Water rushing out of the tidepools near our place just before sunset.

This was taken somewhere near La’au Point in West Molokai.

Kepuhi Beach

Honu (Green Sea Turtles) lounging on a sandbar just before sunset on the East end of the island.

East end just after sunrise.

This night shot just looks surreal, doesn’t it?  I left the shutter open for two and a half minutes with this one and the lighting came out amazing.

Here’s what we’re going to cover today: How to make salt, Getting started in Photography

Alright, here we go…

How to make salt

First lets look at the difference between table salt and sea salt.  Table salt is heat blasted, chemically treated, mixed with iodine and anti-caking agents to basically end up without any real nutrients.   Sea salt, on the other hand is taken from ocean water, left to dry in the sun where over a few days the water evaporates and you’re left with all the good stuff from the salt.  You get a natural balance of sodium, chloride, magnesium, calcium and other nutrients just the way nature intended.

True sea salt is a little clumpy, doesn’t flow freely like table salt and usually isn’t quite as bleached looking as table salt either.  Sometimes its grey, sometimes pink, just depends on where it is taken from.  The benefits of natrual sea salt are actually quite remarkable.  While doing research for this article, I found that sea salt works immediately with saliva to start the digestive process.  It also has been shown to lower blood pressure, decrease water retention, and boost the immune system.

So basically, it’s got some good stuff in it.  Sea salt that is.  Table salt not so much.  So if you got that girl with the umbrella in your cupboard, toss her and get some sea salt.  Or better yet, make your own.  Here’s how.

Step 1: Go to the beach and scoop up a bucket or two worth of salt water.

Step 2: You’ll want to filter the water as you pour it into a large pot.  You can use cheesecloth, a fine sieve or be like me and use an old t-shirt.

Step 3: Boil 90% of the water out.  This is going to take awhile, especially if you brought home plenty of ocean water.  Stir occasionally, just so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.  When the thickness starts to get like wet concrete, take it off the heat and transfer it to a pan.

Step 4: Let it sit.  Stir once or twice a day.  Over the next 5 days or so, the remaining water will evaporate, and you’ll be left with the final product.  If you’ve never had sea salt before, don’t use it like table salt.  A little bit goes a long way!

Boiling a couple gallons of salt water.

Once the majority of the water is out you’ll want to transfer the remaining salt/water to a pan and let it sit.

As the water starts to evaporate, you’ll get a substance that looks like wet mud.

Final product when all the water evaporates.  It’s a bit thick, but easily disintegrates into finer granules if you work with it.  Tastes pretty good too!

Getting started with photography

I get asked a lot of questions about photography from people who are genuinely interested in starting out with a camera.  ”What camera should I buy?”  That’s the most common.  ”How many megapixels do I need?”  That one comes up quite a bit too.  These are good questions and over the next few weeks we’ll get into more advanced stuff, but let’s start with these two most basic questions.

“What kind of camera should I buy?”

This question has a lot of different answers, and depends on a few different factors.  First of all, what is your budget?  I can’t recommend the same camera to someone with $300 as I could to someone with $3000.  If you are getting serious about photography, you will want to spend a little money on a camera body.  This means a digital SLR.  An SLR (Single Lens Reflex) basically means you have one single lens that is used for viewfinding and picture taking.  SLR cameras allow you to switch lenses to adjust to the scene you are shooting.  Because each lens is designed slightly different, you may have several lenses in your quiver when you’re out and shooting, or you may just have one versatile lens.

But back to the camera.  If you do have only $300 to spend, your best bet is to either save up until you can afford a decent camera body, look around for a good used digital SLR or get a nice point and shoot.  My wife has a fantastic point and shoot that she spent less than $300 on and this thing is incredible.   It’s a Panasonic Lumix from Costco.  I can’t believe the quality, versatility and value of this camera.  It is a great every day shooter.

That said, there is a lot it cannot do.  And a lot you just can’t do without the functionality of a digital SLR.  There are some nice camera bodies by Olympus, Pentax, Fuji and Sony, but the big two are Canon and Nikon.  I started out shooting Nikon and switched a few years ago to Canon.  At that time Canon had a little bit better camera bodies as far as weather proofing goes and since I live, shoot and travel to some extremely hostile weather environments (salt air, sand, water, etc.), Canon was the right choice in my price range.  That said, Nikon has since made some remarkable cameras that can easily rival Canon.  That being said, because I know Canon products better, I’m going to focus on Canon camera bodies.

My first digital SLR was a Canon 10D.  Which I still maintain is a GREAT camera.  In fact, you may be able to pick one of these up used on eBay for around $300.  This camera was a 6 megapixel camera.  And I printed images up to 12″x18″ from this camera and they looked pretty darn good.  Anything bigger, probably wouldn’t look as good, but if you’re not printing bigger than 12″x18″ you probably don’t have to worry about megapixels.  Well, I guess I pretty much just answered the question about megapixels.  They don’t matter as much as you think.  Most new cameras have at least 10mp and that should be adequate for just about anything.

With Canon they basically have three levels of digital SLRs.  The pro-sumer (Rebel series),  semi-pro (50D, 60D, 7D) and the professional level cameras (5D, 1D series).   Starting with the pro-sumer models, these are great cameras especially at an intro price of around $500.  They are a little plasticky, but for the price, they are pretty good.  In my opinion, if I could find a used 20D, 30D, or 40D around the same price that hasn’t had much use, I would jump on that over a new Rebel.  The semi-pro models which start around $900 new are a big difference.  They feel like a pro camera and they act like one as well.  Loaded with features, the semi-pros are a really nice option, if you can afford one.  The top of the line model in this range, the 7D is fantastic.  Really a nice camera at around $1500.  These cameras, like most digital SLRs (all pro-sumer and semi-pro in this list) do have a cropped sensor.

What this means is that when you’re looking through a 28mm lens on a cropped sensor the actual length of the lens is not 28mm but closer to a 35mm.  The actual focal length you get on a cropped sensor body is between 1.3x and 1.6x the reading on the lens.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  Actually its helpful if you plan on shooting sports photography, wildlife photography or some other type of photography where you can’t get too close to your subject.  Even some of the professional models have a slightly cropped sensor.

Some of the professional level cameras have full-frame sensors.  This is really nice for those photographers that shoot landscapes, architecture or are from the old school and are used to shooting 35mm cameras.  Personally,  I love having a full-frame camera, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  But a lot of that is because I have lenses that work great with this type of camera and I shoot a lot of subjects that benefit from having the full-frame.

I shoot a Canon 5D and a Canon 5D Mark II.  These, and the just released 5D Mark III, are full frame cameras starting around $2,000 – $3500.  However a used 5D can go for around $1000 and is a steal if you can find one in good condition with not much use.  For some, what matters more than full frame or cropped sensor is how fast it can shoot.  And some cameras can shoot very fast.  The 5D series shoots between 3 and 6 frames per second (fps) depending on the model, the 1D series can shoot up to 14 fps – great for sports photographers.  The 7D can shoot at 8fps.  The pro-sumer models are around 3-6fps.

There are plenty more options to consider too.  Like video functionality.  Most of these cameras can shoot video (pretty well, too!).  If this is a necessity for you, look at pro-sumer or higher models.  And though I could go on all day, I’m going to give my recommendations based on budget.  Note that these are just my opinions based on what I like to shoot (landscapes and nature, mostly).  Your requirements may differ greatly from mine, so take with a grain of salt… (sea salt that is…)

Budget: $300 or less: Get that Panasonic Lumix from Costco.  It’s a point and shoot but you won’t be disappointed.  If you must have a digital SLR, look for a used Rebel or 20D if you can find one on Craigslist or eBay.  Make sure that it hasn’t been too heavily used.  Digital SLRs have a certain amount of clicks they are rated up to.  This is because each time a photo is taken a mirror inside the body clicks up to expose the sensor to light.  After so many actuations, it will begin to work less accurately as a new product.

Budget: $500-$1000: Look for a Canon 60D or 50D.  They are great cameras with a lot of options.  The 60D has an 18 megapixel cropped sensor, shoots at 5.3fps and shoots HD video.  It starts around $899.

Budget: $1000-$2000:  In this range I would either choose a 7D or if I could find one, a 5D Mark II slightly used.  Both of these cameras are excellent.  The 7D does have a cropped sensor, but it shoots at 8fps.  The 5D Mark II only shoots at around 4fps but has the full frame, which for me, is worth the extra money.  Both shoot HD video and really can’t be beat.

Budget: $2000 and up: 5D Mark III.  Just released, this camera has a ton of features that really improve on one of the already best cameras on the market.  Shoots at 6fps and with a full frame sensor.  This camera also shoots great HD video, has 61 autofocus points (I know we didn’t touch on this, but this is a big improvement over the last model) and has great weather proofing.

Wow, I wasn’t planning on writing that much, but I guess I did.  One other thing you should note.  And its a big one.  Digital SLRs usually don’t come with a lens.  That’s an additional purchase.  And yes, you need one.  The prices listed above are not including a lens.  That said, next week I’ll try to dive into lenses.  I’m going to continue with what I know, Canon products, so stay tuned.

For further information about cameras or to compare models check out one of my favorite sites: DPReview.com.  These guys do a great job breaking down new cameras with tons of information.

Without further adieu, here’s a few pictures from the last week or so here on Molokai.  You can take these shots with any of the cameras listed above, so don’t think you need to spend your retirement fund on a camera to get good shots.  These were all taken with a Canon 5D Mark II.

Oh, and for those of you who were commenting about wanting to purchase some of the images from last week, you can find several of them in the gallery for sale now.  Check it out!  Mahalo nui!

Until next week…

Aloha,

Michael

Fishponds on the East end of Moloka’i, Hawai’i

Mangroves at the edge of a fishpond on Moloka’i, Hawai’i

Lilly pads on a small pond in Puko’o, Moloka’i.

Love me some sunsets!

Paradise found?

Got plenty of stuff on my mind today so I’m going to race through it and give you the quick update of what’s been going on the last few months. OK, buckle up, here we go.

So, I’m now an official Maui Firefighter.  <- Bet you wish you could like that!  A huge mahalo to all of you for your support, prayers and love.  And mahalo nui to my fellow fire recruits for helping me through some of the rigors of the training academy.  For our first six months online they’re moving us all over the county on different rotations.  Right now I’m on Moloka’i for a two month stint before going back to Maui in April.  Having a blast while I’m here, and taking plenty of pics, some of which will be posted below…

New Website + Social Media

Next – If you’re reading this in your email, then you’ve gotta go online and check out the new site!  I’ve been working really hard to create a site that is more user friendly, social media friendly and overall more appealing.  I think so far its pretty good.  So check it out, and if you’re a Facebooker, then click on the blog page and hit  the “like” button on the lower right side so it appears I have a few friends…

Been diving into the social media thing, trying to understand how to best harness Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Hootsuite, Pinterest, Flickr, Four Square, etc.  I’m by no means adequate, but I’m trying.  The goal is to get more people interested in the non-profit (The Earth Trot Project) so we can make more things happen.

I know the two websites have been a bit confusing for a lot of people too (EarthTrot.com and EarthTrot.org).  So, with this site, I’m trying to focus more on my photography, design and Aloha Friday newsletters.  The non-profit site will focus solely on projects that we’re working on and the updates for all that.  So if you’ve been with me for awhile you’ll be getting separate emails, one that’s a mixed plate of random just for fun stuff (Aloha Friday) and one that’s more serious and focused on the charity work (The Earth Trot Project).  If you’ve just joined, then you’re probably just signed up for one, unless you signed up on both the .com and .org websites.  This is so people who may be interested in the non-profit can get their fill of updates and news without having to sift through my photos and rants…

And even if you are signed up for both, don’t worry, I’m not going to flood your inbox.  Realistically, I’d like to send out emails once a week, but it’s been six months since my last Aloha Friday, so probably not quite that often…

follow on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, etc. by clicking on the icons at the bottom of the website.

Molokai!

Caroline and I have been living here for just over a month now and are having so much fun.  We’re renting a little place right on the beach, with surf right out our front door!  Oh, wait, I told the guys here I would tell everyone how awful this place is.  Molokaians like their quiet little island and don’t like tourism or the idea of more residents.  So, yea, it’s terrible.  Don’t come, you won’t like it.  There is no surf here either, forget what I said earlier…

Photography

I’m going to start writing a little more about photography, give tips and techniques on this site and in these emails.  I’ve been getting a lot of questions  about stuff pertaining to the camera lately, so I’ll address those things here every so often.  Hopefully by doing this I’ll be able to garner more followers, maybe sell a few prints, and have more funding for our non-profit projects.  Speaking of projects…

The Earth Trot Project

Working on our For the Love of Music project.  It’s starting slow, but I’m committed to seeing it through.  We’ve had several musical instruments donated already and are working on the logistics of how the project will flow and grow.  By the next Aloha Friday I am hoping to have a much better grasp on this project and will be posting more about it here.

Alright, that’s it.  I know it was completely random but just a quick what’s up.  Much more to come, stay tuned.  And as always, hit me back, I’d love to hear from you!

Aloha,

Michael

Graduation Day!

Cute little buggah

Waves right outside our front do0r… -er wait, I mean Waikiki, yes, Waikiki.  You’d never see waves like this on Molokai.  There’s no waves here…

This is actually back on Maui, on our way over to Molokai.  No we didn’t take this sailing canoe over, though that would’ve been sweet.  Maybe next time.

Ilima and I at Mo’oula Falls in Halawa Valley.

Waves crashing on a small tide pool in West Molokai.

More waves crashing on tide pools on the west side.

Royal Coconut Palms in Kaunakakai.

Sunset at Kepuhi Beach, Molokai

Can you tell I like sunsets?  And beaches.  Can’t tell you where this one is though.  This one stays a hidden gem…

Aloha everyone, it’s Friday!  Took a week off, but I’m back for more!  3 times in one month!  When was the last time that happened?  Alright, anyway, let’s get back to Panama…

We left Bocas del Toro on an early morning flight back to Panama City where we caught a bus to Colon.  Now, for those of you who have been to Panama, I’ll be you haven’t been to Colon.  In fact, everyone we met asked us why we were going to Colon.  They told us the city was dirty, there was virtually nothing to do, and it was very dangerous.  Truth is, we – well, Caroline – decided we had to go there so we could stay at this one hotel that looked like it had an amazing pool (from the photos she saw on the internet).  So, to Colon we went…

The hotel was very cool, actually.  Strange, because it was absolutely massive and there was hardly anybody there, but very cool because of its odd decor and extremely interesting past.  Before it was the Melia Panama Canal, the place had a very different use.  It was built as an international military academy run by the United States (Antigua Escuela de las Americas – Ancient School of the Americas) .  Military leaders from all over the world were sent to this school to learn under the teachings of highly trained U.S. Military personnel.  Unfortunately, the school became known as The School of Assassins because of the incredible amount of ruthless military men that have come from the school. Perhaps the most famous being Manuel Noriega.

Today the United States even setup a watch list on each and every graduate of the SoA.  In fact, Congressman Joseph Kennedy once said “The U.S. Army School of the Americas is a school that has run more dictators than any other school in the history of the world.”

Anyway, so we stayed there.  And the pool was probably the biggest pool I’ve ever seen at a hotel.  (According to the staff, that was put in after the school closed its doors and became a hotel.)  We only stayed a few nights, and while we were there we visited the Gatun Locks, which is basically where the Panama Canal begins on the Caribbean side.  We also went to the Western Hemisphere’s largest Duty Free shopping area that took up several city blocks.  Most of the products there were for wholesale purchase only, and really it was kinda lame.  I mean how many times can you see the same perfumes/colognes and clothes.

The Panama Canal was amazing though.  The history behind it (and I won’t get into all of it here…) is fascinating.  Basically digging a 48 mile trench through a country that actually rises in elevation (hence the need for locks to raise and lower water levels depending on which direction the boats using the canal are heading).  If you haven’t seen this, do it.  It’s very cool.  Or at least watch a National Geographic documentary or something…  Check Netflix…

Finally, we made our way back to Panama City.  We stayed a couple nights here before heading back to Chicago.  But before we left, I really wanted to go to one of the Embara Villages and see how the natives live.  So we did, took a dugout canoe ride up a river that was full of caymans (small crocodiles) until we got to a village.

We spent about 8 hours there and learned how they live, what they eat and the issues facing their communities.  We were even treated to a traditional Embara dance.  Which was basically skipping around in a circle.  Caroline and I even got a chance to participate (no, there are no pictures of that here….).  But there are plenty of pictures which are worth many thousands of words, so I’ll quit my blabbing and let you enjoy the photos and what they have to say!

Have  a great weekend, my friends!  OH- WAIT!  For those of you in Chicago, keep reading….

My sister is getting married on Labor Day weekend (Saturday, the 3rd, I believe). Because of my Monday – Friday training with the Maui Fire Department, I have to fly out on Friday night to get in Saturday afternoon.  Then I have to fly out first thing Monday morning to get back here in time for class on Tuesday.  Anyway, I’m going to be getting in around noon or so at O’hare and my sister is getting married in Mokena at 2:00.  I’m planning on taking a cab from the airport to the church, but if any of you are going to be around and making a journey in that general vicinity…  I’d much rather give some cash to you… and maybe a nice Maui care package….  so, if you have nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon and want to pick me up and drive me to Mokena, let me know!

And now, have a wonderful weekend, stay safe, and hit me back if you get a chance!

All my aloha,

Michael

The lobby of the Sol Melia or the original School of the Americas in Colon.  I doubt these colors were here for the military school.

Kinda a cool photo of Caroline in the lobby.

The Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal from the Caribbean side.  You can see on the left the high water level and the lower level on the right.

Another shot of the locks.

On our way to the Embara Village in a dugout canoe.

Our welcoming party.

This is the chief of the clan.

Some of their keiki.

We brought some lollipops for the kids, and as you can imagine, they loved it!

Cooking us a local meal of fried plantains and fish.

Here’s the local dance.  Oh, yea, in addition to skipping, there was also this little drum.

Buh bye, hombre!

Several of the locals seeing us off.

Hey, hey!  Two weeks in a row, whaddya know!  First off, thank you for the responses to the last Aloha Friday.  I’ve learned that those pretty flower-like plants are called Coleus.  And got a suggestion that the rock sculpture thing could be fossilized trees that had fallen millions of years ago.  Good stuff, lets go with it!

Alright, so now we’re on our way over the mountains and down to the sea.  It’s about a four hour bus ride, maybe five, I can’t remember, but the scenery is exquisite.  Tropical forests, mountains, vultures and once we got over the ridge, we could see all the little islands off in the Caribbean.  Eventually, we made it to the end of the line for the bus and were required to take a water taxi over to Bocas Town where we’d be staying the next four nights.

When we got there we grabbed a cab to Playa Tortugas Hotel, one of the newest and most swank hotels on the island.  As soon as our cabbie heard where we were staying the prices for the cab ride doubled.  So we were anticipating a really sweet place.  Unforutnately, the place wasn’t quite as good as advertised.  It was off season so they seemed to let the place run down a bit.  A skeleton crew were employed and with the exception of maybe two employees, nobody really seemed like they wanted to help us with anything.

The pool was dirty, the restaurant was expensive, and took forever to get our food.  Not only that, but the food was not good at all.  Our air conditioning didn’t work in our room (and it was probably about 100 degrees outside, baking in humidity.  So we were really disappointed.  We went down and spoke to the lady in charge, told her our concerns and she promised to make it better.  At this point we just wanted to cancel our stay.  We were actually thinking about getting back on the bus and returning to the cute little village of Boquete.   But alas, we decided to give it a shot.

The hotel upgraded us to a suite on the top floor overlooking the ocean and the pool, gave us these really nice robes and made some kind of flower display thing on our bed, reimbursed us for our meal and were on their best behavior from thence forward.  They even got the maintenance guy to clean the pool!  So the next four days were pretty good.  We enjoyed relaxing at this amazing pool, cruising around Bocas Town which we could literally walk around in about 20 minutes, and enjoyed plenty of good ceviche at the restaurants.  In fact, on our last day in Bocas, we decided to just have ceviche from every restaurant we could, oh, and limonadas as well…

All in all, Bocas was a neat little place, and although it is considered by many as the gem of Panama, its probably not a place we would go back to.  It was neat to see, and we’d recommend it, but we enjoyed other areas a little better.  Bocas del Toro was a little seedier and dirtier than we expected and the Jamaican feel of the locals trying to rip you off was abundant.  That aside, it is beautiful and relaxing and extremely hot!

Not going to dive much more into Bocas.  I’ll just leave you with a bunch of pictures.  I know I haven’t posted an Earth Trot Project update in a while, and unfortunately, that’s because I haven’t had a lot to share, or time to work on that.  I do have a few articles that my sister wrote for it so I am going to try to post those soon, and do have another canoe project that I’m getting ready to dive into, but until they add another twelve hours in the day, I’m drained on time.  Stay with me though, we’ll get to that stuff soon.  But for now, here’s the goods…

Have a great weekend, everyone.  Hit me back with any questions, comments or concerns!

All my aloha,

Michael

Rasta bike rentals in Bocas del Toro.  Gotta love it.

How’s this old truck rotting away in somebody’s driveway?

Back of the truck.  Guess this guy must be using his other car around town…

Typical houses on the water in Bocas town.  Love all the colors.

No Caribbean town would be complete without representing the Rastafarian culture, right?

This was really cool.  We stumbled upon this Afro-Caribbean culture event that was going on in the town square, and there were all these cute kids dressed in their particular cultural attire.

These girls were awesome.  And they loved getting their photos taken.

Local delivery boat, with a few cases of soda or something.

This is the main waterfront of Bocas Town.  All the restaurants back right up to the water, and people’s individual boats just dock right up to them.  Pretty neat.

Local artisans selling their handmade beaded crafts.

This is a night shot of the restaurant at our hotel.  What an awesome looking place.  And some good ceviche here too.  But stay away from the dinner menu….

Here’s the view from our room at Playa Tortuga Resort.  Not too shabby.

Alright, let’s see… Maybe I should re-introduce myself to y’all, since I’ve been out of touch for so long.  Hi, I’m Mike.  OK, so got that out of the way, let’s go to Panama…

First stop on our 33 day honeymoon world tour was a surprise visit to see my dad and help him celebrate his 60th birthday at Papa Passero’s in Chicago.  It was such an awesome surprise!  He and my mom both just stared at Caroline and I when we walked through the door.  It was like they were trying to place how they knew us.  Then once it dawned on them they were ecstatic!  Thanks to my sister, Jen for helping to pull that off!

We spent a few days with them and then it was off to our next stop, Panama!

We ran through two weeks in Panama at a blistering pace, starting off by flying into Panama City.  What a shock that was.  As you know, I’ve visited several major cities in both South and Central America and Panama City was not what I was expecting at all.  The architecture was amazing, it was beautifully situated on the Pacific Ocean and had a modern feel unlike any place I had visited south of the border.  Actually, the setting with the tall buildings and highway right along the ocean made me feel like I was driving down Lake Shore Drive.  It had a lot of similarities to Chicago.

We got in a bit late at night and stayed at this fruit hotel.  Well, that’s not what it was called, but all the rooms were designed after some kind of fruits, and everything in the place from the room keys to the carpets had something to do with that particular type of fruit.  We had the “Lemon Lime Room” I think, and it was pretty funny.  I felt like I was in a Sprite commercial.  What a trip…. But alas, we didn’t stay in the city for long….

The following morning we set off for the domestic airport and hopped a small plane for David.  From there we jumped on a bus to a small but charming town of Boquete where we stayed a few nights.  Boquete was very similar to Ha’iku, here in Maui.  Very lush and tropical, on the base of a volcano and teeming with wildlife.  It was quite wet too, but we enjoyed our stay at The Haven Spa.  This place was really, really nice, and the price was pretty good too, for what we got.

The town of Boquete was home to a ton of ex-pats that came down to Panama to take advantage of the great “pensiones” plans they have down there.  The medical equipment and services are top notch, so much so that some of their hospitals are affiliates of Johns Hopkins.  Healthcare is universal, food is affordable, living costs are good, the way of life is a bit slower, but certainly a nice escape from a lot of the nonsense that goes on state-side.  And as far as politics, well, the Panamanians are doing all they can to lure retirees down to their country, so there are a lot of perks.  And we met plenty of people living it up down there.  Probably close to half the population spoke at least broken English, so it was easy to get by.

But, you know we didn’t stay on the beaten path for too long.  We spoke with some locals and asked where they like to go to get away from tourists and enjoy their days off and that’s where we went.  We were pointed towards a couple of really cool hikes in the area and some great local restaurants where we fell in love with the “limonadas,” which was essentially like a lemonade smoothie.

Unfortunately, we had to leave Boquete after a few days, but in hindsight, that would be the first place I’d go back to in Panama if I ever get a chance to return.  From Boquete, we took the one hour bus ride back to David where we planned to jump on another plane to Bocas del Toro, but that didn’t work out so well for us.  It seems that since it was slow season, they just stopped that particular flight altogether and the quickest way for us to get to Bocas Town was to take a 5 hour bus ride over the spine of the country and down to the small Caribbean port town.  So, through hours of windy roads, rainforests and jungles and over the mountain we went.  Finally we got down to the Caribbean and jumped on a small boat to Bocas Town.

Bocas Town was a trip…. But that’s a story for next time.  Let’s take a look at some pictures from Boquete and we’ll check out Bocas next week!

Stay tuned my friends.  I’d write more, but I’ve got to get back to studying.  As some of you know, I’ve been hired as a recruit by the Maui Fire Department, and so until December 2 I’m in training.  This training is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  Physically and mentally I’m wiped out every day.  And even now, I’ve got to get back to the books.  But I will write the rest of this next week… or shortly thereafter.  ;-)

Have a great weekend everyone!  And hit me up if you get a chance!

All my aloha,

Michael

Butterflies on a branch that we found on a hike outside of Boquete.

Kinda neat shot of water hitting these rocks.  The waterfall itself was a huge 400′ falls, but I don’t think I’ll be including any photos of that here.  Maybe you’ll see them somewhere else down the road…

Running stream along the hike.

Oh yea, I like this one with that giant yellow leaf and the water cascading down the path.  Pretty sweet, huh?

Not much of a botanist, so I don’t know what they’re called, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen these guys around out here too.  Colors are great, aren’t they?

So, this old castle was apparently built by this guy for his wife.  He spent his whole life building it and before he finished it she passed away.  He continued to work on it until his death a few years later, and this is how it stands today.  Picturesque, isn’t it?

I really like this photo of these young local ninos in there casa.  Even the dog is just chilling down there taking it all in.

A few more ninos checking out the gringo with the big camera.

These rocks look like they’re man made and just stacked there or something, but they’re not, and they probably go up 200′ or so.  Trippy, I never saw anything like this, anyone know what they’re called or how they form like this?

And here’s Caroline climbing the rocks.

Doesn’t this just look like a fairytale?  Maybe I should Photoshop in a horn on this thing, and it could pass for a unicorn.  What do you think?

Panama Lager and Limonada.  Awesome.

Fruit stand on our way across the mountains to Bocas.

A little over two years ago 2700 people applied for a position with the Maui fire department.  They were each informed that there would be a written test that would cover everything from memory retention to physics to chemistry to math to all sorts of other problems.  Then they were given a date and location of where to show up and take the test.  From there, those who scored in the top 60 were invited to take another test, this one an agility test of strength and endurance that was to take place a few months later.  About 45 people passed the physical aspect.  Then almost two years after the physical test was taken, the top 16 candidates were notified that there would be an oral interview.  Again they were given a place and a time to show up.  After the oral interview the top 12 were selected and offered a position as firefighter recruits.

I am one of those 12.  Not sure how I passed the written, as it was by far the hardest test I’ve ever taken.  Same with the physical, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, and by the end of it I was literally hallucinating…

So now we were informed that our academy would start on July 1st.  Then it will be all day every day for about four months until we finish our training.  The fun part, is that since our island is considered a “rescue island,”  we have to be trained in all kinds of cool techniques, like water rescue, jumping out of helicopters, repelling down cliffs, and all kinds of adventurous activities.  So, yes, I am looking forward to that.  But what I’m REALLY looking forward to is the 10 days a month that I’ll be working.  That means I’m going to have a lot more time for Earth Trot and The Earth Trot Project!  Woooohooo!

Since the academy doesn’t start until July 1, Caroline and I have decided to go on a honeymoon.  Since we hadn’t gone on one yet, we booked tickets to leave on Monday for Panama!  Yep, we think that will be a really fun time, so stay tuned for some photos from that.  Then from Panama we’re flying to Chicago for a quick trip with the fam and a reception for those who haven’t yet met Caroline.  Then… it only gets better…  we’ve purchased a car (brand new 2011 Hyundai Elantra) and we’re going to drive it from Chicago through Omaha, Denver, Aspen, Salt Lake City, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and all the way up Highway 101 to Eugene, Portland and finally to Seattle.  From there we’ll put the car on a boat and have her folks in Vancouver pick us up and take us up to British Columbia for another reception and time with the family.

Whirlwind tour, I know.  But we’re REALLY excited for it and looking forward to every leg of the journey!  We should have quite a few good photos when we get back… or at least we hope so…

What else, what else… Oh yes, of course, graduation!  Last weekend Caroline graduated from the University of Hawai’i, Maui College.  But not only did she graduate, she graduated as valedictorian!  She gave a speech to her whole class and rubbed elbows with Governor Abercrombie and all the big wigs.  I was so proud of her, she did an amazing job, delivering her speech with perfection in front of thousands of spectators, faculty and students.  It was moving, poignant and powerful and she dominated the microphone.

From the Governor to the Mayor…  Last night we were invited to a cocktail reception for non-profit organizations in the county of Maui.  We applied for a grant that would help fund our Mokupuni o Hawai’i project, a project we’re looking into that would essentially see us creating a video documentary series on Hawai’i similar to that done by the BBC entitled Planet Earth.  We didn’t win, but we did spend the evening with Mayor Arakawa and a bunch of heavy hitters in the non-profit sector here on Maui.  Met some great people and we were so happy for those who did receive some funding!

So yea, that’s what’s been going on over on this end.  What’s happening on your end?  Leave a comment below and let us know!  Have a great weekend everyone, stay safe and spread the aloha!

All my love,

Michael

On my way to the interview.  Everyone said “wear a suit.”  So I did (had to buy one).  Good thing I listened.  I saw two other guys going into their interview, both in jeans and gym shoes.  Neither got a job.

Aunty Sandy and Caroline after graduation.

Caroline delivering her valedictory speech.  She killed it.  Fantastic job, babe!

Testing out a new lens on some graffiti in central Maui.

Small kine waterfall on the way to Hana.

We met some really cool cats from New York who hired us to take them on a photo safari to Hana.  They certainly didn’t need to hire us, but they did, and we had a great time!  Here’s a photo from that trip.  This one is taken in a cave at Waianapanapa State Park.

Graffiti on the Agave plant at Waianapanapa.

You know I love waterfalls!

A four hundred foot waterfall… how cool is this guy?

Waterfalls as the sun was setting in Kipahulu.

And this is the moon actually, low in the sky in Kipahulu.  Just breathtaking!

I know, it’s just a working title, anyway.  Maybe we should start making these quarterly newsletters instead of weekly ones… I’m not doing a very good job of staying on top of this.  But here’s why: I was getting ready for my wedding!  Yes, the one day of your life that is truly all about you (well, if you’re the bride, anyway).  I’ve got a ton of other stuff to cover, but this newsletter here, well, we’ll just save this for the wedding!

We hadn’t done too much to prepare for the ceremony, and just before the wedding took place we figured out all these last minute things we wanted to do that we hadn’t gotten around to, so the last few weeks were crazy!

Friends and family started arriving in late February, and trying to entertain everyone and get everything finalized with the wedding was a little stressful, but not too bad.

The wedding itself was on March 5, and for about two weeks surrounding that date they were calling for heavy rains and thunderstorms the entire time family and friends were supposed to be out here.  Fortunately for us, there was very little rain, except for on our wedding weekend.  Friday rained pretty good, but by Saturday we just had a slight drizzle and overcast skies which actually made for a really nice Hawai’i day.

There were about 40 people in attendance that literally came from all over the world to the small island of Lana’i for the wedding.  We had people from Japan, Taiwan, Austria, Hawai’i, Chicago, Vancouver and more all gathered together to celebrate our union.  At about 10:30am Saturday morning guests started coming down to Hulopo’e Beach where we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves.  I was down there a little early picking the spot for the ceremony when a pod of probably 50 dolphins swam by the West side of the beach.  Being Caroline’s aumakua, (family protective spirit),  I decided that was the place.  We spread some orchids and tuberose flowers on the beach and before I could gather what was happening nearly everyone was there.

Uncle Coelho started playing Hawaiian music on his 12 string guitar and all the family gathered together.  I walked both my mom and Caroline’s “mum” down the aisle to where we stood in front of the beautiful blue Pacific ocean and the thundering shore break at Hulopo’e Bay.  Both mum and mom walked to either side of the aisle and I stood talking with our minister, Todd until Coelho started playing Maunaleo, then everyone turned and looked down the aisle.  As I turned, I felt my knees start to buckle and I immediately got choked up.

There in front of me was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, draped in a gorgeous white veil and elegant white wedding dress.  On her left arm was her father, walking her down the aisle.  They looked so happy together.  When she approached where I was standing I hugged her dad, thanked him for allowing me to marry his daughter and took her to center stage to get the show started.

Todd did an incredible job with the ceremony, making everyone laugh, cry and appreciate the beauty of the moment.  We were so blessed to have him there to perform the wedding.  The whole thing lasted only 20 to 25 minutes and then it was on to the reception!  Which was unreal (mahalos to The Four Seasons Resort Manele Bay for hosting it)!  The food was incredible, we had fish tacos, steak satay, build your own sandwiches, all kinds of desserts (including cheesecake and tropical fruit shooters), island fresh poke, caprese salad and so much more.

Funny thing is, we were so hungry but really didn’t eat much.  We spent so much time talking with our guests, thanking everyone and enjoying our time with family and friends.

Afterwards we mosied up to The Lodge at Koele and had a few cocktails with some of our guests.  The whole weekend was really amazing.  We had so many of the ladies dance hula for us, it was fantastic.  Caroline danced one for me, Mapuana, Caroline’s kumu hula (hula teacher) danced for us, Auntie Pua danced and so did Aya.  We really couldn’t have envisioned or planned a better experience, especially for those who came from outside Hawai’i to learn a little about our culture here in the islands.

I’m not going to go too much more into the weekend because I don’t want to bore anyone, but if you are in Chicago or Vancouver, you can expect us there at some point this summer to have a little reception out that way as well, so we certainly hope to see you there (hopefully, we’ll have another Aloha Friday out before then…)!

Attached below are a bunch of photos from the wedding.  We got almost 800 images from our amazing photographer, Amity Mason – check her out at: amitymason.com, who, as you can tell, did an unbelievable job. Well, enjoy the photos, enjoy the new site, and hit us up when you get a chance!

Mahalo nui a me aloha kakou!

Michael

How beautiful is MY WIFE?!!!

mmmmhmmmm…. mmmmmhmmmmm.

Caroline and her dad walking down the aisle.

At the “altar” in front of the sea.

Not a dry eye in the place.  Me and mum, with mom wiping her eyes in the background.

Some of our wedding party.

Three sisters, Amy, Caroline and Esther who hadn’t been together in the same place for 23 years!  We were so honored to have Amy come in all the way from Austria, and Esther to fly in all the way from Taiwan to help us celebrate!

This is one of our favorite photos.  Look at the size of that shore break behind us!  It was ROCKIN’ the beach!

The overcast skies made the grounds nice and green, enhancing photo opportunities tremendously!

My dad gave an unforgettable toast at the reception, just praising Caroline for being so amazing.   It really was heartfelt and poignant and made us all smile!

Caroline and her best friend Ciara from Vancouver.

Our amazing officiant, Todd and his family, Laura, Jason and Tyler.  We were so honored to have Todd and his family there helping us celebrate and officiating the wedding.  Everyone was blown away by his message.  Thanks Todd, for everything!  We love you!

My wife dancing a hula for me.  Thanks to Mapuana who really kinda forced her into doing it!  And mahalo to Uncle Coelho for playing music for us.  He and his family our such good friends, we love them so much!

My bride and I. Or me and my bride, whatever.  Sorry to my mother, the “Grammar Police.”

Mapuana, Caroline’s kumu, dancing for us.

My best friend, Chris, jamming some Stevie Ray Vaughan on Uncle Coelho’s 12 string Ovation.

The lovebirds in the orchid garden at The Lodge at Koele.

Here we are again outside The Lodge at the pagoda.  Love this photo!

I really like the roots of this tree behind us, just massive!

The evening was topped off with a majestic sunset.

Aloha everyone, it’s Sunday!

I know I missed a couple weeks there, (what else is new), but I wanted to write at least one more newsletter before the new year. I have a few things I want to address in this newsletter and then we’ll go into the culmination of the Kalaupapa Canoe Project.

First, starting next year, the board members of The Earth Trot Project have decided that we’re going to try to get a little more organized and really try to develop our organization to situate us nicely for the coming years. We’re going to be expanding on the board of directors. There will be some obligations and things we expect from our members, but that being said, these positions will be open to all. In January the current board will be reviewing potential members and sending out invitations to those whom we feel could be great leaders in their community and as members of The Earth Trot Project’s board.

Second, I wanted to personally thank everyone for making this year such a success. We finally got our non-profit status and where able to complete two projects this year with very little funding! If you don’t remember the first one, it was the Winter Warmth project. Check it out here! And thanks to everyone who has purchased apparel, calendars, blankets and more throughout the year. These sales have made the projects we do possible. So, mahalo to you!

And of course, the other project was The Kalaupapa Canoe Project, which we’ll jump into right now…. (WARNING: It might get a little long…)

At 5:00 am on October 30th Caroline and I pulled up to the parking lot at Fleming’s long before the sun gave any hint of rising. To our surprise we were not the first ones there. Parked in a truck next to us were Don and Rose Rickerd from Napili. Just a week before we had met the Rickerds at this same beach when we first landed with the canoe. They were there after reading the article in the Maui News about our project and wanted to show their support. And again this Saturday morning, the Rickerds were down at the beach seeing us off.

The day started out with a little bit of anxiety. Of course I was excited and nervous to make the journey, but also a little scared because of what took place the evening before. As the sun was setting on Friday night, I realized that one of the plugs for the canoe was missing. This could potentially be a huge problem. If the canoe were to huli (flip) and the plug was not there, the canoe could become flooded and possibly sink. There are plugs on both the front and back of the hull of the canoe, and though all the rest of them were in place, this one at the base of the nose of the boat was missing.

I knew there was no place I could go to replace the rubber stopper that we were using, so I decided to walk up and down the aisles of Long’s Drugs to see what I could find to fill the puka (hole). What I ended up with was a pair of cooking chopsticks. I prayed it would work…

Wrapping one of the chopsticks in a strip of rubber, we shoved the small end into the hole and when it was as tight as we could get it, we broke off the rest and wrapped the stump in duck tape. Hopefully this would hold.

By 6:00am our crew was ready to go. We were waiting for our escort boat to arrive in from Ma’alaea. A quick phone call from Uncle Kimokeo told us the boat was just passing Lahaina. The escort boat was taking a bit longer than we anticipated, which was alright because Sherrie Austin, one of our experienced paddlers was starting to show the signs of a migraine coming on.

By 6:30am Amity Mason and I were trying to console Sherrie and assess the situation with her, whether or not she should make the journey. Of course she wanted to, but with the potential of a migraine, she could be out at sea for 8 hours or more without being on land, and even when we were to get to Kalaupapa there would be no treatment available for her. I had been told by my kumu (teacher) that in situations like this you should always trust your piko (gut), and so I passed this on to Sherrie. Within five minutes she was on her feet and we were all making our way towards the canoe.

At 6:45, the six paddlers (Myself, Amity, Sherrie, Caroline, Kaleo Evangelista and Randol Leach), Don and Rose all grabbed each others hands and made a circle around Kamali’i. We chanted “Oli Komo” which is a traditional Hawaiian entrance chant asking permission to enter the water. Caroline led the response and then it was on!

Grabbing the backs of our seats we slid the canoe into the water and started paddling past the shore break. Once we were a short distance from shore we all laid ki leaves in the water and said a short prayer for a safe journey.

The escort boat was nowhere to be seen, but time was ticking and the waves coming into Fleming’s Beach were getting bigger. So we paddled out towards Moloka’i. About an hour later the escort boat pulled up behind us and we did our first crew change. The water was pretty big, maybe about 7 – 10 foot wave heights in the Pailolo Channel, and shortly after the second crew started paddling, they flipped the canoe.

Fortunately, they were able to correct it relatively easily, bail out the water and continue with the journey. After the third crew change, the water started to calm down a little and our crossing became easier. This was until we got just outside the peninsula of Kalawao where the water became quite churned up and waves and wind started hitting us from different angles.

After another crew change, I was swimming in towards the boat when I looked back, and the ama (float) of the canoe was half way out of the water. Within seconds the canoe had flipped again, with virtually the same crew that hulied the boat earlier! I laughed at first, excited that I caught it on video (or thought I did) with the helmet cam I was wearing! My crew who had just switched out, headed back to the canoe to give the other crew a hand and help bail the water out.

As the other crew bailed the water from the canoe, the waves which were coming on strong from the East by Northeast followed by some relatively consistent sets from the Northwest really started to pound the Kamali’i. It was after a few minutes in the water that I realized we were in some serious trouble. We couldn’t get the water out fast enough to keep the hull from sinking!

It was at this point when I started thinking about the chopstick we used as a plug and wondering if it would remain secured. I knew if it were lost then there was a good chance we wouldn’t be able to save the canoe. Half an hour later we weren’t making any progress and the waves were pushing Kamali’i closer to the rocks that lined the Kalawao coastline.

150 years ago it was in this same exact spot that boats would come from Honolulu and shove those infected with Hansen’s Disease (leprosy) off their ships. It was up to those inflicted to make it up to the uninviting shores of Kalawao. I’m not sure how many hundreds of people probably never made it and this same point where we were on the verge of losing Kamali’i was the final resting place for all those people so long ago.

Kimokeo Kapahulehua who had been watching the scenario with the huli unfurl from the escort boat eventually swam out to us with a rope. He ordered all of us to head back to the escort boat while he and two other paddlers would secure the rope around Kamali’i and we could tow the boat around the peninsula to calmer waters. At this point we were about 2.5 miles from our destination and I could barely lift my head to look at our boat in tow. Such an overwhelming sadness fell upon my heart and the hearts of our crew looking at how close we were and knowing how hard we worked to get to where we were. Though I knew it wasn’t my fault, I felt ashamed for the situation we were in.

Finally, the escort boat towed us around the peninsula, and as soon as we were in calmer waters, I grabbed a bailer and dove off the escort boat out to Kamali’i. As I got closer to the canoe, I turned and saw many of my fellow paddlers jumping into the water to help as well. Furiously we bailed the water out, grabbed our paddles and as the canoe came above the water, we got our crew set to take it in for landing. The chopstick plug was still in place and the boat’s water quickly emptied. I jumped into the first seat and Sherrie jumped in right behind me. Soon the other seats filled and all of us were eager to take Kamali’i to her new home upon the shores at Kalaupapa.

As we started paddling, a crowd started gathering on the black sand beach at Kalaupapa. They were eagerly awaiting our arrival. When the canoe was within 100 yards, a nice gentle wave picked up the canoe and we rode Kamali’i to the sand. Jumping out of the boat, we grabbed our seats and started sliding Kamali’i up the beach. Within seconds, the crowd at Kalaupapa grabbed the boat to help it up the steep incline.

Once onshore I stood facing the crowd. Kimokeo next to me. The rest of the crew stood behind us. The residents were standing behind a lady dressed in traditional Hawaiian attire and wearing a haku (head lei). Next to her stood a man with a long wooden spear. She chanted at us in Hawaiian declaring that this was their land and they were there to protect it.

Kimokeo stood silent and once she had finished he leaned over to me and said “Oli Komo.” Telling me to chant a Hawaiian permission chant to ask for our permission to land there and enter the settlement. I looked at him and was so overwhelmed with the ceremony that was taking place, I lost all my words. I couldn’t even respond to him in English. I opened my mouth but no words came out.

Observant as a pueo (owl) Kimokeo started the oli komo on his own, followed by a Hawaiian introduction to who we were, the introduction of the canoe and the asking of permission to land on this beach.

When the protocol ceremony had finished, the demeanor changed drastically, and several residents walked up to us carrying ki leaf wrapped gifts for our crew. Embracing us with open arms, we were welcomed by the residents of the settlement. At this point I took my paddle and handed it to the gentleman with the spear. Following my lead, the rest of the crew of the Kamali’i took their paddles and handed them to the members of the community.

Then, Kaleo and I and several of the residents took the canoe back out to sea, paddling for the first time with members of the Kalaupapa community. When we returned, our gear was unloaded on the dock, we said our good-byes to those in our crew who were heading back on the escort boat and shared a wonderful evening with all the residents of Kalaupapa.

For that evening we were celebrities. We were invited to play volleyball with the residents, which we did. Then we were invited for drinks at the local bar. While there, Kevin Gavagan and his brother Shaun treated everyone to mele (songs) with their guitars and ukulele. Caroline jumped in and danced hula with one of the residents, and everyone had a great time singing and playing Hawaiian music throughout the evening and well into the night.

The next day we were given a tour of the peninsula, and for Kevin and Shaun Gavagan who hadn’t been there before it was an amazing display of beauty and heartbreak. The brothers are extremely close and although they live 2500 miles apart this trip was an incredible bonding experience for them in a place most people never get the opportunity to visit.

Sadly, about a week or so after this amazing journey, Shaun who really brought the crew together with his infectious voice and ukulele passed away unexpectedly. Of course our whole crew was shocked by this and extremely saddened. Though at the same time grateful that we had the opportunity to meet him and spend such an amazing time with him. He was a blessing to our journey, and certainly will not be forgotten.

Yesterday there was a ceremony for him in Keanae and the mana (spirit, energy) that surrounded the occasion was so strikingly similar to that which we had in Kalaupapa. His ashes were spread out over the ocean there and although they were calling for heavy rains and waves, the water was malie (calm) and sunny. Just a perfect day.

I’m including two videos here. The first is of our culmination paddle to Kalaupapa, the second is a short tribute to Shaun. You’ll certainly be moved by the beauty of his voice and song.

I hope this newsletter finds you all well. Have a great holiday season, thank you again for all your support and here’s to a joyful and prosperous 2011!

Merry Christmas and happy new year everyone!

(Mele Kalikimaka a hau’oli makahiki hou ka kou!)

Michael

This is the second video from the Kamali’i project. If you can’t view it here, please check it out at: YouTube.com/EarthTrot . Music is courtesy of our friend Lono at lonomusic.com. Check it out, I think you’ll like it!

This is a tribute video for Shaun Gavagan. Hope this short clip gives you a slight window into the wonderful man that he was. He will surely be missed. Rest in peace, my friend.

Aloha everyone, it’s Wednesday, and tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so it feels like a FRIDAY!!

This is going to be a real quick newsletter, just to share a few things and some photos/video from the Kamali’i project.

But first, a huge mahalo to everyone who has ordered apparel and calendars! The apparel is selling well, and some of the shirts are real low on sizes, so once we sell out, they’re going to be gone. I’m not sure if we’ll print these ones again or not, so if you’re interested in shirts, order those now! And calendars are only going to be sold until this Friday. Theoretically, that will give us enough time to order as many as we need and fill those orders by Christmas. So if you’re thinking about calendars, order those now too!

I wanted to get into the Kamali’i project a bit more with you today, but I think I’m going to actually hold off on that until the next newsletter. That’ll give me a bit of time to put together one final video that will show the culmination of our trip. I have put one together that shows the start of the project and the first half of the trip, and all the ground that we covered in the last newsletter. I’m going to attach that to the bottom of this newsletter. However, if you can’t see the video for one reason or another, you can always go to YouTube.com/EarthTrot and click on the video there.

So that’s it for this installment. Check out the photos and video below, if you’re thinking about shirts or calendars as Christmas gifts better order those now. We’ll be setting up at a crafts fair on Sunday to promote the non-profit and peddle these shirts and some photography, so I would anticipate that we’ll be sold out of quite a bit of the apparel by Monday. So again, if you want to check out any of our merchandise, click here and order soon!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Next installment we’ll get back into the Kamali’i project, but until then, enjoy a great long weekend, stay safe, stay warm and stay in touch! I love hearing from you!

All my aloha,

Michael

Sunset from Paluwea Beach a couple weeks ago when we went camping down there.

Here’s the same night’s sunset
This is the first video from the Kamali’i project. If you can’t view it here, please check it out at: YouTube.com/EarthTrot . Music is courtesy of our friend Lono at lonomusic.com . Check it out, I think you’ll like it!

Aloha everyone, IT’S FRIDAY!!!

I know what you’re thinking, that you haven’t heard from me in several months and now I just want to scoot back into your inbox like every things cool. I promise I’ve got a good reason for not being in touch in so long (I know, you’ve heard that before from me too…), but seriously, I do.

For the last three months we’ve been working hard to restore Kamali’i, the old canoe that was donated to The Earth Trot Project by Kihei Canoe Club. It took all that time to strip it down, sand it, refill areas with fiberglass and resin, bon do etc. Then when we got it looking all nice and pretty, we added a coat of primer and painted the entire 40′ long canoe.

Of course it wasn’t just me working on this project. I had help from a lot of different people along the way. A lot of great people worked on this project, and a lot of great companies shelled out supplies to make our vision of restoring this canoe and donating it to the community of Kalaupapa a reality.

So, that said, WE DID IT!!! And when I say “We,” I mean you too! For all of you who have supported Earth Trot over the years, all those who have purchased calendars, photography, apparel and other merchandise, the proceeds all went into a fund that helped pay for all the expenses with this boat (and believe me, there were plenty of expenses)!

From the beginning of August until the end of October, Kevin Gavagan and I worked tirelessly on restoring the canoe. Then on October 23, we rallied the troops (ten in all) to paddle the canoe half way around our island from Kihei to Kapalua.

The day was a brilliant success! We left just before sunrise as the full moon overhead was slowly starting to sink into the ocean and paddled for hours, stopping along the coastlines where we would have relay teams ready to switch out and paddle an hour or so at a time, until we made our way into D.T. Fleming Beach around 1:30pm.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day, the water was so calm and the wind was virtually nonexistent, making the voyage safe and smooth. We even got a chance to swim with sharks, see turtles and monk seals on the shorelines and watch as flying fish darted out in front of the canoe.

When we made it to Kapalua we moved the canoe up the beach and out of the surf quite a ways. The plan was for it to sit there for a week until it was time for us to paddle it from Maui over to Kalaupapa on the North shore of Moloka’i the following Saturday.

For the whole next week I was constantly checking the wind patterns, surf report and weather conditions, and every day pointed to Saturday as the only window we would have, as all the other days seemed to have massive surf and strong winds.

Thursday evening I called my crew (sixteen of us now in total) and let them know it was a go for Saturday morning.

On October 30, at 4:30am the escort boat left Ma’alaea Harbor for Kapalua where it would meet with the six of us that were paddling the first leg. On board the escort boat was Kevin Gavagan, my right hand man in making this project a reality, and his brother Shaun who had traveled out here from California to make the voyage with us. Along with them were several other solid paddlers and Kimokeo Kapahulehua, a living legend and a man born from the sea.

Meanwhile down at the canoe, I was taking last minute steps to replace a missing stopper that would plug one of two large air caverns in the canoe which basically helps keep it above the water. As it was too early for anything to be open, I had to turn on my MacGuyver skills and take a chopstick, wrap it in rubber and shove it into the opening. Once inside, we broke off the chopstick and wrapped the remaining bit with Duck Tape. Hopefully this would stay in, otherwise we could potentially be in a heap of trouble…

After finishing this, I saw one of my crew, Sherrie, laying in the grass just up off the beach. Turns out she was on the brink of getting a migraine headache. Luckily she had some medicine in her car, so we were able to get her that and make sure she was still able to go. In the end it turns out she was so amped to make this voyage that no migraine was going to stop her!

Looking back out over the ocean we could see the sea starting to rise, and the waves coming into Fleming’s were getting bigger. So I called the crew together. At this point, the escort boat was supposedly about half an hour from us, so I suggested we leave and they could meet us out in the channel.

Joining hands, we started chanting “Oli Komo” a traditional Hawaiian entrance chant that asks permission to enter into something, in this case the ocean. When we had finished we each grabbed our seats in the canoe and slid the boat into the Pacific. As we paddled out, we stopped maybe a half mile out and dropped ti leaves into the sea, which in Hawaiian is a gesture of respect to Kanaloa, the god of the ocean and a prayer for safe travels.

Then, when all the protocol was out of the way, we grabbed our blades and paddled. Heading straight out towards Moloka’i's North shore, due north of where we were at Kapalua.

This adventure gets more fascinating, but there just isn’t enough room for me to write about all of it here, so I’m going to save it for next time. I’ve also got some great footage from the trip that I will love to share with you. But again, you’ll have to wait for part two of this escapade in the next installment.

I do however, want to tell you about the 2011 calendars before I sign off. As many of you know, we’ve been putting these things together for several years now, with the proceeds helping fund projects like this. Well, this year we are going to pres ale them. That means that all orders have to be placed no later than November 26. That is the day after Thanksgiving, or one week from today. After that I’m going to take the link to purchase them down, and you will have missed out. Oh, hey and I dropped the price $5 from last year! Only $20 now!

There are some REALLY cool photos this year, representing areas from all over the world. I know a lot of you purchased some as Christmas gifts for friends and family, and commented on how much everyone liked them. So if you’re out of ideas, or if you’re like me and wait till the very last minute before even thinking about Christmas, order these now. Your friends and family will love them, and you’ll be supporting a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization raising funds for our next project (wait til you hear about this one…).

So there’s my plug, if you want a calendar, or two or ten, you can order them by clicking on this link, or on the image below.

Oh, wait! I almost forgot! More exciting news! In addition to Calendars, we now have apparel as well! We’re pretty limited right now as far as sizes and styles go, but you can check those out online too. Of course proceeds from that go to helping fund our projects, so you can feel good about buying! And the shirts are all lightweight cotton. The mens are actually printed on organic cotton which is super soft, and the women’s designs are really nice as well. So yea, check those out too… Alright that’s it for my plugs…. They make great gifts… OK, seriously, I’m done…

And as it is Thanksgiving next week, and I’ll probably not be writing another newsletter before then, let me be the first to say thank you. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. The joy that you’ve given me by supporting these newsletters, projects, travels and adventures over the years makes me feel so blessed. You have made this project happen, mahalo to all of you for your support. Have a great weekend and a great Thanksgiving!

Mahalo nui loa,

Michael

Here’s an image of the Kamali’i (means children in Hawaiian) right when we got her. Of course this doesn’t show the shape she was in, but trust me, there were all kinds of things that needed fixing and reinforcing on this boat…

Caroline sanding down the canoe with on the beach.

And here she is all finished and ready to take on the ocean. Looks pretty good, doesn’t she?

This is our day 1 crew that paddled from Kihei to Kapalua.

Check this out, we even made the front page of the Maui News!

Great sunset at Paluwea Beach.

Ni Hao everyone, it’s Friday!

I know its Tuesday.. er actually Monday, but I probably won’t finish this until Tuesday…. It’s just a tagline anyway, get over it….

So from where we were in Kaoshiung, we left and headed up the coast and inland a bit to Sun Moon Lake. This was supposedly where a lot of the locals go for holiday in Taiwan. We were excited to get up there, but it was another 3 hours by train followed by finding a bus station and getting a transfer to the lake which was two hours away….

Bypassing all the details, we made it up there by about two o’clock and found a place to stay. We quickly dumped our bags and started out to check out the area. The only problem was that it was a BIG area.

The lake which used to actually be made up of two smaller lakes, Sun Lake and Moon Lake was flooded by a dam that the Taiwanese installed some years ago. Unfortunately, the land between the lakes was an aboriginal village and it basically got almost completely swallowed up. The aborigines now live on the banks of the lake and have a small island in the lake where they do fishing and farming and things, but for the most part, their land was completely flooded.

The area is high up in the mountains and the skyline of the mountains around the lake is incredible. Very beautiful landscapes and I knew that it was going to make for fantastic sunrise photography if only I could wake up early enough…

Like clockwork, at 5:00am I was crawling out of bed, tiptoe-ing out the door so as not to wake the princess and with camera and tripod in hand, I made my way down to a couple spots I staked out the night before. Spent about an hour and a half or so getting a couple nice shots of the beautiful reds and pinks that lit up the sky that morning.

When I did finally make it back to the room, I snuck back in bed and slept for a couple more hours until we both woke up around 9:00. We decided to take a bus around the lake stopping at different sites (temples, peacock gardens, etc.) and taking in all we could.

We had a full day of hiking around the lake and of course we stopped several times for fresh fruit drinks. These had become our favorite snack in Taiwan. All these tiny little booths were setup everywhere that had all kinds of fresh fruit that you could order and they would essentially just blend it into a smoothie with this machine that also put on an airtight plastic lid. So you could actually just throw the whole plastic cup in a bag or whatever and it wouldn’t spill. My favorite was the xiyigua (Kiwi), while Caroline preferred the xigua (Watermelon)….

The weather at Sun Moon Lake was extremely warm and humid (much like the rest of Taiwan, but we were really feeling it here). After exploring the lake and the surrounding areas we went back to our place and enjoyed a little bit of rain while we drank our juices and enjoyed a quiet noodle dinner outside our little bed and breakfast.

The next morning, same thing, I got up early, snuck out of the room and got the shot I was looking for down at the lake. I’m sure I could’ve stayed there the whole trip just for the beautiful landscape photography, but alas, we were ready to journey on…

When Caroline woke up we left Sun Moon Lake and got on a bus for Chunghua. Chunghua was the town where she was born, and we had originally planned on meeting her sister down there, but unfortunately, that didn’t work out. We spent a few hours perusing through Chunghua and another nearby town before deciding that although it was neat to see, there really wasn’t much there that we needed to see.

So we decided since we were going to meet up with Esther the following day, to just meet up with her near Taipei which was much closer for her. So back to the train station we went and on the next train for Taipei we were on.

It wasn’t until late in the day that we arrived to the sprawling metropolis, and when we did (it was a Friday), we had an INCREDIBLY difficult time finding a place to stay. I don’t know if this was because it was the weekend or what, but it took us hours of checking out different places (all of which were fully committed) before we found a little hole in the wall (literally) to stay.

The place was disgusting and we vowed to find a new place for the following night, but at this point, we were happy to have just found a room!

When we unloaded our stuff, we went out exploring the city. One of the first streets closest to our place might as well have been called “Camera Row” because every shop as far as you could see had huge signs above it advertising “Canon” , “Nikon” , “Olympus” , “Pentax” , etc. I thought I was in heaven. The only problem was that the prices weren’t any better than I can get online. So even though I saw a lot of cool stuff, I didn’t end up purchasing anything….

Oh, well… The rest of our stay, I think we had about another five nights at this point, we ventured around Taipei, visiting the Cheng Kai Chek memorial, the National Palace Museum (where Chaing Kai Shek kept all his goodies), Taipei 101, Underground Malls that spanned miles underneath the city (very cool), The Taipei Zoo, and a plethora of other really cool places.

I guess at this point I should explain who this Chaing Kai Shek cat was to those of you who don’t know. Lets start way back a long time ago…

Well, back in the day, Japan acquired Taiwan from the QIng Empire and maintained control of it from the Chinese until post WWII. That’s when China took possession back. Now at this point the island which always maintained its own independence was a real mixture of two Asian cultures. The industrialized Japanese did all sorts of improvements to the infrastructure, modernized the cities, and developed much of the nation. But the people were still very much set in the traditions of mainland China. So even though, the island’s advanced technology industry plays a key part in the economic boom of Taiwan, and though the nation is classified as a high economy by the World Bank, outside of the main cities, there are many areas where you can find the traditional Chinese cultures still abound.

So Chaing Kai Shek was the leader of a political party in China that was trying to unite the country basically at the same time Mao Zedong was trying the same thing. Most of the world sided with Chaing Kai Shek and wanted to see his group take control of the nation, but unfortunately with all the corruption from within his own party their army was no match for Mao Zedong’s.

Chaing Kai Shek eventually moved his headquarters over to Taipei, Taiwan in the 1940s and became the President of the Republic of China shortly thereafter. Of course this title was a little misleading because although he successful controlled Taiwan, he didn’t really stand up to mainland China.

But somehow he had managed to extract thousands of years of the mainland’s most notable collections of art, manuscripts, sculptures, pottery and more and bring them to Taiwan. So in essence, much of the most valuable items in the history of China are not found in China, but instead in Taiwan.

Nearly every day we were in Taiwan, our goal was to find the best swan la dung (hot and sour soup) that we could get our hands on. Man, its so good. So many fresh vegetables and new flavors I’ve never had before the way they make it. So much better than any I’ve had over here… I’m really missing that and all the tasty dumplings… mmmmm…..

One of my goals of going over there was to bring back a shirt I could wear for our wedding next year. I thought it would be a really great way to pay homage to Caroline’s heritage, tie in some of that Asian culture and really be something a little different for our wedding day.

We searched over and over, everywhere in Taipei, and I saw some styles that were close to what I was looking for, but none that fit the bill. On our last day however we did find a shirt that was pretty close. The design was great, the style was what I was hoping for, the color, everything. The only problem is that it was a 2XL! I can skate by with a large in Chinese clothes but a double X just wasn’t going to cut it.

Nonetheless, Caroline insisted that we buy it and have her seamstress take a look at it. So we did. And after about $50 worth of alterations, it fits perfectly. Its an extremely Asian style design, and I may look a little funny sporting it, but I think I’m going to wear it. I really like it a lot. I’ll have some photos of that for you at some point but right now I just wanted to give a shout out to Auntie Pam for making the shirt fit! Amazing job!

And on that note, my fingers are killing me. I think we’ve covered all we’re going to cover with Taiwan. Thanks for reading! Hope you found it interesting!

ETP update:

As of right now, I’m working on restructuring the EarthTrot.org website to work with WordPress. This will allow even more marketability for the website and hopefully be able to gain us a few more interested readers. I’m making good progress, but I’m not there yet. Hopefully soon I’ll have that up and running.

We’re also talking about potentially at some point doing podcasts on different topics related to the environment and cultures. Does anyone have any feedback on that, is that something you might like to check out? They would likely be around 15 to 20 minutes in length, maybe less and they’d be available for free through iTunes or the website.

One other thing we’re talking about doing is creating an Earth Trot app. No details on that just yet, and I have no clue how to create an app, but just keep your ears open for that as well. We’ve got a lot of cool ideas and hopefully we’ll be able to put some of them into reality soon…

So that’s the ETP minute, hope you’re excited. I know I am. Have a great week and a fantastic weekend everyone. If you have a chance, hit me up, I’d love to hear from you!

All my aloha,

Michael

Sun Moon Lake at sunrise… take 1

Sun Moon Lake at sunrise… take 2

From the rooftops of the temples… flying around rooftops in Taiwan Crouching Tiger Style…

I liked this shot of the prayer bells at this temple.

Yep, they had peacocks around the lake…. pretty cool, huh?

Closeup.

Sun Moon Lake at sunrise on day 2

National Palace Museum… All the top stuff from China, brought to Taiwan. Thanks Chaing Kai Shek!

And the Chaing Kai Shek memorial right in the heart of Taipei.

Gibbons? I think…

Que paso homey?

What the ?

Kinda crazy to think this guy is sitting in a field of food. That would be like me sitting in a room made of Italian Beef sandwiches… oh man, that sounds incredible….

Pose for the camera Rhinos… You just can’t script this stuff….

30 cent ice cream cones. They look much better than they taste…

Atop Taipei 101, it was a little… what’s the word?… oh yea, WINDY!!!!

View from up top on the observation deck.

Cool little sculpture outside the tower. Very cool experience…

Ni Hao everyone, it’s Friday!

Alright, Tuesday again… but one of these days it will be put out on a Friday… seriously…

Taiwan part 3

Yea, OK, here we go… This one should be shorter… well maybe…

So from Hualien where we left off, we planned to get up early, catch the first train to Tainan and then take a boat off to a lovely little place called Green Island. The plan started well, we got up early, hopped on a train and a couple hours later we were in Tainan. When we got off the train we went right to the visitor information center and did our best to explain to them our plans of seeing their Green Island.

After a long conversation that shouldn’t have been that hard to understand, we found out that it was going to take us a good bit of time to get out there, it was going to be quite a bit expensive and we were told it was nothing compared to Hawai’i. So after a bit of consulting amongst ourselves, and a plate lunch of dried worms (or something that looked like that – it actually tasted pretty good), some kind of sausage thing, a thousand year egg and something white to drink (I originally thought it was milk, that’s why I got it…. it wasn’t…), we decided to skip Green Island.

There were other things for us to do in Tainan, and we toyed with the idea of going down to Keelung instead, but after careful deliberation, we decided to head over to Kaoshiung for a couple days. Kaoshiung, being Taiwan’s second largest city with over 1.5 million people had a couple really intriguing sites that we had high up on our list. Namely, Lotus Lake and Foguangshan…

We arrived in Kaoshiung around 4:00p and immediately found a really nice hotel at a really good price right by the main train station. By this time we had been traveling all day and were a bit tired, but it was a beautiful day and we really wanted to see some of the sites. So, we unloaded our stuff in the room, and decided to take a cruise out to Lotus Lake.

It was only a couple stops down on the train and we were walking towards the lake about twenty minutes after we left the hotel. Armed with a Canon 5D, a 17-40mm L lens, and the new 70-200mm IS F2.8 II lens and of course my trusty, heavy duty Slik tripod, we rolled up to the first stop, Dragon and Tiger Pagodas.

Oh yea, if you weren’t sold on the name, you definitely will be sold on the photos. This place was awesome! It was like a huge Buddhist Epcot Center. All around this massive lake were different shrines, temples, pagodas and more. And this first one, Dragon and Tiger pagoda was as good as it got. A long zig-zag bridge leads out to the pagodas that stand side by side, towering up into the sky about seven stories up over the lake. The huge Dragon and Tiger sculptures in front of the pagodas act as an entry way and exit from the Pagodas. So you would walk right through them, where, once inside the walls were adorned with all kinds of vividly detailed paintings.

Further down past these pagodas stood more and more pagodas and pavilions and they circled this huge lake. We stayed there well into the night shooting photos of all these incredible sights and how beautiful they looked after the sun went down and the lights from their lanterns reflected a rainbow of colors off the steady water below.

I gotta say, Caroline was a real trooper throughout this time, as I may have been there all night shooting photos and she never once complained or asked to leave. But nonetheless, we did. We headed back to the hotel, both of us beaming about how cool that place was and we both felt it may have been the overall best part of the trip up until this time (minus of course all the family stuff…).

Early the next morning we had a much more difficult time trying to find our way out to an area known as Foguangshan or Light of Buddha Mountain. This place was at the top of my list of things I wanted to see in Taiwan, so I didn’t care what it took, I was going to make sure we made it out to this location. Turns out there was only one bus that went out there as it was about an hour outside of Kaoshiung and no one we talked to had any idea what we were talking about when we tried to explain where we wanted to go.

Fortunately, we ran into a gentleman from Singapore that spoke some English AND he happened to be going to Foguangshan as well. So we basically followed him out there and by about 10:00am we were standing at the gate outside of the largest and wealthiest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan.

We got the schedule for when the bus would pass back around this way and take us back to Kaoshiung, and headed off through the gate. This place was full of odd and interesting things. From the Pure Land Cave which was this walk through cave that felt like a kinda creepy version of the “It’s a small world after all” carnival ride. Throughout this labyrinth of an attraction we saw strange sculptures, weird paintings and all around odd things throughout the cave.

Moving on, one of the main sights was the 36 meter tall statue of the Amitabha Buddha. The statue itself was a huge golden statue that rose above everything else in the area. That alone would have been cool to see, but couple that with the 480 life sized buddhas that surrounded the statue, and you had something completely different. It made for some really cool photos.

From there, we hit a bunch of different shrines, temples, the museum and of course the university. I talked to several of the monks there a bit about it and they were very cool. Caroline had to convince me if I signed up to become a monk she was leaving, so I rescinded my application…

Further on up the mountain we found an incredible Buddhist museum that housed some amazing artifacts, sculptures, texts, and all kinds of things that made it a huge pilgrimage site for anyone interested in Buddhism. Not only that, but apparently, they had one of the first Buddha’s teeth. Yep, the first Buddha was cremated thousands of years ago, but according to the writings in the museum, four teeth remained from the cremation. They were secretly guarded by monks from all over Asia. Now they are in four different locations throughout Asia, and one of them was here in Foguangshan. It must have been hidden somewhere in one of the scores of buildings throughout the grounds though, as it wasn’t in the museum. But it was apparent they were building a shrine to house the artifact, but it hadn’t been completed as of yet.

When I finished the museum I found Caroline in the gift shop with an ice cream cone. She had had enough of the museum and instead of inspecting every last thing and trying to decipher what they were, she just walked right through to the end. The girl is like a bloodhound for ice cream.

We enjoyed that and started walking to another building, which just so happened to be the caligraphy house. We got there and a monk met us in the building, gave us a quick lesson on how to write in Chinese caligraphy and set us up at a desk with some ink and brushes. They gave us some parchment that showed how to make the strokes and we were on our way!

Talk about relaxing, I could’ve written one of these entire Buddhist teachings books before I wanted to leave that place. That was truly awesome! And if it wasn’t for Caroline wanting another ice cream cone, I probably would’ve stayed a bit longer…. but as it turns out, ice cream won out.

Eventually we made it back to Kaoshiung where we found a cute little hot dog place that was owned by an american guy who took all the secrets from Chicago and started selling hot dogs in Taiwan. These things were excellent! The best I’ve ever had outside Chicago by a LONG SHOT. The bread was amazing, the dog itself was fantastic quality, the toppings were perfect, and the atmosphere of the place was really cool.

After the dogs we took a little nap at our place before heading out to walk around the Love River that night. It was a perfect finale to our time in Kaoshiung. The next day we decided to head up to Sun Moon Lake, and brothers and sister, that’s a story for next time… So hope you enjoy the photos. I’m attaching a ton of them, so hope you like!

Have a great weekend everyone, and stay safe! Hit me up if you get a chance, otherwise I’ll talk to you next time….

All my aloha,

Michael

The Dragon and Tiger Pagodas from Lotus Lake. This place was unreal…

Caroline and I just before sunset at the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas.

I really like this black and white from Lotus Lake area in Kaoshiung.

Another night time image from Lotus Lake.

Lanterns over Lotus Lake.

Some of these photos came out really nice that I shot at night throughout Lotus Lake, this one is one of my favorites.

Another night shot from Lotus Lake

Cruising through Kaoshiung.

Here is the large Amithaba Buddha that was one of the main focal points of Foguangshan. If you’re wondering about the “swastikas” on their hearts, they have nothing to do with Nazi Germany. The symbol has been found in nearly all cultures in all parts of the world long before the Nazi’s made it synonymous with their regime. But here in Buddhism, the swastika (which comes from the sanskrit “svasti” and means good fortune, luck, and well being) is said to represent eternity, prosperity and long life. The symbol is found commonly throughout Asia, especially in Buddhist and Hindu cultures.

High five, Buddha bro…

Here a Buddha, there a Buddha, everywhere Buddha Buddha Buddha…

These golden Buddha statues are identical in every way and there are 480 of them that stand life size and surround one great big statue of the Amitabha Buddha.

One of my brothers in training…

Found this nice patch of orchids growing off the main drag at Foguangshan (isn’t that just the best word to say? Rolls right off the tongue… Foguangshan…..)

This prayer hall at Foguangshan was filled with miniature statues of the Buddha adorning every nook and cranny from floor to ceiling.

We were given a private lesson in Chinese caligraphy in the caligraphy school at Foguangshan.

The whole crew of Monks on their way to lunch, I think…

Ni Hao everyone, it’s Friday!

Yea I know, it’s Tuesday… let’s dig back in…

Taiwan part 2

Alright so… I’m going to keep this one a bit shorter and instead fill it up with more photos (you’re welcome). I think we ended last week on our dinner with Caroline’s family. Well after dinner we started to head back on the train with Esther but instead of just cruising back to our nice hotel in Chungli, we decided to ride on up into Taipei and check that our real quick like.

We got off the train near Longshan Temple. There were all kinds of shopping areas, food booths, small temples and trinket shops all up and down the streets and people were everywhere. Taipei, and Taiwan in general, is like one big moving traffic jam. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but its true. There were people everywhere and they were all going somewhere. No one was standing around or just cruising, people were constantly on the go. And if you’ve ever traveled with me, or gone anywhere with me, you know I have a tendency to “saunter” as my fiance calls it. I walk slow. So I felt more like a speed bump than a pedestrian in Taipei. People were cutting me off left, right, upside down and sideways. Needless to say, I got lost from the girls pretty quickly.

The good thing was that they were so busy checking out every shop around that by the time they exited the markets I was able to catch up. Anyway, this took place for a few hours until I found Longshan Temple. Then it was their turn to wait for me.

Longshan is a very eclectic temple with a lot to see around it. It is referred to as Taiwan’s Forbidden City and was originally built as a Buddhist temple back in 1738. Unfortunately, it was leveled by an earthquake in 1815, rebuilt and devastated by a typhoon in 1867, reconstructed again in the early 1900s, and was literally the casualty of an ally bomb that went awry back in 1945. That destroyed much of the main hall, but left in tact the statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy who also happens to be the temple’s main deity. The temple was once more restored in 1957. Today there are areas within the temple which house some Taoist deities as well as Buddhist icons.

When we got there, I felt like a kid at a candy shop. Seriously, you couldn’t take a bad picture if you tried. Well, OK, I took lots of bad pictures, but it was night time, and unfortunately I didn’t have my tripod with me (Doh!). No but seriously, it was absolutely incredible. There were so many worshippers chanting around the shrines that I felt like part of some kind of soundtrack. It was beautiful, and the scent of fresh incense filled the air with scents of sage, sandalwood and jasmine.

Being at Longshan was a true blessing. I felt so at peace, so relaxed and so overcome by a sense of gratitude for all the wonderful things in my life. Unfortunately, Caroline has a very sensitive nose and she couldn’t handle much of the incense, so she waited outside for me. And so too soon, we moved on to see another part of the city.

We made it to Taipei 101, the world’s second tallest building. It was a quick train ride from Longshan and when we got there, we were awed by the sheer size of the building. Although its only 218 feet taller than the Sear’s Tower it looks incomprehensibly larger. The reason for this is because there are so few tall buildings in Taipei. I would venture to guess there couldn’t have been more than a dozen buildings more than 30 stories. Taipei 101 is 101 stories tall. So it looks like a behemoth next to all others.

Inside the building there was floor upon floor of high end shopping and dining. It was like all of Michigan Avenue inside the first five levels of this building. So Caroline and Esther had a field day with that. Unfortunately, the weather was a little overcast that evening so we decided not to take the elevator to the top just yet. We would wait for a clearer day.

Eventually we found our way back to Chungli and fell fast asleep from all the entertainment of the day.

When we awoke we were feeling quite adventurous and nervous at the same time. We knew this was the part of the trip where Esther had to work and we would be on our own. But we got our things together checked out of the hotel and made our way to the train station.

After doing our best to explain where we wanted to go in Mandarin (it took us a long time to even get out that we needed to go to Taipei), we eventually found the train that was heading into the main transit hub of Taipei. When we got there it took us about four hours to get on the next train to Hualien. Very few people speak any English, and even though I thought we could get by just pointing to where we wanted to go on a map, that proved futile. Basically because the maps that we had were in English, and not Mandarin.

After being saved by a good samaritan, we were able to get on a four hour train to Hualien. We arrived in the city early in the evening and made a bee line for the closest hotel. I was ready to try my Mandarin bargaining skills for a hotel room, but there was no need. The room they showed us was a pretty good price, so we took it for a couple nights.

In the morning we were up early and ready to hit Taroko Gorge, one of the “must see” areas of Taiwan. We went down to the bus station and battled with the guy behind the window for two round trip tickets to Taroko. Unfortunately, they didn’t understand what we were saying and we didn’t understand what they were saying. We did end up getting on the right bus, but we missed our stop and stayed on the bus all the way until the very end of Taroko (It’s a 14 mile long canyon that’s been mined for years for marble. There are amazing sights from both sides of the road. Normally, you would get off and take pictures of all these great areas, but unfortunately, since we missed our stop, we were on board for all the cool sites.

Eventually we made our way to the last stop of Taroko and got off the bus. The driver even made us pay more money for taking us further than we wanted. At this point though, I knew my Mandarin wasn’t going to help me win any arguments so we paid him and got off the bus.

For quite a few hours we cruised around and saw some really neat things. Unfortunately, we were hoping we could find a cab there that would love our business and let us check out some of the other areas, but there were none to be found.

Still, we were able to find some beautiful pagodas, Buddhist temples, and a quaint little town. It was an enjoyable enough day, and the bus ride back to Hualien was great as our driver, seeing my monster telephoto lens, stopped at a few places and encouraged me to get out and take a few pictures of some of the sights before we continued on. I was have afraid he was going to jet on without me, but he was a pretty cool cat.

That day was perhaps the most overwhelming of anyplace I’ve ever traveled because of my absolute lack of being able to converse. I tried hard and used the six Mandarin words I knew, but it didn’t matter, it took a lot out of me. So Caroline and I started practicing a bit more and preparing for our next day where we were planning on taking a train to Tainan and a boat out to Green Island… but that will be a story for the next chapter….

Sorry, I really didn’t think I was going to write that much. I hope you enjoyed this installment, next week we’ll get into some really cool areas. Have a great rest of your week, and hit me up if you get a chance! I always love hearing from you!

All my aloha,

Michael

Perhaps the most fun we had in Taiwan was reading everyone’s tee shirts. It was trendy to have “American” style shirts with English writing on them. The problem was that none of the shirts we saw made any sense. I mean, you gotta love “Alone Sport Never Music.” What in the world does that mean? Every single shirt we saw that was written in English was something like this. Made for a lot of laughs.

I really like this picture too of the dragon and the lanterns. This was taken just outside of a small temple in Taipei.

Photo from one of the night markets.

This lady is standing in front of a HUGE vat of fresh tea leaves. Tea is a very big part of Taiwanese culture, and some of the choicest tea in the world comes from the mountains just outside of Taipei.

The outside of Longshan Temple in the evening. You can see here there were crowds everywhere. The temple itself had so much to see, so much beautiful architecture and relics.

I liked this shot of the lady praying inside Longshan Temple.

Inside Longshan Temple. This place was just sick. I could have spent a week coming back to this temple alone. The feeling inside and outside of it was so serene and peaceful. Truly one of my favorite places on the whole journey.

Inside Taipei 101. There were multiple levels of shopping that I had the {-ahem-} *pleasure* of perusing with Caroline and Esther for what felt like 87 hours on our second night…

I don’t know what the deal was with the big Statue of Liberty across the street from Taipei 101, but here it is…

How’s this? Caroline almost looks like a local… hee hee…

Pagodas and statues like this filled the scenery throughout Taiwan.

Representing Hawaiian Fire in Hualien, Taiwan… sweet.

I loved this little Buddhist pagoda. Very cool scenery, and this is one of my favorite shots from the whole trip. Hope you enjoy it too!

As you can see, the roads were a bit narrow, and getting our busses past each other, was a real trick.

Waterfall over Taroko Gorge.

Ni Hao everyone, it’s Friday!

I’m not sure how far I’ll get on this first installation from Taiwan, but here it goes…

Carolinology

First a little background… For those of you who don’t know Caroline’s history, it’s pretty heavy, so sit back and buckle up, I’m about to explain….

Caroline was born Huang Tse-en (Huang is the family name, Tse-en basically means “grace” in Mandarin Chinese) in Changhua, Taiwan in 1988. Her birth mother, Lee Ping has had Polio her whole life and is confined to a wheelchair. Her birth father also had Polio and unfortunately, is prone to drinking and gambling. When Caroline was born, he fled the scene so to speak and Lee Ping and her mother, Ama were left to raise Caroline and her two older sisters, Esther and Amy. Because of Lee Ping’s condition, and because Ama lived about an hour away, it was going to be virtually impossible for them to raise Caroline. It also didn’t help that their family was left with very little money to care for themselves.

So, Ama came up with a solution. She knew a wealthy family down the way a little bit who had all boys and wanted a girl. And so they talked about selling Caroline into this family. Fortunately, a missionary from Lee Ping’s church heard about this and was quick to react. She made some phone calls to a family she knew back in Vancouver, Canada that didn’t have any children. She told them of the situation and said if there was any chance they wanted to adopt her, they would have to take action immediately, and they had 24 hours to come up with a name for the young child.

The family, Ralph and Jeanne Nawatzki decided they would take it as far as they could and try to adopt the baby girl. They chose the name Caroline, and four months later and after an endless amount of paperwork, Caroline was on her way to Vancouver. For the next 19 years (until I came along) she grew up in a wonderful family, full of love and laughter, with strong morals and an amazing outlook on life and the world around her. And fortunately for me, they chose to live half the year in Vancouver and the other half here in Maui.

So Caroline grew up here about half her life, and only within the last few years did she even meet her two older sisters. Now she’s in touch with each of them (one, Amy – the middle one, lives in Austria, the other, Esther still lives in Taiwan). Both have visited her in Canada and Hawai’i.

Caroline, however had never been back to Taiwan. And for me, I felt this real urge to take her there, learn about her history, meet her birth mother and grandmother and re-establish that connection before we got married.

So, we got on a plane and fourteen hours later…

Taiwan Part 1

We were met at the airport by Esther and Lee Ping. It was an amazing reunion! Esther was so happy to see her little sister and Lee Ping was in tears seeing her long lost child for the first time in 22 years. She was even wearing a dress that somewhat resembled something from Hawai’i to try to impress Caroline.

She spoke not a word of English and Esther had to translate everything. Because she is confined to a wheelchair, we had to take a special taxi to our hotel (it was already about ten o’clock at night and we were exhausted). On the way, Lee Ping and Esther showered us with gifts, love and a ton of incomprehensible syllables that we could only take as compliments anyway.

They were intent on showing us around a little before we went to bed, so while Caroline and I checked in (OK, well, Esther checked us in, our Mandarin is limited to about six words), Esther and Lee Ping went downstairs and waited for us.

We unpacked a little, splashed some water on our faces, grabbed our cameras, took a three second rest on the bed (any longer and we wouldn’t have gotten up) and went down stairs.

The next thing you know, I’m cruising down the road on the back of Esther’s “motorcycle” (actually it was a 100cc moped, but hey… they all called them motorcycles…), while Caroline was sitting in a sidecar on Lee Ping’s little contraption. It was hilarious, Caroline being as tall as she is, and sitting high up on this seat in a sidecar with Lee Ping driving her custom motorcycle from her wheelchair looked way out of place. The “motorcycle” looked like it was just plucked off a merry-go-round, and Caroline looked like the adult attendant to Lee Ping who was driving around Chungli like she was Mario Andretti.

It was a good thing we didn’t have to go too far, because just down the road we entered our first night market. Basically after the sun goes down, different areas of town get lined up and down the streets with vendors selling everything from fish balls to blood rice on a stick, and everything in between. It was like a carnival, seeing all the neon lights and the crowds of people lining up for food or little gambling games or pastries or blood rice…

Well after midnight we returned to our Hotel, said good night to Esther and Lee Ping and promised that we would come to Lee Ping’s house for an early supper the following day. So as we waved goodbye, Esther and Lee Ping zipped off towards their respected homes about 20 minutes from our hotel.

The next day was the first culture shock day for us. We started out by walking out of our hotel and around the block. Since all the signs and everything were in Chinese characters and very few were even in Pinyin (the phonetical way of pronouncing the Chinese characters), we had no idea what we were looking at, where we were going or basically how to communicate.

So we wandered around for a few hours, checked out some local markets and stores before returning to our hotel and waiting for Esther to show up. When she did, we all walked to the train station and boarded a train for Puxin where Lee Ping was preparing a meal for us.

20 minutes later, we could smell the house as we approached. It didn’t exactly smell like Thanksgiving dinner, but I guess in Taiwan, it was. She prepared all the local delicacies for us. All kinds of rank smelling mushy vegetables, thousand year eggs, goose, duck, chicken innards, cold shrimp and eggs and green stuff and all kinds of other specialties of the area. Caroline and I looked at each other, tried not to laugh (or cry) and did our best to be respectful… (Later that night, however, we feasted at McDonald’s….)

At Lee Ping’s house we sat and talked story with Lee Ping, and Ama who was there, along with plenty of other house guests that came to meet the now famous Caroline and her fiance. Probably the funniest part about it though was the fact that Lee Ping loved introducing me (Myko, Myko…) to her friends, but couldn’t remember Caroline’s name, and she kept having to ask Esther. Even when she did get it she had to repeat it several times before she could tell people (Care-ine).

Esther was so sweet. She did a great job translating everything for us, and made us feel right at home. And even though we couldn’t stand the food, we tried to force it down. Though Esther came to our rescue and explained that our taste buds were not accustomed to all their wonderful tastes yet.

After a nice long evening with everyone, we left along with Esther and headed back towards our hotel. But Esther wasn’t ready to surrender us to the sandman just yet and suggested we continue on towards Taipei. So we did…

…and We’ll get into that next time… But for now, have a great weekend, and stay safe. I’ll shoot some more photos over next week. But before I go, I do want to give a quick shout out to a couple really good friends who got married this past week or since my last newsletter anyway…. Congratulations to Jerry and Melinda, who finally tied the knot. I love you two! Same goes to Eric and Jen – it’s about time!! And finally a huge e komo mai (welcome) to two brand new babies, Christopher J. Pohlman III, and Gia Saele. And of course Ho’omaika’i (congratulations) to the Parents, Chris and Anne, and Pete and Sheri!

Alright, time for a nap… until next time…

All my aloha,

Michael

This is the first encounter with Lee Ping and Esther at the airport in Taipei.

Here’s a shot from one of the night markets our first night in Chungli. As you can imagine, we had a difficult time ordering anything. Good thing our pointer fingers were working….

Pastries of all sorts. Not sure how long they had been sitting there, and not sure how many this guy ate….

Caroline and Lee Ping in her “motorcycle” in Chungli. Lee Ping and Esther bought Caroline and I pink and blue helmets so we could ride with them on their “motorcycles.”

Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs, blockin’ up the scenery, breakin’ my mind… (A little tribute to The Five Man Electrical Band, and of course Tesla who did a fantastic cover of that track…)

Authentic Calvim Klien sold here.

Some fresh fish in the local market.

Local produce vendor.

At the train station. This was the schedule. As you can see, not only is there no English, but there’s not even any Pinyin. This was difficult…

At Lee Ping’s house. She had made quite a feast there for us. Some kind of shrimp and egg dish, thousand year eggs and meat, goose fat, chicken something, etc. Of the whole trip, this meal probably took the longest to prepare, the most work was put into it, and yet, it was the one we had the hardest time swallowing… That’s “Ama” in the back (Grandma).

That’s me, Caroline and Lee Ping at her house in Puxin.

Another photo of all of us at Lee Ping’s house in Puxin

Aloha everyone, it’s Friday!

Hey hey, it is Friday!!!!

19th Annual Taro Festival

Every year in the sleepy little seaside town of Hana, Maui the annual Taro Festival takes place and natives from all over the island come to partake. This year, Caroline’s halau (dance group), was asked to perform at the festival. So, of course we were very excited to head down there.

I volunteered to drive a van down there to help ease the congestion of all the locals heading to Hana for the weekend. We picked up a couple of the girls and went down on Saturday morning.

Arriving early, we set up our campsite before the performance as we planned to spend the weekend with the halau and enjoy some of the wonderful sights of East Maui. There were half a dozen tents setup already with members of the halau and when we were sufficiently unpacked, we cruised down to the local ballpark where the 19th annual Taro Festival was getting under way.

When we got there it was an amazing who’s who of the Hawaiian community, musicians, artists, kahunas, etc. Not only that, but I was excited to run into a friend of mine (another photographer – who I think actually gets these emails), Aubrey Hord, and got to see her work. She was displaying her awesome photos and although we had exchanged emails many times, this was the first time we actually met each other! Super great girl, with an excellent eye for photography. That was a really nice treat.

There were many other local vendors selling all kinds of food, clothing, trinkets and more, but the highlight was the open air stage where some great entertainers came to perform. Of course I’m a little biased, but I thought Halau Hula Malani o Kapehe really stole the show (Caroline’s halau). They were excellent, and though I’ve seen them perform a hundred times, this one was really special. Their timing was great, and the setting made it perfect. Listening to live Hawaiian music in a small local town that time forgot, tucked away in between the sea and the great mountains beyond was truly something special. Top that off with the performance of a dozen or so of the most graceful dancers swaying in the light Kona breezes and the experience was magical.

For those of you who aren’t from the islands, taro, or kalo in Hawaiian, is a tropical plant that grows throughout the Pacific and Asia and is a staple of local culture. In the old days, loi kalo or wet taro fields were abundant, and the plant grew all over the island. Each part of the plant was used for a different purpose. The root is steamed and mixed with water to make poi, the leaves used in making laulau, a Hawaiian dish that wraps the kalo leaves around meat and is again wrapped with ki (or ti leaves – which are inedible). After cooking, the ki leaves are removed and the kalo becomes very soft almost like cooked spinach, the meat is extremely succulent and has a very tender texture to it.

Much of the rest of the festival was spent paying homage to the great plant, the farmers who still tended their fields and the many uses of the kalo in everyday life. The following morning was even topped off with a fantastic taro pancake breakfast. And although I’m not a huge fan of pancakes, these were actually pretty darn good!

After the breakfast, the halau all journeyed together to check out some local areas that are a little off the beaten path. The one that really stood out was a place that I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never been to before, called Kahanu Gardens.

I had assumed that it was just another “tropical Hawaiian garden,” but I was wrong. On the grounds of this gardens, was the largest heiau in all of Polynesia. A heiau is a Hawaiian temple, some were used for healing, others for prayer for voyaging, and some were sacrificial. And although no one is really sure yet what this particular one was for, it was massive.

We weren’t allowed to go onto it, but we could check it out from a distance, and it was extremely powerful. I have some photos below, but they don’t do justice to this place. There is a long stretch of grass to the south of the heiau that stretched for a long long ways, and ti leaf plants encircling the heiau to ward off evil spirits.

While I was standing there in the warm sunlight, marveling at the size of this behemoth, I found myself vividly imagining what it might have been like back in the 1500s when a massive gathering of Hawaiians would surely be all around with flaming torches at night, listening to the crashing of waves and experiencing an event at this heiau of epic proportions. I felt like I was on the set of some big budget Hollywood film like Gladiator or something. The feeling was that intense.

The halau gathered and paid their respects with an oli (chant) to those ancestors who tread these grounds hundreds of years before. All in all a fantastic Polynesian experience. And weekend for that matter. We continued on and checked out some other areas around East Maui, a grave site for the kumu’s (Halau teacher’s) grandmother, waterfalls and more before making our way back to our side of the island.

The Earth Trot Project

Wow, I really didn’t intend to write all that above, I was going to keep it short due to the fact, that this section here is the real cream filling of this newsletter….

As most of you know, we’ve been working hard for well over two years to try and create a legal non-profit organization where we can together help make a difference in cultures and environments throughout the world. That being said, its not very easy to get recognized as an international charitable organization within the United States.

It took over a year to put together all the forms we needed to file. Then we sent them in to the IRS just about a year ago. Since that time, the IRS has been hammering us with questions about everything from where exactly we’re planning on working, with whom, what contracts we have in place, etc.

Needless to say, when we first sent in our forms, we were a little unprepared for all this. But we kept plugging away at it, and answering question after question and sent our responses back to the IRS. Inevitably about two weeks later they would send more questions, and dozens of them at a time, none of which could be answered by a simple yes/no. This took place probably about ten times or more. We’d answer questions and they’d send us more.

Well last Friday it came to an end. We got a thick packet from the IRS that we were sure were more questions, but in fact it was our welcome packet! We finally got our 501(c)(3) status as a non-profit charitable organization within the United States. Which means, that any donations made to the organization are tax exempt and you can write them off as of July 1, 2009!

Now hold onto your wallets, we’re not asking for donations (though of course if you’d like to make one, here’s a link). We’re just excited at this point to have gotten what we’ve worked so hard to get. And this is a big “THANK YOU” to all of you who have supported the project from its inception! Those of you who have contributed by spreading the word, monetarily or just with the verbal support you’ve given us, THANK YOU! We really couldn’t have done it without you. I mean that, from the bottom of my heart.

We have ideas big and small about projects that we can undertake that will surely help make this world a better place, and we’re always looking for more. So if you have some ideas, get creative and shoot them over to me. Its hard to work on very little budgets, like we have been, but there are definitely ideas out there. And the more concepts that we can come up with, the more good we can do. The whole purpose of this organization is for all of us, collectively to make a difference, so this organization is just as much yours as it is mine and Todd’s and Chris’s and Alberto’s and Caroline’s. So please feel free to make any suggestions, feedback, ideas, suggestions, etc. And once again, THANK YOU, for all you’ve done to make this a reality!

Taiwan

And now for some traveling news…

For many months now, I’ve had this strong feeling, more of a necessity than a desire to journey to Taiwan with Caroline to meet her birth mother and learn about her inherent culture. The funny thing is, I think I have more of a sense of necessity about this than Caroline does.

I feel very strongly that this is something we need to do together before the wedding. I think there is a respect factor that is due to Caroline’s birth mother, even though she was never a part of Caroline’s life.

So we booked our tickets and next week we’ll be heading off for Taipei! We’re now really excited to get out there and immerse ourselves in this culture that will forever be part of our family! The next few weeks we’ll be over there meeting relatives and experiencing as much of Taiwan as we can handle. And I’m sure when we get back I’ll have all kinds of stories, pictures and crazy adventures to share with you!

And now, since I’ve spent so much time writing this, I’ve gotta get going. We’ve got a bunch of stuff to do to get ready… And tonight is the first birthday of a good friend of ours’ son, Chance! So we’re going to help Darrett and Lara celebrate this evening.

Well, hope you all have a great weekend, and thank you again for all your support with The Earth Trot Project, and next time you get a newsletter from me, it will hopefully have some pretty meaty content! Take care, and be safe!

All my aloha,

Michael

I know this has nothing to do with the Taro Festival, but I’m thinking of starting a new career building and repairing motorcycles. I’ve almost figured out how to change the oil on this one, so I’m well on my way…

In this photo, we have a couple Hawaiian gentlemen pounding the taro root and mixing it with a bit of water, the traditional method to making poi.

Traditional Hawaiian hula dancing

Here’s Caroline’s Halau, performing, but don’t strain your eyes, she’s a bit hard to pick out.

This structure is amazing. I know its a bit hard to grasp from this photo but if you see all the ki leaf plants there in front of the Heiau and realize they’re probably about 8 feet tall or so, you’ll get an idea of how big this thing is. This is the Hale O Pi’ilani Heiau and it is said to be the largest Heiau in all of Polynesia.

A small hale in the gardens that I thought had a neat look to it.

Members of Halau Hula Malani o Kapehe partaking in an oli (chant) as a sign of respect to ancestors who have passed this way before us.

And finally a beautiful lookout down by Kipahulu, Maui.

Aloha everyone, it’s Friday!

Yes, I’m aware it’s Monday. Sue me.

Cabo San Lucas

Alright, so the final stop of our cruise took us to Cabo San Lucas. To be honest I wasn’t real impressed with the little glimpses I had of Puerta Vallarta and Mazatlan so I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from Cabo, but I was wrong… Cabo delivered!

Cabo is a much smaller town than either of the other two ports, and it seemed to have more to do and see as well. There were two things on my list. First I wanted to see the arches that are famous down there, and second I wanted to visit Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo.

When the small little tenders took us to shore from where the cruise ship was anchored, we could see the famous arches out at Land’s End, and it seemed to me that it wouldn’t be that hard to actually climb over some of those sandstone hills to get to it…

So Caroline and I seeing that we couldn’t access it from the dock area, decided to hike around to the other side of the peninsula and try from that approach. We hiked up a hill that took us to a dead-end where a beautiful resort stood. We walked through it and down to its beach. This was the last property on the peninsula. As we looked south we could see the large sandstone hills that we were going to attempt to pass.

When we got right up to the hills, they looked a bit more treacherous than we anticipated, but decided to go through with it anyway. As we started climbing, I realized this was going to take a bit longer than we thought, and I was praying that we wouldn’t have to return the way we came, as it was a bit sketchy.

Eventually, we crossed over the first hill only to find another behind it. But between the rock formation we were on and the next lay a beautiful valley with sharp jagged peaks that stretched down to a small inlet into the turquoise waters of the Pacific.

We spent a good bit of time marveling at the view before continuing on up the next rock face. It was a little more intense but we were able to get over that one as well. After a few more rock hills to climb over we finally reached a beautiful pristine utopia known as Lover’s Beach. We were awed by the beauty, but a little taken aback when we saw another person on the beach!

I looked at Caroline and she looked back at me, both thinking how in the world did this person get there? Then as we looked further on, there was a trash receptacle out there too! I knew people weren’t exactly taking the same path we did, so we pressed on. Turns out that some of the little skiffs that cruise around that area drop people off at Lover’s Beach to get away from everything.

We made it to Land’s End. As we walked along and marveled at the beauty, we saw a boat coming through to drop off visitors. Caroline and I hitched a ride around the point to see some of the amazing arches. That point was really phenomenal, some of the most gorgeous sandstone formations I’ve ever seen. They ran down into the sea like the spine of a giant dragon.

Finally we made it back to the main port and headed immediately for some local tacos… (of course!). Found some pretty good grinds just outside of the world famous Cabo Wabo. The Wabo is owned by Sammy Hagar. And for those of you who don’t know, Sammy was at one point the lead singer of Van Halen and I know I’m going to get a lot of flack for this, but in my opinion he was the best singer they had (Sorry, Dave, you were great too)! Growing up I was a big Halen fan, so this was a really nice treat to be down there (though Sammy does have a restaurant in Maui too… a little closer to home…).

Before getting back on the boat I picked up some local Mexican cigars and took in a bit of a dolphin show at some local Dolphin park (Caroline’s favorite part of the trip, I think…).

So in conclusion, though I didn’t spend that much time there, Cabo was definitely my favorite of the three ports. We may have to go back down there again at some point…

Another Wedding!

Back on the boat we all seemed to have had a really good time in Cabo San Lucas. I think it was everyone’s favorite port. When mom and dad, Jen and Joe and Caroline and I sat down for dinner, we couldn’t stop recanting our daily adventures.

The following day we spent at sea, and I wasn’t feeling all that well. No, it wasn’t Montezuma’s revenge! I just slept a lot and felt very weak. But at dinner I was happy to hear that my sister’s boyfriend Joe had proposed to Jen literally about 15 minutes before dinner! So now we have another wedding in the family!

I don’t know too much about Joe, just that he’s a Cubs fan, got me Cubs tickets last time I was in town, and he’s crazy about my sister. So, its pretty obvious he’s a good guy, and gets my approval!

All in all, it was a great cruise. We spent the week together as a family about six months after the passing of my brother, Steve. It was a great way to spend time not just with mom and dad, but with Jen and Joe as well. And even though Steve wasn’t there physically, We all know he was there in spirit. The entire trip really couldn’t have been any better. And now we have another member to welcome into the family!

The next email newsletter I’m going to send will be from L.A. and will detail a small Earth Trot Project we were involved with. It took place at the Downtown Women’s Center and really generated a LOT of smiles… So stay tuned, hopefully I’ll be able to bring you this next week…..

But until then, enjoy the photos, and have a great week!

All my aloha,

Michael

Here’s C on the other side of the peninsula just passed the hotel we passed through. You can see the sandstone rocks off in the distance that we were going to climb over…

These were the arches that we were eventually hoping to see, but some of the rest of the scenery along the way was just as spectacular…

Here’s what we thought was our own secluded beach, until we found trash receptacles and a street merchant on the other side…

Some of the crazy sandstone rock formations.

I love this shot, looks so perfect here, doesn’t it? It’s like Hawaii, except instead of the tropical greenery, they have these beautiful sandstone formations.

Inlet to the vast Pacific Ocean. If you look real close you can see my island way off in the distance….

Some of the street merchants in Cabo

Sammy’s place.

Aloha everyone, it’s Friday!

Whatever, it’s Monday. My eyes have been bugging out looking at the screen all day working on a new website, so I’ll probably make this one short…

Tsunami!

As you’ve probably heard by now, we here in Hawai’i were on the front line for that tsunami that was generated from that terrible earthquake in Chile over the weekend. We got the phone call at about 4:30am and were out the door shortly thereafter. As some of you know, my condo is in a flood zone, so I was anticipating getting wiped out… yikes. They were calling for a 12′ wave to batter the island, and if that hit, there’s a real good chance my place would no longer be standing…

So, I grabbed my laptop, some backup files, my camera and guitar…. oh, and fiance and her sister and loaded up the truck… An hour later we were sitting at about 200′ above sea level watching the ocean. For the next eight hours on a Saturday that’s all we did.

The anticipation was pretty great for the tsunami to hit, and when the ocean started receding we were all waiting for it to pound the coastline. But it never came. The ocean just filled back in slowly. A few more times that happened then came the “all clear.”

So, no cool photos of the ocean for you to check out this week… But thanks for all the prayers and kind words, texts and facebook messages. It was great feeling all your support!

Mazatlan

Let’s get back to Mexico…

So last week I took you to Puerta Vallarta, and this week I’m going to hit Mazatlan. This town was pretty big, and not a lot of really gotta see things. In fact the coolest was probably the market. It was about a full city block in size, and you could buy anything from Chicken’s feet to Pig’s heads and everything in between.

Had some pretty good tacos as well in M Town.. probably got a picture or two of them below… Love those street vendors. They always have the best tacos.

I really don’t have much to say about Mazatlan. It definitely wouldn’t be a place I would look to go back to. I know I wasn’t there for very long, but it just wasn’t that impressive of a city. My photos from here are a bit weak too, so I’ll give you quantity over quality this week. But stick around, next week we’ll get to Cabo and then we’ll see some pretty cool shots…

Like I said, I’m drained right now, so I’m ending it here this week. Thanks again for all your prayers and blessings this week. Keep all those Chileans in mind too. I can’t imagine dealing with what they are right now. More next week… Have a great rest of the week and as always, stay safe!

All my aloha,

Michael

I’m not sure what church this was, but it was pretty cool inside… Right in the heart of the city.

Coastline

I really liked the colors of these buildings. Unfortunately, most buildings were all decrepit and run down, but those that were painted nice, looked really happy.

I like this shot of us wandering down some street…

Gotta love all the condiments and sauces… mmm…. I want some more carne asada…

I thought this guy was homeless as he was just sitting and sleeping on this stool next to us at this local taco cart. But just before I was about to buy him a couple tacos, he pulled out a huge wad of cash and paid the guy running the cart to run across the street and get him a Coke…

Yes, this is Photoshopped. I laid 7 photos on top of each other to get this effect. The point is to show how close these guys were jumping to the rocks. this was a spectacle where everyone stopped to watch and these guys would take money from tourists. When they got enough suckers they would jump off the rock into the ocean. It looked a bit dangerous to me, but heck, if the water wasn’t so cold….

Aloha everyone, it’s Friday!

Seriously, it is! I’ve needed this weekend in a bad way… got sick on the plane ride back from L.A. and haven’t been able to recover. Now I’m sitting here with a back spasm, a sore throat and a nose that’s stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey. But I’m not complaining, heck, I just got back from Mexico!

Puerta Vallarta

So if you’ve been getting these updates for awhile, then you know that I like to venture off the beaten path as they say. I like to get into the thick of the culture, places where most people never find themselves. So going on a cruise has never really appealed to me. But, since the whole family was going, Mom and Dad, Jen and Joe, Caroline and I, I felt a lot better about giving it a shot. I’m going to break this up into three or four segments so I can give you something to look forward to (at least for the photos) in the next coming weeks… believe me, the photos get better… but let’s dig right in, shall we?

We all met up in L.A. on February 6. Jen and Joe were sleeping two doors down from my folks when Caroline and I showed up at the hotel. It was about 5 am if I remember right when we quietly knocked on my parents door.

Upon opening the door my mom went on waking up the entire hotel she was so excited to see Caroline… oh, and me too! So if you were staying at the Sheraton by LAX the morning of Feb. 6, I sincerely apologize for my mother’s actions.

We took a shuttle down to San Pedro Pier where we got on the enormous Princess Sapphire boat (apparently they don’t like it being referred to as a “boat” though, you gotta call it a “yacht.” Whatever… it’s still a boat…). Anyway, took the stuff up to the state rooms, grabbed a quick glance out the balcony and made our way to the buffet.

Oh yea, it was really hard to stop eating. They were basically serving whatever you wanted whenever you wanted it. This cruise thing was already starting to make me smile…

Soon we left the port and started our sail down to our first stop, Puerta Vallarta. It would be another two days before we actually made it to the port, so those first few days at sea were spent lounging by the pool, reading books, (alright, a book. give me a break, I’m a slow reader.) smoking cigars, eating from the pizza bar, the burger bar, the ice cream bar, the buffet and all the restaurants on board.

When we got to Puerta Vallarta, we only had about 8 hours to peruse the town at will. I knew these short times would make it difficult to jump into any real cultural excursions, so my goal for Mexico was to find los mejor tacos en todo el pais! I trust you all speak enough Spanish to get that. So the taco hunt began early.

I dropped off Caroline at a nail salon where she could get a manicure and pedicure for $20 and walked over to the local cab stand. I rapped with my hombres for a bit and they kinda laughed at me trying to find real Mexico in a tourist destination, but they did point me in a good direction to find the best tacos in the country….

Most of the action happens down by the Malecon (boardwalk) which is right on the beach there. But the best tacos are up by the stadium at the local taquerias where they don’t speak any ingles.

And boy did I find them. I grabbed Caroline from the nail salon and went on a rampage! We ate tacos from street vendors all over the city serving carne asada, pollo, carnitas, cabeza and more. We only had one or two at each place so we could try everyone’s. Man they were good too….

I know most people like the American-Mexican tacos, but for me, I love the authentic style. I seriously think I could probably eat Mexican food for the rest of my life and be quite content… Love that stuff…

There was more to PV than just the tacos, but that was definitely my favorite part. They did seem to have the best tacos of all the stops we made (Mazatlan and Cabo were next).

Finally, when we were fattened up we got back on the ship. The next day we were going to be at Mazatlan, where we had more taco hunts to go on, but for this evening I had to get back and rest before my shrimp cocktail, soup and salad, prime rib dinner, cheesecake, sorbet nightcap and nightly cigar… ah, life is good. Why am I not fat? Next week I’ll dive into more than tacos, I promise….

Coming up…

In the next few issues we’ll get into Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas and an awesome project that we did in Los Angeles for The Earth Trot Project. For all of you who have been helping us out by spreading the word, or purchasing merchandise, photos, calendars, blankets, etc. THANK YOU! The project was a huge success… You’ll find out more soon…

But until then, have a safe weekend and a thank you for all your support! Oh, and a quick shout out to my lovely fiance as her birthday is coming up on Wednesday (same day as my brother’s!). Don’t tell her, but I haven’t gotten her anything yet, and I’m running thin on ideas. So if you have any, hit me up! I could always use some good suggestions!

Alright everyone, again, have a great week, and stay safe!

All my aloha,

Michael

What? His name was Moises, alright?!! No, I didn’t build this… or write that…

Local fisherman.

I loved seeing all these pelicans perched on the rooftops of these condos. Not sure I’d want to be chillin’ out on those balconies though….

Caroline just had to have Coke from a glass bottle! But the Sprite was much better…

These were pretty good tacos. I’d say third best in Puerta Vallarta… Caroline liked them too, until she read the sign that said “Cabeza.” If you don’t know what that is, well, do a google search…

I’m going to say these were the second best. Right next door was another taqueria where the guy put his whole heart into making them. Unfortunately, they didn’t make for as good of photographs, so I’ll show you these.

I think we ate at all the Tacquerias in Puerta Vallarta

You know how I love watching the waves break. There was a pretty decent shore break in PV…

Aloha everyone, it’s Friday!

No, actually its Monday, but it was Friday a few days ago, when I thought about how much I’m neglecting my readers. I gotta start treating you better, so let’s start off with that right now. That’s my new year’s resolution. More Aloha Fridays… Glad I waited til almost February to send the first one out…. ayaiyai…

Save gas – ride a bike!

One of the reasons I’ve had a hard time writing lately is because I’ve been preoccupied saving the world. Well, alright, that may be an overstatement, but I am reducing my carbon footprint. Almost six weeks ago I bought myself a Christmas present, my first bike. And by bike, I mean BIKE.

I’ve wanted one for as long as I can remember, but was never able to make it happen until recently. My good friend Todd made me an excellent deal on a really nice Harley Davidson. So instead of driving to work, I’m now able to RIDE to work. Every day, I’ve been taking the bike down to the beach and riding with friends all over the rock.

However, now, I’m bikeless. But only for a short time… I sent the bike over to Honolulu to where my good friend and client Kevin Brenner lives. Kev builds custom bikes. And all of the bikes he builds are 100% first class, primo. So, he’s working on the bike right now, he’s going to fix it up and customize this thing to be out of this world. And as excited as I am to have this work being done to it, I’m hating not having the bike here to ride!

Believe me, I will keep you posted on this project…

Mexico

In two weeks I’ll be heading off on a Mexican cruise out of Los Angeles to Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerta Vallarta. It’s a 7 day cruise and should be a lot of fun. As you all know, I’m not much into touristy things, but I’m really looking forward to this experience. I’m going with Caroline, my mom and dad, my sister and her boyfriend, so it should be a blast.

Anyone have any suggestions for any of these towns, let me know. I looked today into getting off in PV and meeting back up with the boat in Mazatlan. Called the cruise line and they said that was cool if I find my own way up to Mazatlan. So that may be an option…. crash in Xalisco for a night or something…

The Earth Trot Project Video

I heard from a few of you that you weren’t able to view the video I sent out a couple weeks ago. For those of you who weren’t able to see it, check it out here.

Basically there’s this white cross that oversees the main city here in Maui of Wailuku and Kahului. The cross sits way up in the hills. Well, one day we hiked up there and found that it was just a couple pieces of wood roughly nailed together. There was also a small sign saying that it was erected and maintained by St. Anthony’s School.

There was nothing else around there, nowhere to sit or relax after this relatively tiring hike. So, we tried to fix that. The video is pretty rudimentary, but I think you’ll get the picture. I took the whole thing with my iPhone, and since I didn’t get any feedback on it, I’m guessing not many of you were actually able to see it. So, try this link and let me know what you think!

Alright everyone, have a great week, stay safe (and warm, if applicable), and hit me back when you get a chance!

All my aloha,

Michael

Yea, that’s what I’m talking about!

Nice bike, nice truck, life is good!

Alright, I’m ready for a ride…

And some tropical fish for your enjoyment…

Pineapples growing up in Haiku, Maui

Aloha everyone, it’s Friday!

Well, Thursday night, but by the time most of you get this, it will be FRIDAY!!! I know you’re confused since I just sent you an Aloha Friday just a few weeks ago. But you know, I really enjoy writing these entertaining newsletters. Some are littered with facts and events and some are just for fun. This is a fun one. With a lot of shock value to some… Let’s jump right in…

My mom is going to absolutely freak out in about 30 seconds…

So as you know, Caroline and I have been engaged now for a few months and have been looking at different options for wedding locations, receptions, officiants, etc. and really haven’t been getting very far. I know a lot of you are already married and have gotten that way recently, so let me ask you, is it really as crazy as it seems trying to set this whole thing up?

Well, we’ve been a bit overwhelmed, but to our surprise we found a very simple and easy way around the whole process. In fact, it just fell into our laps. Let me explain…

I’ve got a real good friend, and jam partner, Mike Sidney, who also happens to be a wedding photographer. His wife, Tokie, conveniently enough is a wedding coordinator. Well, earlier this week, Tokie calls and asks for a favor. She and Mike were working on a wedding promotional, but their wedding couple bailed on them and they wanted Caroline and I to step in.

What we would be doing is having a “mock” wedding, with officiant, musician and everything. We would need to look like it was a real ceremony and they’d take photos and all that for their business promotionals.

We were of course excited to do it. Caroline went out and got a dress donated to her by a designer on the island and I had picked up a shirt to wear with khaki pants that I thought would look nice. We headed up to the Mendes Ranch in North Maui to where the photo shoot was going to be.

When we got up there we were introduced to the officiant and musician and waiting around for the Sidneys to come by. We told the officiant, Pia, that we were engaged and going through the process of looking for locations and all that and we were just getting really fed up with the whole scene and the outrageous cost of everything.

At that point, Pia looked over at us and said, “why don’t we do it now?” Implying that since he was already there, and so was the musician and two of our closest friends on the island, that he could legally marry us right there.

Caroline and I looked over at each other, both knowing very well that our parents and sisters would kill us if we said yes. So we said no. But the more we thought about it, we thought that we could still have a reception party later that our friends and family could attend. So we changed our minds and had Pia marry us on Wednesday!

It was really exhilarating! Even though I could hear my mother screaming at me from Chicago, the pressure of finding a location, catering, reception and all that nonsense drowned out her yelling. It was a beautiful day, the sun was blazing and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We got married on a cliff overlooking the most majestic ocean in the world, the beautiful blue Pacific.

Of course, afterwards, we took Mike and Tokie out to lunch and thanked them for asking us to simply “stand in” for other models. Now we’re in the clear for a honeymoon to Tahiti! Woohooo!!! Oh, yea, and we’ll plan a reception party for sometime after the New Year. What we’re thinking is we’ll just have one in Chicago and another in Vancouver and of course one more here in Maui for all our friends and family around the country and in Canada. So stay posted, I’ll fill you all in on that as soon as we figure it all out!

2010 Earth Trot Calendars!

For all of you who ordered calendars this year, THANK YOU!!! They’ve been sent out already, and you may actually have them already too! And for those of you who were slacking on ordering some, or if you don’t have any ideas for Christmas presents for a loved one, let me tell ya, everybody loves calendars! Order yours by clicking here!

I’ve got a few more here at the house, so get them now, and they should get there before Christmas!

Last Friday I got a letter from the IRS about The Earth Trot Project. They want more information. Tons more. And they want it all by Dec. 18th. So I’ve been super hard at work trying to get this all together.

We’ve decided to go ahead with the first project, anyway. It’s small and part of our new “guerilla charity” series, but stay tuned. It’s going to take place tomorrow, so hopefully the next Aloha Friday will have some photos or videos from that….. …or maybe some from Tahiti!!

Hope this finds you as well as I am! Have a great weekend, and stay safe, my friends!

All my aloha,

Michael

How great is this view of the North Maui coastline

Awwwwwwww………

The lovely couple.

Dang, girl, you look fine!!!

Hold on, GQ on the phone….

Alright, Mom, relax. Re-read the fourth and fifth sentences. What a great photo shoot, huh? I love you! Call you this weekend!

First off, thank you all for the congratulatory emails. I had a feeling I’d get a few, but didn’t know that everyone would be sending me messages! But at this point I have to apologize to everyone for not being clear on something….

Earlier in the newsletter I mentioned that some of my newsletters were just for fun, and that one was one of them. I tried to keep it kinda subtle, but I guess I was a bit TOO subtle. I really apologize for misleading anyone. In reality, we were just there for the photo shoot. We did not get legally married!! Not yet, anyway. We are still planning on getting married some time in March, 2011.

That being said, we are thinking now of just having it as a very small ceremony. Probably just our immediate family members and a couple close friends. We are hoping to have receptions in Chicago and Vancouver as well, sometime after we get hitched. We’ll keep you posted on that!

So once again, I apologize for the confusion, we are NOT actually married, it was just a photo shoot. Only a handful of you actually caught that I was writing a fictional newsletter, so I thought I better now send a retraction…. We are so blessed to have so many friends and family members that have been sending their wishes, and love. We truly appreciate all of you, and again I’m sorry for misleading you!

Hope you have a great weekend!

All my aloha,

Michael

Aloha everyone, it’s Friday!

Hey What are the chances? It seriously IS Friday this time!!! Thank goodness, an Aloha Friday that actually comes out on a Friday. And speaking of giving thanks, that’s exactly what I want to do right now.

Giving Thanks

This past year has been filled with some of the most wonderful times and some of the most challenging. And through it all, I found myself giving thanks each and every day for all the blessings that I’ve been fortunate enough to be given.

I’m thankful that every day I wake up with four fully functional limbs, eyes that see, ears that hear, fingers that type, a nose that smells and a mind that works (don’t say it…).

I’m thankful that I’ve been given an opportunity to live in a beautiful place, with a beautiful condo, a beautiful cat and a beautiful bride to be. I’m thankful for my family, for my future family, for my work ohana, my friends and everyone who crosses my path.

I’m thankful for the challenges that have been put in my life and for the ability to see past them and take steps to see the big picture. I’m thankful for being blessed with friends and family like you with whom I can share my thoughts and feelings. I certainly hope that you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and are enjoying a wonderful long weekend!

My life has been extremely busy lately. No I haven’t been making wedding plans (we don’t really have any plans, other than to get married sometime in March 2011. That’s as far as we’ve gotten in the last two months. Instead I’ve been working hard on new websites, logos and apparel design for clients. When I’m not doing that, I’m taking classes. Mondays I have Hawaiian Language class, Tuesdays there is Hawaiian Culture and History of Maui, Wednesdays are for guitar, motorcycle classes over the weekends and so on….

Not only that, but there have been a hundred projects around the house that I’ve been working on. So I certainly apologize for not getting the opportunity to write you guys in a while. I’ve had so many ideas, but time is fighting against me. But stay tuned, there are some cool things I’ve got in the works…

So what in the world is going on with The Earth Trot Project?

As you know, I’ve submitted all the paperwork to get my 501c3 status from the IRS, which will give me the full non-profit status. I had a lawyer work on it with me, and when we finished I sent it off. This was in May. It’s now been six months and I haven’t heard anything other than they got it and they’re looking over it.

I’ve been waiting to get that status before starting any big project. The reason for that is so that when we have that status not only can we more easily generate funding, but we can also write off our cost of goods, and not pay taxes on the money we are using to operate the projects. So until we get it, we’ll just be stockpiling funds and getting ready to run some cool projects when we do get that status. So please, be patient, the status is coming, and then I want to run with The Earth Trot Project as my number one priority.

Until we get it, however, we are planning a few “Guerilla Charity” tactics. Things we can do locally that will help bring smiles to our community. In fact, there’s a teaser picture below of one of our first projects… I’ll explain more in the next ETP newsletter… Coming soon….

2010 Earth Trot Calendars!

Since last year was so successful with the sale of these calendars, I’ve decided to order some more. This year there are all new images, Some really cool pics and again, the profits will be going towards funding The Earth Trot Project. The cost is $25, same as last year.

So, buy them by the crate! They make great holiday gifts for everyone on your list! I ordered the first batch today, so when they arrive they will go out first come first serve. If we need more, I’ll order more, but in order to guarantee yours delivered to you before Christmas, you’ll want to order them as soon as possible. You can order them by clicking on the link at the bottom of this newsletter, or by clicking here!

There are a few teaser pics of these down at the bottom of this newsletter, so check them out and click on the link to place your order! Alright, well I’ve been rambling for way too long. Have a great weekend, my friends, and I certainly hope to hear from you all very soon!

All my aloha,

Michael

This is a bit of a precursor to a project we’re currently working on… A little something to give back to our local community. More info on this later…

I I love Hawai’i!

Pretty cool leaf… I forgot what these are called, but these leaves can be HUGE, upwards of three feet long!

A beautiful Japanese pagoda in the middle of a small pond on the island of Lana’i

The 2010 Earth Trot Calendars are here!!! What great holiday gifts they make!! Order one for each room in the house! Order yours now, click here!

Aloha eveyone, it’s Friday!

Wednesday, Friday, whatever. As many of you know by now, especially all you Facebook junkies (you know who you are)… I got engaged about a week and a half ago. So, most of this newsletter is going to be dedicated to that.

I gotta apologize before I go any further… this newsletter might get a bit weird or might not make sense. The reason for that is because I’m sitting on the couch watching this show “Worst Case Scenario” on Spike TV, and its super intense. Right now I’m learning how to survive a mall shootout… In case I’m ever in a mall… and it gets taken hostage…

Anyway, now that I got that out of the way, I’ll get back to the situation at hand. You know, its funny, I can’t even count how many times someone said to me that one day I was going to return from one of my little travel adventures with a wife.

Well that didn’t happen, but I did take a trip to a tiny little island in the Pacific and return with a fiancée. The fortunate thing is I left for the trip with a girlfriend. (Yes, the same one I’m now engaged to…).

So here’s how it played out:

On Friday morning, October 2, Caroline and I boarded the Expeditions Ferry for the island of Lana’i, a quaint little island of about 3200 people. We took the first ferry over and by about 7:30am we were docking at Manele Bay.

As I had been on the island before, I was familiar with the whole island, and knew of some of the really cool areas on the rock. So we rented a jeep and took off for some of the 4×4 trails along the top ridge of the island.

After about an hour and a half, we stopped and had a little snack break before heading on to an area known as The Garden of the Gods. We careened through the open stretches of barren lands, red dirt and rock formations and headed straight down to one of the most amazing places in all of Hawai’i. A massive beach known as Polihua.

When we got there, it was perfect. Stretching for as far as the eye could see in both directions and not another person on it. Just long wavy golden grains of sand. We walked for awhile and talked a bit, then I took her hand.

I told her that I wanted to live my life with her, that I wanted to spend every vacation with her on my arm and that I loved her more than life itslef. Finally I dropped to one knee and popped the question.

Caroline was so excited and the ring was exactly what she wanted. (Thanks Chris and Anne for helping make that happen!) …And of course, she said “YES!!!!!!!”

The rest of the trip was spent in bliss at the Four Seasons Manele Bay Resort. While we were there we had an amazing ocean view room that looked out at pods of Spinner Dolphins that swam by each morning. Most of Friday, Saturday and Sunday were spent in the pool and hot tub (as you may know, we are both half-fish). Though we did leave the pools and jacuzzis long enough to enjoy some beautiful meals at the hotel and at the other Four Seasons on the island, the Lodge at Koele.

We were even treated one night to a champaigne and fruit platter courtesy of my good friend Mikey.

The whole weekend was magical and of course one neither of us will ever forget! Now we’ve gotta start the process of planning the wedding which is already overwhelming. Luckily, we know a couple people who have gone through this before us, so we’ll have to pick some brains for ideas and locations (on Maui. Sorry mom…).

Well, that’s it. Its official, I’m getting hitched. And I couldn’t be happier! We’re really blessed that our family and friends are so supportive and encouraging. Thank you all for all your wonderful notes, memos, phone calls, etc.

I’m already dreading all the preparations and planning we have to do for this thing, but I’m looking forward to arranging the honeymoon…..

Hope you are all doing as well as I am! Have a great day, and fantastic rest of your week!

All my aloha,

Michael

Wild Ginger just after a light sprinkle.

Japanese Koi

Not many flowers can compare in beauty to that of a Lotus.

Almost too beautiful to be true, isn’t it?

I don’t know what kind of leaf this is, but I like it…

Chinese Bamboo

This picture was taken on Polihua Beach on the secluded west coast of the sleepy little island of Lana’i just minutes after I proposed.

Another shot of me and my beautiful bride to be…

Aloha eveyone, it’s Friday!

Well, its not, but seriously, when was the last time I sent one of these out on a Friday? I guess its just a catchy name, isn’t it….

Steve Neubauer (Feb. 24, 1984 – Jul. 31, 2009)

For those of you who don’t know, a few weeks ago my younger brother, Steve, passed away. It was a sudden death, one caused by his own hand.

Its hard for me now to think about it, but something inside of me wants to pay tribute to who he was, the beauty that he shared with the world, and the darkness that fell over him. I understand you may not have ever known him, and you may not know me, but I gaurantee you there will be things that I share with you in this short passage that you will relate to you or someone you know.

25 years ago when my brother was born he lit up the world. Everywhere he went he made people laugh and smile. It was contagious. He was the life of every party from a young age. Everyone wanted to be around him.

When we would go out to dinner or to the mall or wherever our parents would take us, Steve would inevitably get lost. My mom and dad would freak out looking and shouting for him, but he was never that hard to find. Anywhere there was a soda machine, a pay phone or a vending machine, there was Steve searching underneath it, behind it and in every slot for loose change.

It wasn’t uncommon for him to leave a store with more money than he came with.

At family gatherings he played the “bartender.” At four years old he would walk around handing everyone cold beers from the cooler. And if you watched him closely enough you’d see him take a swig every now and then before handing the brew over to an adult. Truth be told, it made us laugh. Of course mom and dad yelled at him, but when he wasn’t looking they laughed too.

No one really gave it to much thought. But in high school he started drinking pretty heavily. I know a lot of people do, but not like Steve. He became so dependent upon alcohol that it changed his personality. The fun, outgoing exciting kid became a cold, dark, introverted teen.

He was quiet at home, not talking with anyone, save on rare occassions. He would lock himself into his room and not come out. -Sounds like a lot of teens, right? Well, soon he was kicked out of school. Steve was getting into a lot of trouble with drinking and soon my parents stepped in.

They sent him to rehab. They sent him to counselors. They took him to meetings, anything they could to reach him. But nothing worked. The little spark plug I used to have as a brother was gone.

Steve realized the problem he had too, but he would never talk about it. Not until he was already heavily intoxicated. Then he would spew all this nonsense about how he was worthless and he was such a burden and how he hated what he had become. He even admitted once that he hated alcohol but it had such a grip on him that he couldn’t live with or without it.

For the last ten years of his life he was in and out of trouble with the law. But every time something happened my family showed so much love for him. Giving him so many chances to make a change. He knew it too. He loved everyone so much, but couldn’t face what he had become. So he shut everyone else out.

On July 31st my brother Steve took his own life.

Of course, everyone is deeply saddened by this, myself included. But through the tears I’m able to see something so incredibly beautiful that I had to share it with you.

Steve knew that there was no way he was ever going to beat this disease. He understood that so much better than any of us did, who encouraged him to get help and get his life back on track. He knew that could never happen. He saw the pain that my mother, my father, my sister, myself and all our friends and family were dealing with in our efforts to help. He saw how my mom and dad worried every day if they didn’t hear from him and how my sister was always there to give him a place to stay or a hot meal.

For ten years my parents sat by the phone. For ten years my sister bailed him out of trouble. For ten years I wondered if the next late night call from a family member would be the one that would carry the unspeakable news. My family spent thousands of dollars and shed so many tears on the hope of having the old Steve back.

And so the day he died, he gave the greatest gift he could give. He gave himself. Steve took his life, so that we could have ours back. He did this because he loved us so much more than he loved himself.

I’m tearing up right now writing this, but I wanted to share this one thing with you. If nothing else, love. Every day. Tell someone. Show someone. Love someone. No matter how hard it is, no matter if you know the person or not, show love.

Thank you to everyone for their support, prayers and undying love. My family and I could not have gone through this without you.

I think that’s about it for me tonight. I promise next time I write an Aloha Friday it will have more humor, more great news and of course, more great photos. I’m going to end this edition with the same words Steve used in his last note…

I LOVE YOU ALL.

Michael

Steve and I in Southern Illinois

Steve from a recent wedding he attended

Aloha eveyone, it’s Friday!

Seriously, it IS Friday!!! Man after being back on the island for a week now, it certainly feels good to be home on the weekend! Alright, let’s dive right in…

Vancouver / Chicago

As you know, last time I wrote, I was literally heading out the door to make my plane for a trip to Vancouver with Caroline. So we made it there, after a short layover in L.A. where my good friend Moser DIDN’T come to see me…

Around noon the day after we left we landed in Vancouver and were greeted by a customs agent that I basically came about 2 seconds away from kicking in the kneecaps. After dealing with customs, we were picked up by Caroline’s parents.

The ride back to their house was beautiful. Gorgeous mountain and ocean views all around. I didn’t know how many little islands the Vancouver area had, but they’re basically everywhere with different bridges or ferries connecting them all.

The next day was the wedding of Gabrielle and Justin. It was a lot of fun, and a very beautiful ceremony. Those two are certainly a cute couple! Congratulations again, you two! Come back to Maui soon!

We did so much while we were in Vancouver, I can’t possibly list them all, but one of the highlights was Stanley Park. Located just outside of the city, this HUGE park was packed the day we went. Apparently when we arrived it was the first weekend of summer weather, so the park was full of people. There were beaches in some areas and plenty of jogging and hiking trails throughout. We walked around a good part of the park enjoying the beautiful scenery and people watching.

We took a couple days and cruised up to Whistler too. That was awesome! Whistler is a cool little ski town by winter, and by summer its a bustling mountain-biking, hiking and full on outdoor adventure center. It was a bit odd though, since we came the first day of June, it was still considered their in-between time, so there were seriously no people there.

We stayed at the Four Seasons and honestly I think there were about 6 other people in the hotel. I say that, because at night I counted the lights on from the outside. Not that we actually saw any other people… In fact, we had dinner there one night and when we sat down there was one other group next to us, and that was it all night.

Kinda felt like we were in The Shining, except there was no snow, we weren’t trapped and there were no murdering lunatics stalking the grounds either…. Alright, so maybe not like The Shining, but perhaps more like Xanadu or whatever it was called in Citizen Kane…

After about a week in Vancouver and Whistler, we traveled on to Chicago, my old stomping grounds, to show Caroline around. Of course, I had to introduce her to Italian Beef and Chicago style hot dogs from Portillos, White Castles, Giordano’s deep dish pizza and all kinds of home cooking that my lovely Italian mom tries to stuff us with.

We stayed a couple nights at the Four Seasons in the city too, which was really nice. Spent Friday night with some great friends, Chris, Anne, Sara, Carmen, Eric, Danielle and Jayson down at Blue Chicago. While there our long time friend John Primer put on a great show with Patricia Scott, who was amazing!

So what else did we do, let’s see… went to a couple museums, went fishing, hung out a bunch with Chris and Anne (Chris was nice enough to take off the whole week I was in… thanks Chris, I love you, man!), and of course spent oodles of time with the family.

Finally, I flew back home to Maui on Thursday to take the firefighter physical exam, while Caroline stayed a couple extra days with my folks… Props to you, Carolina! What a great trip it was!

Firefighter testing

I was really nervous, scared and anxious to get this testing done with. I had been working out for it for about six months, and trained a little while I was in Chicago too, but I didn’t know what to expect.

It was two days of intensive training (If you made it to the second day). And the events covered a lot of different elements, like swimming, diving, running, stamina, and strength activities.

I made it through the first day, though I thought I was about to die after the run…. I don’t know why, but even though I’m so thin, I just can’t seem to gain the stamina I need to make running an easy event for me.

The second day was much more intense. There were only two events. The first was a stair climb. It consisted of running up five and a half flights of stairs in full firefighter uniform while carrying a fifty pound hose on your shoulder. Oh, and it had to be completed in under 35 seconds…..

I was pretty worried about that, but I ended up finishing in 25 seconds, so I was stoked!

The final event was a medley that consisted of draggiing a fire hose about two hundred yards. The hose was coiled so that the first hundred yards or so you pulled would weigh about 150lbs., and then after that the second hose’s weight kicked in, so you were dragging maybe about 300lbs for the second hundred yards. After that, you had to drop the hose, run back the two hundred yards, pick up a 50lb. hose and carry that on your shoulder another two hundred yards. After dropping that, we were required to drag a 175lb. “body” about 50 yards, then sprint back 50 more yards, pick up a charged fire hose which was I don’t even know how heavy, but REAL heavy, then we had to throw that on our shoulder and drag it about 25 yards forward and the same amount to the right before dropping it in a box that was safe outside of a firezone….

Oh, and we had to do it wearing the fire gear again. Oh yea, and also, it was timed. We had to do it in less than 2 min. 30 seconds.

Needless to say, it was hard. Probably the hardest two and a half minutes of my life. Many people didn’t pass this test. None of the girls that made it this far were able to do it, and several of the guys failed too. In all only forty people passed the physical.

By the time I finished dragging the body, I think I was hallucinating. I walked to the charged line, picked it up, and dug in. My legs were shaking like shocks on a Hummer. I couldn’t even feel anything. Not even sure if I was breathing. I don’t know if I was moving the hose or not, until finally I just closed my eyes. I heard all my new friends cheering for me, I heard the prayers of all my family and friends and when I opened my eyes again I had made it out as far as I needed to! I dragged the hose to the right and dropped it in the box. 2 minutes, 11 seconds!

I felt like I was going to puke, but amid high fives from everyone there and taking off the firefighter’s jacket, (that thing is hot!), all I wanted was to pass out. It wasn’t until about five minutes later that I realized I actually did it. I passed the exam! Honestly I didn’t think I could do it, and I know I really didn’t. There was a higher power that carried me that last 25 feet. I truly felt awestruck by the whole situation.

I couldnt’ wait for the rest of the people to finish so I could jump in my truck and bail out of there! The first thing I did when we were done was call Kev, my good friend and a firefighter from O’ahu who had more confidence in me than I did. He was soooo stoked for me! And so was I!

Needless to say, when I got home and showered off, Caroline was there and she was even more excited! This doesn’t mean anything yet, I know that, but I’m happy just having made it this far. Now, if I get a call and the opportunity to interview, that would be great, but if not, at least I gained this experience. And I grew a whole new level of appreciation for what our firefighters do to keep themselves in top shape!

Maui Film Festival

This year’s Maui Film Festival started on Wednesday and finishes up this weekend. Last night I saw a film called “Rock Prophecies.” It was a pretty cool flick about this Rock n’ Roll photographer who tries to find new talent.

Tonight I’m going down to check out a couple more shows. Then on Sunday there’s a flick called “More Than A Game” about LeBron James, followed by another movie called “Facing Ali” which both look amazing.

Oh, snap, it’s getting late, and I better get out there to check out these flicks. Have a great weekend everyone! Stay safe, and give me a shout if you get a chance!

All my aloha,

Michael

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to locate the images from this rendition of the Aloha Friday….  I will try to look for them and repost when I find them….  Thanks for your patience and understanding…. Michael – January 21, 2011

Aloha eveyone, it’s Friday!

Alright, you got me, it’s Tuesday. Maybe I should start off by introducing myself. Considering I haven’t written an AF newsletter in over 2 months… I know, I’m a slacker… Got a lot of cool stuff today though, and I promise I’ll make up for it by attaching a lot of pictures….

So let’s get started….

Paddler’s Open

This year I took over as head coach of the Four Seasons Outrigger Canoe Team. We decided to only race in one event this year, so I had my crews training pretty hard. Well, the culmination of about 3 months of training took place the first weekend in April. We entered 6 races in the Paddler’s Open in Kihei and full on dominated all events. We took first place in every division and swept the entire medals stand! Yea, pretty cool!

Kalaupapa

I’m going to go over this kinda quickly as I’m going to write a more in-dpeth article on Kalaupapa for the ETP site, which I’ll share with you when I finish it. But for those of you unfamiliar, Kalaupapa is a small peninsula that juts out from an exceedingly jagged coastline off the North shore of Moloka’i.

The North shore of Moloka’i is best known for its amazing sea cliffs which are said to be the tallest in the world, over 3,000 feet high and fall straight down into the sea. Waterfalls line the cliffs and hiking up or down the cliffs is virtually impossible. A small stretch of flat land does protrude from the North shore and maybe is about 10 square miles or so. This land that is only accessible by air or by boat through the dangerous waters of the Pacific is home to Kalaupapa.

In the mid 1800′s, the peninsula became a leper colony for those affected with the disease here in Hawai’i. The Hawaiians didn’t have much immunity to outside diseases such as Hansen’s disease (leprosy) which was brought over on boats from Chinese immigrants. Soon the diseas spread rampant like a plague and thousands were affected.

Since the disease was said to be incurable, they took everyone with symptoms, put them on a boat and dropped them off on the peninsula of Kalaupapa. So in essence, Kalaupapa became a living hell. There was no escape, no help, no law; nothing but barren lava-rock landscapes.

Being sent to Kalaupapa was in reality, a death sentence. Once on the island, no one would leave. And as there was no establishments yet on the peninsula, it was truly all out anarchy around the settlement.

But in the late 1800′s, father Damien came to the island, setup some churches and established a bit of order around the area. After several years, he too became infected with the disease and eventually died of it. But his works were so inspiring that later this year he will actually be canonized and made a saint by the Catholic church.

Today in Kalaupapa there are still some people affected with the disease. And though it is now preventable, those that do have it choose to live out their remaining lives in the Kalaupapa setllement. It is for respect to these patients that no one under the age of 16 is even allowed to enter Kalaupapa. In fact, the only way to stay in Kalaupapa is to be sponsored by a resident of the community.

Luckily for me, I’m good friends with someone who’s good friends with someone who works for the state and happens to live in Kalaupapa. So we got the couple that lives over there (Charles and Julie) to sponsor a group of us to go over there and check it out! There were five of us total who went over for 2 to 3 days. We explored the peninsula, took tons of photographs and played in the natural untouched beauty that surrounds this once feared land.

Though the settlement itself is pretty small and nestled on the West side of the peninsula, the rest of the land has a lot of hidden gems surrounding it. We found plenty of tide pools, secluded beaches (well there were only really two beaches, but they were both secluded… no one on either one…), and amazing vista landscapes.

Even with all the beauty of the land, there was still an overwhelming sense of somberness to the island. Nearly everywhere you looked there were gravestones. And the stories we heard led us to believe that there were probably thousands more who died without any kind of formal burial.

As I mentioned above, I’m going to do a nice write up on Kalaupapa in the coming weeks, so I’m going to cut this short, but all in all, it is still an amazing place. All the pictures below are from our journey to the secluded peninsula.

Firefighter testing

I really haven’t let the cat out of the bag on this, and I probably shouldn’t now, but its been on my mind a lot lately, so I guess I’ll share it with you… Some of you know that some of my closest friends here in Hawai’i are firefighers on O’ahu. And since moving here seven years ago, I’ve come to know them and their lifestyle quite well.

Long story short, I decided to take the firefighter test for Maui County in March. The test is only held every three years or so and is probably one of the most sought after jobs on the island. That being said, about 2700 people applied for the job. There are tests that weed the candidates down considerably as there are only about 5 open positions. So the first is the written test.

This test was held in early March and I thought I completely bombed it. But to my surprise I scored well enough to be in the top 60 candidates! So from here, the next test is the physical test and that will take place on June 12 and 13th. Only the top 60 were invited to the physical, so I’m pretty excited about that! I’m not sure how I’ll do, but wish me luck! I’ll keep you posted on how it goes!

Vancouver/Chicago

I was hoping to keep this a surprise for my mom, but somehow my dad who’s usually great at keeping his mouth shut, let slip (even though he doesn’t think he did) that I’d be coming in town soon. Well, it’s true. I’m going to be going to Vancouver on Thursday with Caroline.

After that, we’ll head to Chicago the next weekend. So we’ll be in the city on the 5th of June, and fly back out on the 11th, just in time for the firefighter physical exam on the 12th. So mark your calendars! I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to see everyone, but I’m hoping to take a night and check out some blues clubs in the city. Maybe Friday the 5th…. does that work for you?

Alright, that’s it for now… wow, that was a lot longer than I was hoping to write… Well, gotta go and train for the FF test… Hope all is well, and hit me back if you get a chance!

All my aloha,

Michael

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to locate the images from this rendition of the Aloha Friday….  I will try to look for them and repost when I find them….  Thanks for your patience and understanding…. Michael – January 21, 2011

Aloha eveyone, it’s Friday!

I’m thankful that it is the weekend. And my house projects are nearing completion. I still have the other bathroom to paint and tile, but maybe I’ll get started on that this weekend. I’ve also got a big hole in my wall from new pipes that I had to have run for my hot and cold water lines. Apparently when they built this complex they used a supplier that used cheap parts. In turn, 20 years later, all the pipes are breaking in peoples’ condos. And this is causing a TON of damage. So now our association has mandated all of the owners to have new pipes run through their units. We have about 650 condos here, so you can imagine there is a lot of stink being put up by us.

Of course we think the association should be responsible for filing a claim against the builder or whoever laid the pipe. The problem is that outfit is long gone. So if we wanted to file a claim it would have to be for our insurance to cover and if our insurance covered it, then our premiums would all skyrocket. So that’s pretty much a lose-lose situation.

Oh, well. So I’ve got my house torn up. What else is new. But anyway, that’s just money, and as my friend Ray Liotta said in the movie Blow: “Money doesn’t matter. It only seems like it does.”

Last weekend I took off to do a hike in Northwest Maui. I had done this hike before but really wanted to do it again. In fact I’ve been wanting to do it for awhile. The hike itself is quite a vertical climb, but worth the effort. About five miles in total, it traverses along the ridge of Mauna Kahalawai.

Maui as you may know, is made up of two volcanoes. Mauna Kahalawai is the older, about 3 million years older, than Haleakala. Haleakala is a dormant volcano. In fact it is said to be the world’s largest dormant volcano sitting at over 10,000 feet tall and having a crater large enough to hold the entire island of Manhattan.

Sorry, that was my tour guide voice writing that. Anyway, I went up the older, extinct volcano and enjoyed the views from the ridge, and on the way to and from the ridge which basically took us through a cloud forest. I’m attaching a few shots from the journey, so I hope you enjoy those.

Facebook

So, all you Facebookers out there, I finally joined you. I know many of you have been telling me to get on there for a while now, and finally, I have. I can’t believe how quickly people find you and contact you. Kinda neat. If you’re on there, look me up! I need more friends. My little cousin has over 900 friends and I have about 6. Makes me feel so unimportant…

Alright, it’s now almost three o’clock, so I better either get to work or pick up my guitar and jam… hmmm……

Have a great weekend everyone! Hope you’re doing well, and hope to hear from you soon! Oh, and P.S. (did you know that means ‘post script’ , well, I’m not positive about that, but I think so…) I’m probably going to be sending out an Earth Trot Project article soon. This will be the first of its kind, but hopefully there will be more of them as well. The format will be similar to this, but it will focus on cultures, and conditions that we should be aware of throughout the globe. So stay tuned for that, it should be coming soon. Now back to my guitar… – er, work! I meant work!

All my aloha,

Michael

View of the ridge from atop the Waihe’e Ridge Trail, Northwest Maui.

Clouds rolled in pretty heavily on the way back, giving way to excellent atmospheric conditions that helped to get these surreal type of shots.

Another shot, you can see just beyond the plant on the left, how thick the fog was as we were heading down the mountain.

I took a couple shots of the mountain in black and white. Here’s one of them..

I’m not much for shooting with flashes or any staged lighting, so with a bit of cloud cover, the colors seem to pop out incredibly. Then again, Lightroom helps…

Another black and white shot of the valley.

And a color shot of the valley…

This was about the elevation where the clouds started coming in. I like the view of the ridge from beyond the jungle. Doesn’t it look like its right out of Jurassic Park? Of course, it isn’t. Though a good part of that flick was shot just down the road…

Sorry:

Seriously, I am. I’ve been meaning to write an update for a long time, but what I was hoping to have for you, I still don’t have.

Earth Trot:

So I know a lot of people have commented on the size of the prints available for sale on EarthTrot.com. Many of you said you’d like to see smaller sizes and some wanted larger than the 12″x18″ shots. Well, I was able to add more sizes to the store. Now you have the ability to purchase shots in 8″x12″ format, 12″x18″ format and 20″x30″ format.

The 20×30 prints are amazing! I just sent one out and it looked great! I wasn’t sure about the quality at that size, but was thoroughly impressed with the color and quality of the metallic prints. I’m using nothing but top quality printing with all sizes, so I know they aren’t the cheapest out there, but believe me, when you get one you’ll understand why the extra cost is worth it.

And just a reminder, if you do purchase a print through the store, profits go towards benefitting The Earth Trot Project. We’ve already raised about $750 for this thing and I haven’t been promoting it at all. After we get all the legal aspects taken care of I’m going to go full force into marketing the ETP, but for now, its kinda on the DL. So for raising $750 while still under wraps, I’m very impressed!

The Earth Trot Project:

Things are progressing with the legal shenanigans of forming the Non-Profit. There is one form that I’ve been struggling with for a LONG time, as many of you know. It’s called the 501(c) 3 form and its basically the form that gives you non-profit status in the eyes of the IRS.

I’m not much of a legal guy and have really no clue what I’m doing much of the time, so this form is killing me. But recently, I was reunited with a relative (second cousin, I think, but as is customary here in Hawai’i, I’ll just call him my Uncle) Jerry. Uncle Jerry is brilliant. No, seriously. I’m not real sure what his title is with his company (Deloitte), but he’s in charge of a lot of their accounting stuff. And instead of just using Quickbooks or one of those standard accounting programs, he writes his own. Yea, brilliant.

Anyway, he got word of The Earth Trot Project, checked out the website and started asking questions. When he found out I was still working on my 501 (c) 3 form, he offered to help! He’s setup several non-profits in the past and is stoked to be working with me on this! What a blessing! So, as soon as I get a few things in check on my end, he’ll help me finish the form, submit it and await word on whether or not we get approved…. so stay tuned, hopefully more on this soon….

Painting:

A couple weeks ago my roommate left to go back home for a couple weeks. And Caroline left for a school function on O’ahu. So it was Friday evening and since I had the house to myself for the weekend, I got a wild hair and decided to redo my bathrooms. I wanted to paint them and install new flooring. I figured if I worked hard, by the time Caroline came back on Sunday evening I would be finished.

I took a drive up to Home Depot and perused their flooring, paint, toilets and more. Then went next door to Lowes and checked their supplies. When I found the flooring i liked and the paint from Lowes, I headed back to the house to get started.

The paint was a nice dark salmon color that I was really excited about. I started by taping off the first bathroom. Since it has a million nooks and crannies, that took about two hours. But finally I got around to opening the paint. When I took off the lid I was a little shocked by the color. It looked very light and not the same as the color sample in my hand. But, I figured it would darken, so I got started.

After the first coat dried, I was certain that a second coat would take it from “Pepto-Bismol” to “dark salmon.” Unfortunately, the paint was set on staying pink. I tried to convince it with a third coat, but alas, it wasn’t darkening.

It was well after midnight when I gave up. On Saturday I got new paint. A couple shades darker and more of an orange-ish tint. Again, after two coats and looking at tangerine colored walls, I gave up. I decided to work on the floors instead.

I pulled out the toilet and started laying down the tile. I’m not sure how I did it, but I got the first bathroom done early Sunday morning. When I finished, I decided to give the painting another coat to darken it, but again, no dice. I re-installed the toilet, but the bathroom back together and conceded to the fact that a creamsicle throw up on my walls.

The following weekend, I did get it taken care of though. I got another gallon of paint, this time a dark pumpkin color and it came out looking pretty good. Now I’ve gotta do the same to the other bathroom…. argh….

Coaching:

This year I became the coach for the Four Seasons Outrigger Canoe Team. It was a default move, as our normal coach decided to take a year off and focus on his one-man paddling season. So I took over the duties and have been practicing about four times a week with the crew.

We’ve got a couple guys that are pretty solid, but I don’t know what to expect when it comes to the races in early April. Hopefully we can do well, but we’ll see. Thank goodness I’ve got Rhonda and Rob helping me out with this. Even though Rob is a SLACKER and never makes it out! (I say that because I know he’s reading this… I love Rob actually… even though he is a White Sox fan….).

Anyway, one of the coolest parts of training comes on Saturday mornings when after practice I invite anyone who’s interested to come out rock-running with me.

Rock running, for those of you unfamiliar, is the process of running with rocks under water. If you’ve seen the movie “Blue Crush” there was a scene that showed the girls running rocks.

So what we did was have everyone find a rock that was about half their body weight and carry them down to the water. Then we’d hold our breaths and run them out to sea. The weight of the rock keeps your body down under water and gives you the opportunity to run while carrying the rock under water. It’s difficult, but with time you can build your stamina and lung capacity significantly. We typically will do this for about half an hour or so.

I included a few pictures below of me running rock so you can check that out. That’s really about it for this edition. I know it’s not that exciting, but I promise I’ll have another update for you soon with some better pictures!

Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm. Have a great weekend and if you get a chance, hit me up!

All my aloha,

Michael

The nugget and I on the lanai.

Rock Running at Wailea Beach. What a great workout! Builds stamina, lung capacity and works the core pretty well too!

Another shot of me and my rock….

The tangerine bathroom…. couldn’t stand it. It might not be that bad, but the rest of my house has a lot of muted Asian tones and this room was just too much… on to the third color in one week…

Finally, I got the dark pumpkin color I was going for. And notice these nice floors too, looks good, yeah?

Rocks on the shore at sunset

Palm trees at Kalama Park.

Another palm at Kalama

Gotta represent. From the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. All Cubs all the time….

Sunset over the Pacific in Kihei.

The Philippines

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou (Happy New Years), it’s Friday! OK, it’s Sunday, but you know…

Let’s finish up our journey through the Philippines! So, last time I set off from the island of Bohol to the city of Cebu. Eventually I would fly out of Cebu, but at this point I was just passing through on my way North to the island of Malapascua.

Malapascua is about a 4.5 hour bus ride and 20 minute ferry ride from Cebu, so I left first thing in the morning as I wanted to spend as much time there as I could before my trip ended. The venture to get up there seemed like closer to about 20 hours, but alas, it was only four and a half.

The people of Malapascua touted their island as the next Boracay, but in reality, it has a long way to go to get to that level. There are only about 4,000 people that actually live on Malapascua and their aren’t many things to do other than snorkel and scuba dive over there.

Electricity is only available from 6pm to 11pm nightly, and the temperature there, even in late November, is extremely hot. That said, though, I actually liked this island better than Boracay. It was much more remote, still had the ultra-fine white sand beaches, and plenty of beautiful, tropical sights.

Shortly after I arrived, I commissioned a boat captain to take me around the island so I could get some photos from the sea and explore a bit like that. My boat captain, Don Don, also brought aboard snorkel gear so he could show me some of the underwater beauty as well.

I ended up diving at three places, the first a grouping of small sea rocks out in the ocean where plenty of fish ran rampant, the second an old WWII sunken ship that was pretty much just a carcass (mainlanders stole the iron from the boat to sell for scraps) and the third was an amazing underwater garden of coral formations and tropical fish. …Whew, if that wasn’t a run-on sentence…. Good thing my high-school English teacher, Mr. McGuire isn’t reading this… “Oh, laddies…”

Don Don showed me all kinds of beauty from the boat and told me stories of life on Malapascua, but above all pleaded that I help spread the word about their struggling life over there. As there isn’t much tourism to Malapascua, families like his are having a tough time making ends meet. So, if you happen to be visiting Malapascua any time soon, look up Don Don, he’s a good guy…

The setting and rising sun in Malapascua was an overwhelming treat to the senses. Reds, oranges, yellows, blues, purples and pinks danced across the sky, making pictures appear surreal. I snapped quite a few both in the evening and morning to try to harness the beauty before me, but to very weak extents compared to the magnitude of the glory that was before me.

I only spent a few days on Malapascua before heading back to Cebu. I would leave the island from Cebu and journey back to Maui, but not before a final treat in an unsuspecting place…

On the long, arduous bus ride back to Cebu, I sat next to a local girl for half the trip from the northern provinces of the island near Maya. I spoke to her for hours about my trip, how I perceived the Filipino people, what I thought of the country and many other topics.

Her name was Nikki and she was not like most of the people I had met up to this point. She was employed as a pharmacist and had a worldly grasp of the Philippine Islands, its people and the problems facing them.

We spoke about The Earth Trot Project and I asked what the best ways to help her people would be. She suggested a free clinic. The people in the Philippines don’t have much access to medicines or any health care of consequence it seemed. We talked about the possibilities of working together to open a clinic for a couple weeks to provide free medicines and consultations with physicians, and the idea grew on me tremendously.

Before Nikki left the bus, I gave her my contact info and begged her to keep in touch. When I finally did arrive back in Maui there was a message waiting from her and we’ve been in touch ever since. So, hopefully in the future we’ll have the opportunity to go back to the Philippines and work with Nikki and her colleagues to provide medical attention to locals in need.

I think this is about where I’ll end my journey to the Philippine Islands. It was a fantastic trip and worthy of a return, hopefully soon to work with Nikki and her colleagues. The people of the islands were incredibly friendly, hospitable and hard working. They had no sadness in their eyes for the poverty they were consumed with nor were they looking for a hand-out. Just good people with good hearts and a lot of faith in Jesus Christ.

I found it odd that an island in Southeast Asia would be as overwhelmingly Christian as the Philippines was, but it did make the people there quite compassionate and open to visitors from more Western cultures. The people I encountered never showed anything but respect and courtesy for this foreigner as I passed through their country. So in conclusion, although I was warned to be extremely careful and questioned as to why I was even going to the Philippines, I came back not only impressed but humbled by all the generosity and beauty of the islands. I hope soon I’ll have the opportunity to return and spread a little more Aloha with my new friends.

Back on Maui

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and you are all enjoying the new year. I know on the mainland the weather has been a bit rough lately and cold fronts have swept through the country from the Pacific Northwest through the East Coast. Here in the islands we’ve had some stormy conditions as well. It was so bad that during one storm on O’ahu, lightning struck a power source and the majority of the island’s power went out.

I had a friend, Noah, call me after it happened and told me that people over there were freaking out, since all the radios and TV were out, and it was a complete blackout over there no one knew what was going on. President-Elect Obama was in town too, so many people speculated it was a terrorist attack against him.

Thankfully, it was just a power outage, but regardless of where you are or what weather you’re experiencing, I hope you are well and in good spirits.

I’ve had some issues with my camera lately, some of which you’ve read about, so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get it back working and be able to send out the next Aloha Friday, but hopefully it won’t be long until the next installment. Thanks again for your support. More about the developments of The Earth Trot Project in the next issue.

Have a great weekend and week ahead of you. Stay safe, spread the Aloha, and as always, if you have a chance, hit me back! Let me know what you’re up to! I’d love to hear from you!

All my aloha,

Michael

Me at Malapascua at about 7:30am. It was already about 85 degrees.

Sunset from Malapascua Island.

Another sunset picture from Malapascua

Shot of a couple islands from my private boat tour around the island of Malapascua

I don’t know, just kinda liked the lonely boat and palm tree from this shot.

When I got to my hotel in Cebu, I flipped on the tube to find the local equivalent of ESPN and got “Balls.” Their logo and tagline, “We’ve Got Them” played over and over after about every commercial. Thought that was a bit funny…

Sunset from a boat on its way to Cebu.

My good friend Caroline at a photo shoot we did around sunset at Po’olena lena beach.

Another shot from that photo shoot. Tried to sepia tone all but her in this picture to really make her stand out. These shots were used as Christmas presents for her folks, though I’m not sure if they ever actually got this one or not…

This was probably my favorite shot from the day. I know its a bit blown out, but I think that adds to the mysticism of the composition.

The Philippines

Aloha everyone, it’s Friday! Alright, actually it’s Sunday, but whatever…

I think last week I was just leaving Boracay, right? Yea, that was a long day. I actually went and took a half an hour tricycle from Boracay to the pier, then a half hour boat ride to Caticlan. From there I took a small van to Iloilo which was about 4.5 hours. Then I hopped on an ocean ferry that took me about two hours to get to the town of Bacolod. And from Bacolod I got on another bus that was to take me to the town of Sipalay. Unfortunately, that bus broke down on the middle of the highway at about 8:30 at night.

When it broke down everyone grabbed there things, ran off the bus and pretty much ran into traffic and hopped on Jeepneys and other busses. I couldn’t exactly do that as I had NO idea where they were going and I really wanted to get to Sipalay. So I waited around with about six other passengers for a new bus to come. Maybe an hour later one showed up and took us the final 4 hours to Sipalay.

By the time I got to Sipalay everything was closed. In fact, it looked like a ghost town. The bus dropped me off and as I was the only one exiting the bus at that time, I had no one to ask for help. There were however a group of about 10 boys, in their late teens, early twenties, drunk and heading my direction.

They were relatively friendly and when I told them I just wanted to go to sleep they took it upon themselves to show me to a nice bench with an overhang where I could sleep and they would watch my stuff.

As tempting as that sounded, I decided to try a pension house that was just down the road instead. The boys followed me there, and when they saw it was closed, they wouldn’t take that as an answer. So they started ringing the bell repeatedly until a light turned on. They told me not to worry they knew the owner and would get me a bed in there.

However, when the shadow of the owner started creeping across the floor slowly towards the door, my gang of new found friends split and I was there to look like a jerk. Long story short, I got the room for one night.

The next morning I went out bright and early to survey the landscape and see what there was to see. Fishing boats piled up on the white sand beaches and the ocean was draped on either side by beautifully peaked green hills covered in palm trees.

As I walked down the beach to the south, I came across a foul odor that was increasingly pungent. I knew it was the smell of fish in the sun, but I didn’t see any. Then at the far end of the beach I saw tarp after tarp of butterflied Flying Fish, drying in the morning sun. It was a very cool site, albeit the stench could have been better, but you know. Their was a quaint little fishing village that made for a nice backdrop behind the tarps of fish and river that led to the ocean.

All the locals were extremely interested in who I was and were eager for me to take pictures of them. I even had a marriage proposal from some kind young local girl. I smiled and thanked her but told her unfortunately I was just passing through. The town was very cool though, beautiful setting and easy to get lost in.

But soon enough I wanted to continue on. So I made my way by tricycle to the next major town and from there by bus to the city of Dumagete.

Dumagete in Negros Oriental proved to be my favorite city that I visited in the Philippines. I splurged there on a room that cost me nearly $20 per night, but it was worth it. This was a full on hotel overlooking the ocean. They had a front desk, doormen, bellhops and more. Kinda like the Four Seasons, but about $800 per night cheaper. And maybe slightly less cool.

Dumagete had it all. A neat little city of about 140,000 people, movie theaters, shopping and a McDonald’s. Yes, I am going to note that. When I travel I like to try all the local cuisines, but much of the food I tried so far in my travels was pretty hard to swallow. In fact, even the big chains like McDonalds, and the local version, Jollibee’s, was not that great. Something didn’t taste right with either of these places. Good thing next to my hotel was a Shakey’s pizza….

I used Dumagete as a jumping off point for seeing a lot of different things. It would be that I would stay there for 3 nights.

The first day I planned to travel to the island of Siquijor, but unfortunately, I missed the boat. So instead I caught the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace at the local theater for about $1. It was worth about that too, as the projectionist couldn’t seem to find the focus or the screen. Half the movie was played on the wall until he finally straightened his aim. And the first 15 minutes through the car chase was spent trying to decipher shapes until he worked the focus.

The next day I went scuba diving down at Apo Island, which was amazing. There were only two of us and two instructors, so that was cool. We took a boat from a small coastal town over to the island which was maybe about 20 miles out to see. The boat was big enough for five of us – the two instructors, the boat captain and the two of us divers. We barely fit our gear. This thing was a small outrigger with a motor that we sat on top of.

When we got to the dive spots we all threw on our gear and jumped overboard. Immediately the sight was amazing! The coral was incredibly vibrant. Purples, blues, oranges, yellows, greens, every color of the rainbow. And not only hard coral, but soft coral as well. I watched as the soft coral flowed with the current the swung back to a resting position. As each little movement ran through the ocean, the coral would dance.

We did two dives at Apo Island and they were both incredible. The following day however I decided to head off to the island of Bohol for the day.

When I got there I hired a tricycle and driver to show me the island. I had read about the Chocolate Hills which sounded kind of cool and the Tarsiers which I wanted to see as well.

First we found the Tarsiers. These guys are apparently the world’s smallest primates. They’re little monkeys about the size of your fist. Their eyes are like saucers and actually resemble a cross between a monkey, Koala bear and a hampster. They were kinda cute, but I thought if I tried to take one home it would likely be eaten by the vicious Kianapauka that roams through the barrios of Casa de Miguel…

Next it was up to the Chocolate Hills. These guys were really trippy. We went to this area where their was a great lookout of the hills and when you look at them they look like unwrapped Hershey Kisses. When I was there it was a bit rainy so the color was more olivey than brown though. But I guess most of the time they look brown, hence “Chocolate” Hills. Too bad though, I kinda like “Olive Hills” better… mmmm… Olives….

I think we’ll stop here for this week. Next week I’ll finish my trekking through the Philippines and get back into some good stuff and news from The Earth Trot Project.

I do want to make quick mention of one other issue that I ran into this week. A few days ago I took my truck in to have it serviced at Goodyear in Kihei. This is my new truck (well, not brand new, but new to me). So I had them run a 12-point inspection and change the oil. When I picked up my truck they went over a laundry list of things that needed to be done. My lower ball joints showed “excessive wear,” The air filter needed to be changed, pretty much all the fluids needed to be flushed too.

The list was well over $1,000 in work that needed to be done, so I told them I would have to think about it and get back to them. Now, I never actually had any intention of taking my truck back to them to get work done. I have a great mechanic over here that I would much rather give my money to.

So I called him up and asked if he could make some time for me. He said he could, but he wanted to take a look at the type of ball joints first to make sure he had the right equipment to change them. He asked me to come on by and I did.

When I got there he jacked up my truck and showed me where the ball joints were. He then explained to me that when they go bad the tires become loose and could basically fall off while you’re driving. To check this he said all we needed to do was to see how much play there was with the tire. He started pressing on the tire and trying to rock it back and forth, but there was nothing.

It then became very obvious that Goodyear was trying to hose me for new ball joints when mine were perfectly fine. My mechanic couldn’t believe it either. He looked at some of the other elements that were on the list and said they were fine too.

Later I went to my truck to change the air filter, but as I pulled out the old one I realized that it had probably been changed less than 3 months ago. There was hardly any dirt on the thing. So, my point here is to make sure you get a second or third opinion when dealing with your vehicles and if you live on Maui, beware Goodyear in Kihei!

One final note, I want to wish everyone a very safe and enjoyable holiday season. I hope you’re able to spend this time with family and friends and give thanks for all that you’ve been blessed with. I’m very thankful for each and every one of you, so thank you for your continued support and encouragement. Stay safe, be merry and hit me back if you get a chance!

All my aloha,

Michael

Boats off the Sipalay coast at sunrise.

Flying fish drying on tarps outside of Sipalay Village. You can see where most of them are butterflied and drying in the early morning sun.

Some boys in Sipalay tying nets which they’ll eventually throw out to the sea and hope to catch some Flying fish.

Fishing boats on the beach of Sipalay.

You like to play a little basketball?

More Flying fish (butterflied) and being displayed by a local woman.

Some of the fishing tarps outside Sipalay Village.

The world’s smallest primate, the Tarsier monkey on the island of Bohol.

Rice terraces on Bohol Island

More rice fields on Bohol.

The Chocolate Hills. Over 1200 conical formations that look like big Hershey Kisses.

The Earth Trot Project

Thank you to everyone who ordered calendars. I really appreciate it and together we’ll do great things! Not only will you be happy with the pictures, but you should also know that all the profits are going straight to The Earth Trot Project. I haven’t updated the graphic with how much we’ve raised so far, but right now I think we’re really close to about $1,000! I’ll look at the account soon and update it.

And for those of you who do want a calendar but haven’t ordered one yet, you can still do that and receive it by New Year’s. Probably won’t arrive by Christmas at this point, but who knows, maybe you’ll get lucky… order one now!

The Philippines

Alright, where was I? Oh yea, on a bus from Manila to Banaue. The bus ride was a long 10 hour affair over roads that rivaled the smoothness of a lava field. I was hoping to catch a bit of sleep and arrive refreshed and ready to shoot Banaue and the surrounding areas, but alas, not much rest was to be had.

Regardless, the bus made it, and the two of us who were still on board departed and went our separate ways. I immediately hired a tricycle and driver for the day to take me as far as he could into the depths of the rice terraces. It was pouring rain from the moment I exited the bus, but that didn’t stop my driver and our 150cc rocketship-death trap (remember the nazi tricycle from last week’s pictures? If not, click here).

My driver, Gideon (unfortunately, I kept calling him “Geronimo”) drove me for about an hour and a half as far as his ride could take us. When we got to “the saddle.” I had to walk the rest of the way to the town of Batad which was another 6 miles or so.

The rain kept falling and since there was no where to eat, I was by this point quite famished. Even though the rain refused to let up, it wasn’t a cold rain, and the overcast skies led to a very nice atmosphere around the area.

My walk up the steep incline over the side of a mountain and then down into the town of Batad was a long and arduous process. I kept re-assuring myself that the way back would be all downhill, but in reality it was about half uphill and half down.

I didn’t pass another person on my hike up the hill, and when I did finally make it to the downhill section I was already beat. Hunger was setting in as I hadn’t eaten in over 24 hours. I had to stop at one point and sit down as I noticed that during a water break the mountains in front of me kept moving even when I stopped. It was a strange, eerie feeling, but I felt it must be because of the lack of food that my eyes were playing tricks on me.

Eventually I made it to the town and to “Simon’s,” where I enjoyed a nice homemade pizza. As I was the only guest of Simon’s, the waitress/hostess sat down with me at lunch and made small talk. Times were slow there as they were everywhere. But her view from the open-air restaurant (it was partially covered, so I wasn’t getting wet) was amazing.

From my vantage point, I could see down into the main part of the town and look up at the mountains that surrounded the village. Everywhere along the hillside were carved these terraces for growing rice. It was an ingenious system. The way they were constructed allowed for the flow of water to drain from one terrace down to the next in an even format.

Perhaps the most amazing part of this is that these terraces were constructed over 2,000 years ago! And the people of the town of Batad lived and worked right there. Probably many of them were the ancestors of some of the people who created the terraces so many years before. Access to the town was only by foot, and I wouldn’t be surprised if several of the residents had never been out of that small town.

I spent about seven hours careening through the fields. Up one level down another. There was a walkway from the upper part of the town to the lower more encompassed area which I ventured down as well. Even the walkway down to the epicenter town of the rice terraces was so steep and narrow that it was a relativiely grueling climb, which I had to take several breaks on before making it all the way down.

While I was there, I kept thinking about the people of the Philippines who lived and worked in the rice fields. I thought about how their lives must be; simple, repetitive and above all, labor intensive. I wondered if I could do it. Actually, I knew I couldn’t. I tried to think if there was anyone I knew who might be able to pull off a life working in the rice fields. My list was pretty short in the end. As I would travel to many other areas in the Philippines by bus, taxi, airplane, tricycle and jeepney, I saw that a large percentage of the country and by all accounts a large percentage of the population worked daily in the rice fields.

On my way back to meet up with Gideon, I met a lady who I spoke to shortly about the headhunters of the area and where I could find some. She laughed and told me stories, but wouldn’t tell me where I could find a true head hunter. Oh, well, maybe next time…

When we got back to Banaue, I decided that I was too wet to even stay around that town. I really just wanted to find a dry place somewhere warm and get out of the soaking clothes I was in. So, I waited again for the bus back to Manila, which left around 10:00pm.

Once in Manila, I hopped in a cab for the airport. By this time it was now 6:00am on day number three and I still hadn’t even seen a bed since I left Maui. At the airport I decided to take a flight to Boracay, which was said to be the spot in the Philippines. It was their getaway, their Maui, their paradise island. That sounded so good to me, I couldn’t wait to arrive.

By about 3:00p that day I finally had a bed. Even more thankfully, I had a shower! It wasn’t warm, but the air temperature alone was well into the 90s, so a luke warm shower was fine with me.

After showering and shaving I decided to check out the island. I was dead tired, but sleep could wait, I only had a finite amount of time before my trip was over.

So I grabbed my camera, and headed for the door. But before I made it, I stopped short. My camera wasn’t turning on. “You gotta be kidding me,” I thought. I tried everything, but no signs of life. I experienced something similar a few weeks ago when I dumped my camera in the ocean and it took a few hours before I saw anything work on it then too. I assumed all the rain and moisture from yesterday’s excursion was to blame for this issue, so I took the camera completely apart and let it air dry while I went out on the town.

Boracay island was a pretty cool place. A lot to see, lots of shopping and places to eat surrounded by crystal clear waters. Everywhere I looked was like a postcard. The only problem for me is that I live in a completely touristy place so when I’m on a trip I like to get away from all that and see the real life of the Filipino people.

After walking up and down the ultra fine white sand beaches I went back to my place and crashed on the bed. The camera still wasn’t working and it was nearly 95 degrees in the shade at 3:00p, so I decided to take a bit of a nap…

I awoke about 12 hours later at 3:00a wide awake. First thing I did was put the camera back together and give it a shot. It worked. Nice. I was eager to get a few photos in, so I grabbed the tripod and headed about 2 miles up the beach to this area of intrigue.

Life on the island was still crawling. Hey Joe is a club on the beach that apparently rages until the wee hours. As I walked through I got all kinds of come hither looks from the local girls who either really love scrawny white boys or think that the tan white skin resonates alongside dollar bills. Either way, I just smiled and walked up the beach.

Past a few more ladies offering “massages” at 3:00a. I had to laugh when they asked if I wanted a massage when I passed. Crazy, these people….

I made it to the area I wanted to shoot by about 4:00 and it was really dark. The place was on the outskirts of town and the only people out were either drunk or passing by quickly. The situation was a little bit scary as it was very dark and shadows passed close by before I could make them out.

By 4:30a I had the tripod setup and was snapping long exposure shots (none of which turned out). There were eyes on me all over and I could feel them, but I kept telling myself that the night is darkest just before the dawn.

Soon the morning lights started to appear and my shots kept getting better. By the time the sun actually rose I was standing about chest high in the ocean with my camera on a tripod at ocean level shooting the horizon.

There was this really cool rock formation right off shore that was just captivating for me. There was one palm tree growing on it and a statue of the virgin Mary that welcomed visitors to the rock. There was even a stairway to get up to it. It was a very awkward composition, but intriguing and worth shooting because of how beautiful it was.

By the time the sun was full on I was ready for some breakfast. I walked back towards my place and found this place called “Nigi Nigi Nu Noos e Nu Nu Noos.” So, of course I couldn’t pass that up. I have no idea what that means, but their mexican breakfast is worth the price of admission…

After breakfast, I decided to move on and see the real Philippines. I hopped on a tricycle for the pier. From there I grabbed a ferry and then a bus towards Iloilo. But for that adventure, you’ll have to wait for next week….

Have a great and safe weekend, everyone. Enjoy these pictures, and hit me up if you get a chance!

All my love,

Michael

The town of Batad is surrounded on all sides by these giant rice terraces. Here you can see some of the terraces framed by the thatch roof houses of some of the residents.

You can kinda make out the backdrop of Batad and the rice terraces behind me. I’m still drying out from my trip to Batad.

How cute is this little local girl? The decent to the town of Batad is quite a trek and very steep.

Here’s the town from above. Not many residents and a good 8 miles to get here from where my driver let me off.

Another shot of the town. Amazing little place. You should go check it out…

As far as you can see these terraces surround the entire area of the towns in the mountains.

Nigi Nigi Nu Noos e Nu Nu Noos. Yea, that’s the craziest name of any restaurant I ever saw. So of course, I had to eat there. Not a bad breakfast, though a bit over priced…

Boracay was full of postcard like picture opportunities. Here’s one.

And here’s another. Not real sure what this little island grotto was but definitely was interesting.

With crystal blue waters and white sand beaches, Boracay is the gem of Philippine tourism.

Here’s another shot of a portion of the island.

Random carved tree on the beach on Boracay Island.

Another postcard shot taken just as the sun was peaking over the hills.

One more early morning shot of that crazy island. How beautiful.

That’s about the only Filipino word I learned, and I’m not really even sure what that means, but I’ve been told it means “long life,” but its used kinda like we use “aloha,” for just about everything.

And yes, obviously now I’m back and still in one piece. Thanks for all your concern and prayers. Got a bunch of stories as you can imagine, but instead of making this newsletter long enough to be an entire book, let’s just make it a chapter and save a bit more for next week…

But first: I know a lot of you mentioned you wanted a calendar. If you do want one, you have to order it as soon as possible in order to get it by Christmas. I would say no later than Tuesday. So if you are interested, click here and order yours today!

Alright, enough said. Let’s dive right in to the meat…

When I left for the Philippines a couple weeks ago, I seriously didn’t know the first thing about the country or where to go or what to do for that matter. I bought a Lonely Planet book and decided to figure out my trip on the 10 hour flight from Honolulu to Manila.

It wasn’t until about 10 minutes before we landed that I really generated an idea of where I wanted to go first and how I wanted to structure my adventure. My idea was to spend very little time in big cities and travel into the barrios, into the heart of the culture.

Upon landing, I took a cab to the only bus terminal that had a route to the small town of Banaue, about 10 hours north of Manila high up in the mountains. I heard about these amazing rice terraces up there that were over 2000 years old and supposedly the 8th world wonder. I also heard there were legitimate head hunters up there. The for real kind, like kill ya, stab ya, and poke your head on a stick. Now to my understanding, they no longer practiced that tradition against their enemies, but people from these tribes could be found way up in the hills. So of course, I thought that would be an adventure and provide quite a bit of ammunition for this blog…

Manila itself was a mess. Decrepit old buildings lined the streets. Most of which didn’t have glass in the windows and looked like places that were being constructed 30 years ago but never finished and instead just sat there. Concrete facades with no innards. The city was run down in a lot of respects. Garbage lined the streets and the overwhelming stench of diesel fumes penetrated the senses as soon as I stepped out of the airport.

My cab driver got lost trying to find this “bus station,” which wasn’t really more than a large parking lot with about 4 busses in it. There must have been a thousand of them around the city, and we probably stopped at half of them before he found the right one.

By the time I got there it was about 2:00p and I was already exhausted. But the bus didn’t leave until around 10:00p so I had all kinds of time to kill while waiting. I had been warned before I left to be very careful in the Philippines from about a half a dozen people I knew here in Hawai’i who were actually from the country. They had told me how notorious the pick pockets were and how dangerous the country can be towards foreigners.

So I thought about that as I was sizing up all the sketchy looking individuals on the streets. But, I wasn’t about to just sit around for 8 hours until my bus left, so I grabbed my camera, tripod and threw my duffel over my shoulder and headed out to see what I could of the city.

Almost immediately I ran into a situation that got my blood pumping. About two blocks from the bus station I turned down this side street and as I started walking, I noticed scores of unsavory looking characters lined up against this building – all eyes on me.

I could have turned and high-tailed it out of there, but I decided to press on. My multi-thousand dollar camera and lens rig hanging around my neck, I brought it up to my eye and shot a picture of nothing in another direction while keeping my eyes focused instead on the group watching me. As I got closer, two of them got up and came towards me.

I held my breath for an instant, all the warnings racing through my head. I wasn’t so much scared as anticipating the situation. I didn’t know how these people would react to tourists and to the expensive meal ticket that I was flaunting in front of them. I locked eyes with the bigger guy heading towards me and held my path.

As he got closer, he stopped in front of me and said “Take my picture!”

“What a relief,” I thought, and smiled. “Alright, sure!” I agreed and snapped away. After that, more of these cats got up and approached me and the camera. They all wanted pictures taken!

We started small talk, and I came to find out that these people were all homeless and waiting in line for a food kitchen to open up. I walked up and started taking pictures of the group, when I encountered a major problem.

My camera started to malfunction. It would take pictures without being provoked, and nearly all of them were blurred and blackened in areas. I tried to turn the camera off and on repeatedly, thinking this might alleviate the problem, but to no avail. I took out the batteries and replaced them, but the same issues continued.

By this time the crowd could sense something was wrong and huddled around me offering their advice on how to fix it. They continued to crowd me and at this point I started to sweat and needed some time to think and assess the problem. I just couldn’t do it with all these people around, so I humbly apologized to my new friends and headed back to the bus station where I could be alone with the camera.

I found that the repeated shots were a malfunction of the battery pack, so I turned the controls on that off and fixed that problem. But the more disturbing issue was that when I fired a picture I couldn’t see any settings and when I pulled up the image on the LCD it was all messed up looking. Black areas throughout the picture with only a small image area. I was really struggling to think what the issue may be, and the only thing I came up with was that it must be something internally in the camera.

So, I took off the lens, and right there was the problem. The mirror that reflects the image through the lens to the viewfinder and onto the sensor had come off its housing and was floating around in the body! I never heard of this issue before and frankly wasn’t sure how I was going to fix it.

I do remember thinking about the day before when I was at my friend Mike’s house and he had a DVD series of MacGuyver sitting on his desk. I asked myself what would MacGuyver do? I knew he could fix anything with tin foil and chewing gum, and I seriously thought about putting chewing gum in my camera as a quick fix. Then I realized how stupid that idea sounded and decided to come up with better ideas.

In my first-aid kit in my bag, I did have band-aids that maybe I could cut up and use as tape to keep the mirror in place. But, that didn’t sound like a very good idea either. Then I thought there had to be some kind of store around that sold some kind of glue that I could use…

Lo and behold, a pharmacy a few blocks down had super glue! I convinced the lady running the shop that I had a serious emergency and she needed to close the doors to the shop for a few moments while I conducted surgery on my Canon. My hands couldn’t have been shaking any more if I was in a Siberian winter trying to do the same thing. The last thing I wanted was to miss some of the super glue and get it on the sensor. Then I’d be out a camera for sure. There was no room for error.

The mirror’s housing had four raised circles that were about the size of a small pin’s head. I felt these would be good areas to try to get the super glue and decided to go for it. The employees of the pharmacy were hovering over me watching as sweat poured down my forehead. I closed my eyes, said a few silent prayers, took a deep breath, and…

Somehow, I managed to get the glue EXACTLY where I needed it! Step one complete! Next was to get the mirror and set it perfectly on top of its housing in the area it needed to sit. Again, the routine of prayers and breathing took place and my shaking hand calmed just long enough to press it onto the housing as close to perfect as possible!

“Whewweeww…. yea!!” I let out a huge sigh of relief as I grabbed a clean wipe and massaged the mirror while removing fingerprints and oils. When I strapped on the lens and tested it out, it fired. Perfectly.

Everyone at the pharmacy rejoiced, as I thanked them endlessly. Now it was time to get back on the streets and shoot some pics!

I meandered around town for quite some time, running into more sketchy situations but being completely blown away by the genuine good-nature of the Filipino people.

As I traveled down one of the more run-down streets, I met these two guys, Ross and Conrad who were sitting on a bench on the side of the street drinking beer and eating something on a stick. I smiled and said hi, and they invited me to sit down and have a drink. So, I did, and we talked story for a while. Not long after sitting down, they had one of their friends grab me some food on a stick to go with my Red Lion beer that we were sharing.

I’m not sure what it was that I was eating, but it would turn out to be one of the better grinds that I would come across on my trip.

Soon, all the kids in the neighborhood came to check out he foreigner and his camera. We took pictures together for hours, but with the night upon us, I told them I wanted to shoot some long exposure shots and if they wanted to be in them that would be great, but they had to remain very still. Of course, kids can’t sit still for two seconds, so most of the shots came out a bit blurry, but a few of the kids did a good job.

Eventually, I told them I had to get back to the bus station as it was coming close to the time for the bus to leave. It had already been an extremely long and tiring day and I was indeed ready for a pillow. Of course, I wouldn’t get that, but I was hopeful that I could catch a few z’s on the night trip to Banaue (Bon-ew-ay) and take the next day to see some of the rice terraces.

The long ten hour trip to Banaue took us along the most beat up road in the world, I think, and didn’t provide a good backdrop for sleeping. But eventually after what seemed like days, and after getting a little more than an hour or two of sleep, we arrived in the early morning to rain-soaked Banaue.

This is getting long and its getting late here, so I’m going to end this here with a few pictures. Next week I’ll get into the town’s of Banaue and Batad and show you some of the best pictures of the trip from the rice terraces…

But for now…

If anyone is interested in the calendars… order yours now to get it by Christmas. Same goes for the painting, if you do want to make an offer for it, please email me! Bidding ends next Friday, and guaranteed you’ll have it by Christmas. As you know, all profits from the sale of these items goes towards the non-profit Earth Trot Project which we’re trying to collect for in order to drill wells for drinking water in Uganda. You can check out more on this project here.

Alright, that’s it for now… Much more to come, but my fingers, eyes and brain need a rest. Enjoy these pictures, have a great weekend, and THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for your continued support!

All my love,

Michael

Here’s one of the few pictures that did turn out, before the camera broke, of the homeless waiting in line for the food kitchen.

As you can see this picture was the first that started to go bad. Looks like the mirror popped off during this shot and started to spin. Kinda a cool shot of this cat, though.

Here’s my boys Ross and Conrad who fed me and filled my cup as I passed.

A couple of street vendors with food prepared on a moving hot plate gracing the corners of a shady little neighborhood in downtown Manila.

Kids standing “still” for a photo in Manila.

This one came out much better…

A bridge to Banaue, in the Philippines.

View from the bridge of the town of Banaue.

This is the Nazi tricycle that I road in for about an hour or so to get from Banaue to Batad. But you’ll hear all about that next week…

Well actually, it’s Thursday. And TECHNICALLY it’s Wednesday night. But there’s a reason I’m sending this AF off today and not on Friday. But we’ll get to that….

First things first.. THANK YOU! Thank you to everyone for their support and excitement over The Earth Trot Project. I got so many great emails from so many people. That makes me extremely happy! I know a lot of you passed on the newsletter as well, thank you for doing so, that’s huge!

Unfortunately, I’m an idiot and didn’t triple check the forms on the site, so for those of you who signed up someone else to receive the AF or signed up to volunteer or whatever, I probably didn’t get that notice. I’m sorry! But, if you could bear with me, I do have the forms working now, so if you’d like to re-sign someone up, or if anyone you know wants to be added but didn’t receive this newsletter, sign them up or encourage them to sign up now!

I have some really awesome news too. First, thanks to many of you who wrote in and some research we’ve been doing on our own, we’ve found ways to cut the cost of the first project down from $50K to $20K! That’s amazing, isn’t it? We found this company that we want to work with who basically drills wells and digs latrines in Africa. Not only can we work with them, but they’ll help teach the people in the communities we service how to repair the wells should anything go wrong! I’m so excited about this! And I’m really glad you are too!

Merchandise: oh, yea it’s here. Just in time for the holidays, and straight off the press: The brand new 2009 Earth Trot Project calendars! These things are pretty cool gang, so if you’re feeling generous, pick one up! The cost on these is $25 and all profits go to reaching our new $20,000 goal. Hey, what a great Christmas gift for everyone on your list!

And for those hard to buy for relatives, I’m sure there is a photo on the site for someone! Sorry everyone, I know, I’m a terrible salesman, but bear with me once again, we do have one other item that’s new to the site…

I just finished this about 20 minutes ago and I’ve currently got it hanging right above my computer in my office… My first new painting in years! I don’t normally get into the fine art thing (basically because I don’t really have that skill set), but I have been working on and just finished this really cool piece. It’s a 12″x36″ acrylic painting of an Eagle Ray. The painting is in a very Tahitian tatau style and I must admit, it does look pretty cool. Check out the photos of it below.

This piece will be auctioned off on this site. With the bidding ending Dec.12. Bids can be submitted via email and I will guarantee the painting to arrive by Christmas. I won’t let this painting go for under $100, so that’s where the bidding will start. If its something that interests you, let me know! Who knows, maybe someday it will be worth millions (probably not, but maybe)!

Moving on…

I know I’m rushing through this a bit, but there’s good reason… I have to pack tonight. Yep, I’m going on a trip. I was able to finagle (is that a word?) two weeks off from my paddling canoe job at the Four Seasons to take a little vacation. My managers guaranteed that to me yesterday, so yesterday night I booked some airfare and tomorrow morning I take off for the Philippines.

I know what you’re thinking. Why? It’s funny because half the people that work in the hotel are from the Philippines and they asked the same question. They all thought I was crazy. Who knows, maybe I am. But in reality, there are several reasons for this trip. One, because I haven’t been there before so I’d like to check it out. Two, because there are some really poor areas of the Philippines (or the PI as I’ll refer to it from now on) and it may provide a good backdrop for an Earth Trot Project in the future. So, I’ll go see what its like and if there is any potential for us to put something together for over there.

So let’s see, it’s about 8:00p now in Hawai’i and I know absolutely zilch about the PI so I’m going to cut this a bit short so I can do some quick research on areas I may like to check out and of course, areas that are photogenic in origin that I just can’t miss.

Oh, yeah, and I have to pack too…

That’s it everyone, thanks for listening to my ongoings again! If you have a chance and you haven’t checked out the non-profit site yet, please do! Here’s a link. And if you won the lottery this week or found a few extra quarters in your seat cushions when vacuuming the couch, consider making a donation. Remember, EVERY PENNY you donate goes right to the project. Not one cent goes to my pocket. Finally, if you do know someone who might also be interested in signing up for these emails, please sign them up! You can do so from the bottom of any page of either website.

Had to throw that in there. Have a great day, and a great two weeks. I’ll surely have some crazy adventures to tell you about when I get back! And hopefully an amazing new array of photos as well! I will have access to email on my trip to so if you have any thoughts, questions, comments, etc, let me know!

God bless,

Michael

This picture actually just took itself. I was walking down the road and the camera went off. Thought it came out kinda neat, so I kept it…

This is the beautiful Pacific Ocean from across the street from my house. I love this view.

Another one from the pier. That is the island of Kaho’olawe in the background.

Here’s the calendars gang! You know you want one! Click here and order one!

Inside the pages are graced with some of your favorite pics, and some you haven’t even seen yet!

Here’s the start of the painting. See the mo’o (lizard)? That’s a protector spirit in Polynesian culture. So we start with that, and then we build on it…

Starting to see the ray? Stay tuned…

And here’s the final as it hangs above my head right now…

And a straight on shot of it. Looks pretty good on my wall. Bet it would look great on yours too! Bidding starts at $100. Wanna place a bid? Don’t have to pay unless you win! Send me your bid now!

Let me start off this Friday by saying that this is by far THE MOST IMPORTANT Aloha Friday I’ve ever sent off. In this issue I’m going to disclose to you the details of a project I’ve been working on diligently for over a year. One that you are all quite involved with already and one that will see me giving away $50,000. I hope that keeps you salivated enough to read on…

Today is a very special day in my life. No, not because it is halloween (though, I do love this holiday… thanks in large part to my good friend Lou Lafond…..) but because today is the launching of The Earth Trot Project.

I am so happy right now that I feel like dressing up like James Earl Jones from the movie “Coming to America.” Do you remember that flick? the one where he plays King Jaffe Joffer? The king that wears the lion’s head shawl and has servants spreading rose petals at his feet everywhere he walks? Well, anyway, that’s how elated I feel right now…. Not that I want servants or anything; quite the contrary, actually…

So what is The Earth Trot Project? Well, this is something that has to do with each and every one of you just as much as it has to do with me. Over the last six and a half years since I’ve been sending these newsletters out, I’ve gotten a lot of ideas and a lot of feedback along the way. Thank you, for providing me with all your thoughts and ideas over the years. Believe me, they haven’t fallen on deaf ears.

Just over a year ago I was in South America, traveling alone through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and other countries in the region. While I was there, I saw living conditions that made me ashamed for allowing others to live the way they do. For example, did you know that in South America the sanitation is so bad that you can’t even throw your toilet paper in the toilets? Nope, you have to throw any used tp into the trash next to the commode. Someone will come by and take care of that for you. Now that’s just wrong.

I saw houses without roofs, children without food and whole communities with undrinkable water. Not just in South America, but in Asia as well. Experiencing these things first hand has really changed my perspective and tugged on my heart strings. I witnessed how little these people had and how hopeless their children’s futures were and it made me sad. I wanted to find a way that I could help people like this. I thought about giving to charities as I had done many times before, but with all the scandals that beset some of the major ones lately, I didn’t feel very confident giving my money to any organization.

I remember what my dad used to always preach as we were growing up: “If you want something done right, often times you have to do it yourself.” On my way home from Peru I stopped off in Chicago and Denver before returning to Maui. When I was in Chicago, my friend Chris and I talked at length about these things and we hatched a plan for The Earth Trot Project. Later as I passed through Denver, another good friend of mine, Alberto and I sat down and discussed some ideas for the project as well. Soon the foundation was laid.

Today I’m launching The Earth Trot Project to the world. So what is it already? Well, The Earth Trot Project is a non-profit organization that we’re starting to help people who really need it. It is setup to promote cultural awareness and stimulation. So instead of just picking one area and focusing on it, we’re going global and together you and I will choose which projects to undertake. Not only that, but as we begin fundraising and accepting donations 100% of all money donated will go towards the projects. That’s right 100%, I’m not taking one dime from these contributions. After all, why should I? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of a “charity?” Furthermore, most of the photography that you find on the new and improved Earth Trot website is now available for purchase! Yes, you’ve been asking for it, and now it’s here. You can order prints online right now! Oh, yea, and 100% of the proceeds from these pictures also go to support The Earth Trot Project.

So yes, you can now purchase images from www.earthtrot.com and feel good about doing so! All our proceeds will be going to funding International human rights projects.

Let me tell you a little about our first major endeavor which we call the Uganda Water Project. Check this out, this will blow your mind: In Uganda, Central Africa, there are almost 27 million people that live there. Of those 44% do not have access to safe drinking water. That’s nearly 12 million people. That’s like the cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia COMBINED!

So what do they do? Well, usually the children get nominated to carry old 10 gallon gasoline jugs for a dozen miles or so until they get to a public well. Then, since everyone else from nearby communities are doing the same thing, they have to wait in line for on average about 8 hours to get to the front of the line and pump their water. If that wasn’t bad enough, the water that comes out of the piping is dirty and brown.

Then, when their jugs are filled, the children have to lug them back to their families. Do you know how much a filled 10 gallon jug weighs? Hint: each gallon weighs 8 pounds. Yea, that’s a lot, especially for a child of 9 years old.

These people NEED our help. And so the first Earth Trot Project we’re going to be working on is the Uganda Water Project. What we’re planning on doing is raising $50,000 to build a well over there and provide fresh, safe drinking water to the communities in need. When I say “We,” I truly could not have done this without the help of an incredible board of directors who have been helping me every step of the way. I’d like to publicly recognize and thank from the bottom of my heart Chris Pohlman, Alberto Zapata and Todd Williams for their tremendous help on this project.

The ground work has already been done, and I’m putting everything I have into making it happen. I think about these people each time I brush my teeth or take a shower or turn on the tap for that matter. These are basic human rights that the Uganda people don’t even have.

Every single person on this list has been so supportive of me and my ideas and musings over the last six-and-a-half years since the newsletter started and I TRULY appreciate every one of you! Thank you!

I’m at a juncture in my life where I’m looking down two paths. On the one side I see my favorite place in the world: my paradise on Earth, my home, Maui. I see a comfortable lifestyle filled with perfect whether, friends, family and beauty everywhere. On the other side, I see brothers and sisters with their arms outstretched, begging for bread, water and shelter. I see it as clear as the words on this screen and I know I have to make a choice. But really, there is no choice to make. I cannot pretend to be ignorant of the world that surrounds me. But I can be a catalyst for humanity, and I will.

So, from here on out, the most important thing in my life will be The Earth Trot Project. I’m ready to dedicated my time, my career, my money and my life to those who need it. As of today, I’m on the bottom rung of a ladder that sits deep underground, but I can still see a glimmer of brightness peaking in. And with your help and support together we’re going to climb this ladder step by step, day by day until we’re bathed in the light.

Now by support, I don’t necessarily mean financial support. Any one of you who knows me personally knows that I would willingly give you the shirt off my back or the shoes off my feet if you were in need. You also know I would never ask for a penny from anyone either. I understand that right now we’re in a bit of a financial mess and times can be difficult. I know too that everyone has problems, and right now a fiscal donation is not possible. And that’s fine. You can still help out in a tremendous way by spreading the word. Forward on this email, or signup a friend to receive these newsletters. Pass on the word. This is really important to me, and if so many of you can forward on those chain emails, then try to forward on something that really matters.

If you would like to donate to The Earth Trot Project, you can make a contribution of whatever size fits your budget, $5, $10, $20, whatever at this link. Or if you’d like to check out some of the photography for sale, you can do that too at the new www.earthtrot.com site. Check it out, there’s lots of new stuff for you to take a look at!

I’ve let you in on just a small fraction of what we’re doing with The Earth Trot Project. If you’re interested in learning more, I’ve setup a new website with tons of information, other projects that we’ve already done and a signup to receive mailings from the ETP as well. Though, if you’re receiving this in your inbox, then I’m automatically signing you up for the ETP updates as well. And if you want to opt-out of that, you can. But I hope you don’t! The link to this new site is quite easy to remember. It is simply: www.earthtrot.org. Check it out!

Again, this is the most important newsletter I’ve ever written and one I hope you’ll pass on to your friends and family. I sincerely hope that each of you will be on board with The Earth Trot Project and I can count on your support and dedication to this just as you’ve supported me with my photography through the years. I’m so excited to watch this project take shape, gather support and start making a difference in the world. I need your help to make it happen, but together I promise, we can and will make the world a better place.

So check out the two new sites: www.earthtrot.com and www.earthtrot.org and let me know what you think! I hope you’ll find them both fun and full of good stuff. I really want to hear your thoughts and feedback on everything, so PLEASE get back to me when you have a chance!

All my Aloha,

Michael

How cute is my little meatball? When I come home from work I often find her crawled up underneath the covers. It just looks like a big bump in my bed. Goofy little girl…

Here’s a shot of my friend Caroline at her latest hula show this past week. I love watching those girls dance, so much beauty and grace in the hula. Though she probably won’t be practicing too much grace when she finds out I sent a picture of her off to the world….

Another shot from the same night that I thought was kinda neat. I like the shadow of the dancer.

Yes, I know this picture was in the last newsletter. I put it in here again t let you know that it is now available for purchase… along with a whole bunch of other pieces on www.earthtrot.com. Check it out! And remember, all proceeds go to funding The Earth Trot Project!

Here’s the new logo for The ETP. You guys really gotta check out the new non-profit site and let me know your thoughts! Check it out here!

I really didn’t mean for it to be so long before writings, but I’m sure you’ve all grown accustomed to my lack of consistency. Guess, I’m not really cut out for a desk job with deadlines, huh? Remember when I used to be good at getting these things out to you every week? Oh, yea, that’s when I was pretty much unemployed. No clients were sending me work… if only there was a way I could get paid for just writing these things…. hmmm…….

So where did I leave you hanging last time? Oh yes, I was Chicago bound for my friend Chris’s wedding. Which was fantastic, by the way. Really nice time, beautiful church, amazing food and great entertainment. I was really happy to see a lot of old friends and some very good friends.

The day after the wedding was what I was looking most forward to though… (sorry, Chris…) I couldn’t help it, I was on my way to the Cubs game. My first game of the season. Now, before I left for Chicago they were on a super amazing win streak. And when I landed I caught the end of the game that they won against the Phillies. So I was excited to go and watch my boys in blue…

The game itself was almost perfect. My sister and her boyfriend had rooftop seats across from the park, and were able to get two tix for me inside Wrigley. The seats were great too, thanks to my sister’s boyfriend, Joe (he’s a keeper, by the way…. Cub’s fan…. you know….). I went with a really good friend of mine, Kara, who also just so happens to be a huge Cubs fan!

We started off the game with a couple of beers, some hot dogs and nachos. I mean, come on, you’ve gotta have that full ballpark experience, right? By the end of the game we also added on some peanuts and Italian beef sandwiches too….. Almost pulled the trigger on some licorice rope as well, but I had plans to go out for some grinds with my sister and Joe afterwards….

It was a close game complete with a full range of emotions, from cheers to jeers, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. The Cubs fell 5-3 to the hands of Jamie Moyer (ex-Cub) and the Phillies. It was a bit sad, but all in all a fantastic game. I didn’t want to leave afterwards, but all good things must come to an end, I guess… Well, at least that’s what they say. I don’t honestly believe that, though…

That evening I checked in to the Four Seasons hotel on Michigan Avenue. The place was a lot nicer than I anticipated (and it helped that they upgraded me to an executive suite… ‘cuz you know, I’m like an executive, or something….). I had a great view of Michigan Avenue and the city of Chicago from 38 stories up.

I enjoyed the hotel a bit, went for a swim, lounged in the hot tub, sank into the steam of the sauna for a while and then showered off in a shower that was complete with 7 shower heads. Yep, one above and three on each side of my body. I didn’t want to get out of there, but I kept thinking of how much water I was wasting, so unfortunately my conscience took over and I turned off the jets. I’m not sure I’d want to live like the elite of the world. Just seems so wasteful to me.

Finally on Monday I made it up to my parent’s place in Mokena. Their new house is amazing and is extremely comfortable. I love being there. And of course, it was great seeing mom and dad and grandma and everyone else that came over for a barbeque on Monday evening.

Unfortunately, I had to get back to work so my trip was cut a bit short. I flew out on Wednesday (I was only there 5 days). When I returned to Maui it was brought to my attention (not that I didn’t know this already, but this just shows the type of friends I have out here) that other than the first day I was there, the Cubs lost every game while I was in town. I was taunted as their bad luck charm. In fact the next couple weeks the Cubs struggled as well, but at least the rest of the teams in our division were struggling too, so we didn’t really lose much ground.

For the last few weeks though the boys from the North side have gotten back on track, clinched the division and home field advantage throughout the National League playoffs. I was seriously thinking of making my way back for the world series if the Cubs make it that far, but because of the whole bad luck charm thing, I’m thinking I might just watch it on TV. Unless someone can score me tickets at a good price…. I don’t really belive in luck anyway…

Alright, I promise that’s it for my Cubs rant…. GO CUBBIES!!! Ok, seriously this time. That was it…..

What else, let’s see… kicked out my crazy roommate since she ate all my food and didn’t pay rent (yea, not a good combination). Got a new guy moving in October 1st. He just so happens to be a Cubs fan too…. sold!

He and I went hiking the other day up in Olinda. There are some pretty cool lava tubes up there so I wanted to go see them with the camera. We had a great time and I think he’s going to be a very good roommate.

The other night I went out shooting some photos so I could send off this Aloha Friday. I went down to Big Beach in Makena which is a really cool place. Long, long stretches of golden sand and powerful shore breaks. It made for some neat pics. You can check out below.

One other kinda neat thing that happened to us the other day… When I was out paddling canoe in the morning, I was steering the boat back into shore when I saw this massive camera pointed right at the boat. It was like a studio video camera, really big. We’ve been on a lot of different things over the years, news programs, Little People, Big World, that show on cable and a few other things.. oh yea, and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue a few years back… but I never saw a camera down on the beach like this one.

It turns out it was from the Travel Channel and they’re putting together this television series that will air next year called “Billionaire’s Playground.” No, its not based on me and my massive bank accounts. But I will be on episode 11 when it airs next year. They’re doing one episode on the Four Seasons Resort Maui.

So I guess that’s kinda cool…. Alright, well there’s a swell building, the Cubs are on TV and I need a shower, so I’ve gotta jet out of here. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! If you get a chance holler at me!

Aloha,

Michael

Looks like a postcard, doesn’t it?…. hmm…. or maybe a calendar….. stay tuned……

Big Beach in Makena, Maui. Gotta love this place. THis is about a 30 second exposure just after sunset. If it looks like a magical place, that’s because it is.

More from Big Beach. Love the color of the limu on these rocks.

From inside some of the lava tubes up in Olinda

Lava tubes from the outside. Doesn’t it look like any second you might catch an Ewok peaking its head out of these tubes?

One more time at big beach the other night…

Bet ya weren’t expecting an Aloha Friday this soon after the last one were ya? Well, today is a special day, so I thought I would pay tribute to it.

No, it’s not Labor Day. Not Memorial Day either, keep guessing… Yes, Nick, it is your birthday, but unfortunately that’s not what I’m talking about…. Yes, Anita you are getting married tomorrow, congratulations, sister!! But, no, that’s not it either…. It’s an anniversary we should all be cognizant of. A very special day that took place 20 years ago today.

Some of you probably have guessed it by now and the rest of you are probably scratching your heads. Those of you who haven’t guessed by now must have unfortunately let this majestic of all days slip your mind. That’s OK, I’ll refresh your memory…

It was 20 years ago today that the lights came on for the first time at Wrigley Field. I remember this day well. I was only 10 years old, but I was there with my uncle Phil. It was a packed house. The Cubs were really good that year, made the playoffs even – I think they even won their division that year…

Anyway, it was the Philadelphia Phillies in town for the evening and the Cubs got off to a strong start. It was 3-1 in the bottom half of the third when the game was put on hold because of terrential rains. Uncle Phil and I waited it out, but they eventually decided to postpone that game.

The next night, August 9th, the first official night game took place at Wrigley, with the Cubs defeating the Mets 6-4. Remember now? I know you’re not all from Chicago, in fact most of you are not, but I’m sure it must’ve made the front page everywhere right?

So today the Cubs will be celebrating the anniversary with what else? A day game against the rival Cardinals. The hammer and nails are in hand, and the Cards have one foot in the coffin already, so its time we finish off the job. This should be a great weekend in Wrigleyville…

In other news, I know I mentioned before my buddy Chris is getting married at the end of the month. He’s asked me to be in the wedding, so today I went and got fitted for a tux. That was interesting. No I don’t have pictures. Nor will I be posting pics of me in a tux on this site…

Interestingly enough, the day of the wedding is August 30th a day when the Cubs play host to the Philadelphia Phillies. Luckily (for Chris) they’ll play each other again on Sunday the 31st and I’ll be attending that game.

Anyone familiar with the Phillies probably knows about Shane Victorino. This guy is amazing and a local hero. For those of you who don’t know, he’s born and raised here in Maui. So this island supports him 110%. We lead off the sports section of all our news casts with him and how he fared in the days game. So even though I bleed Cubby blue, I will be rooting for Shane as well. Hope he goes 4-4 with 4 home runs. I just hope the Cubs score 57. What? I’m a Cubs fan.

I’ll keep it short for you this week as I know 95% of you don’t care about what I have to say…. Got some pictures from Kaupo and a shooting adventure with my good friend Todd the other day. Enjoy everyone, have a great weekend, and when it gets dark and you turn on those lights later tonight, just remember the Cubs…..

Aloha,

Michael

Big Beach in Makena at sunset.

Me walking through some lava rocks out in Kaupo

Close up!

The green groves of Ulupalakua in Maui. Gotta love this place! Every bend in the road provides for more drastically beautiful scenery!

I don’t know how big this wave looks to you, but its only about 12 inches. I had the camera in my hand right on the water’s surface taking shots and pulling the camera away before the crash… well most of the time it was before the crash…. argh.

I really like this shot, but my camera didn’t. I think it got a bit wet and stopped working for awhile… But like a trooper she came back a half hour later or so…

Look at the bark on this tree. Crazy, yea?

Well, you wanna hear my excuse this time? It’s a good one, seriously. I have been meaning to write, honest… then this story fell into my lap. I’ve unfortunately had to cancel my ambitious plans to travel through the Philipines and China for this year. In fact, I probably won’t be doing much traveling at all this year. You see, I was just set back my entire traveling fund by a ridiculous situation that occured a few weeks ago…

So here’s the situation: I started noticing my carpet in my hallway getting wet several months ago. It actually started happening right around the time the guy who bought the place above me moved in. The wetness was just a subtle dampness that would show up sometimes and then go away.

I was scrambling my brain trying to figure out what the cause of this nonsense might be. I thought at first that it must be this guy doing some work to his house. So I went up and confronted him. He said he WAS doing work in the bathrooms and had shut off the water. I figured it must be something to do with this, maybe he didn’t shut off the water tightly enough and some was running down a pipe into my place.

A couple days later, the wetness was gone. Nice.

A few weeks later, it comes back. Argh.

This time I noticed it was right around a time when I was trying to water my yard quite a bit more than normal. (Normal was not watering it at all, so you know…). Then I figured it must have something to do with my watering. The water could be coming through the cracks in the foundation or something… So I decided to stop watering.

A couple days later, the wetness was gone. Nice.

A few weeks later, it comes back. Argh.

This is over the period of several months, maybe even like six or so… Anyway, the wetness starts getting more and more prominent. Now I’m starting to freak out. I can’t figure out where this water is coming from. The area next to the wall itself doesn’t seem to be as wet as the middle of the floor, and the area isn’t close to the sink in the kitchen or the bathroom.

So I call in the cavalry…

They decide that the only option is to cut into the wall and find out where the leak is coming from. So, they tear up my wall and see that it looks like the water is coming from a leak in a drainage pipe that is from my neighbor upstairs.

Now even though this is terrible, it has its silver lining: it is the condo association’s problem, so they’ll have to pay for any damage and fix the problem. Sweet.

So first they have to find the leak and fix it, so they start ripping up my wall even more. Then they found it, and everything changed….

The leak was coming from a 3/4″ hole in the drainage pipe. The culprit: a togglebolt that was used when hanging the cabinets in the kitchen a couple years ago. So now, its no longer the association’s problem. Now its my problem. And all the damage and the fixing of the destruction was on my shoulders. My heart sank. I had to sit down as soon as they found it.

I remember hanging those cabinets and remember there was no stud to hang that last cabinet on so we had to use toggle bolts. I remember drilling a 3/4″ hole in the wall and attaching the bolts. I never knew there was a drainage pipe behind the wall right there. How was I to know? Argh.

So for two years, water had been slowly making its way down the outside of that pipe and running down the wall onto the floor and underneath the carpet in my hallway. Not only was the wall and the floor wet, but mold had been growing in these areas for a while.

I had a mold guy come out and he basically turned my house into a quarantine zone. It looked like the inside of that house from the movie E.T. For three days he had all kinds of machines running in the plastic isolation chamber to kill all the mold and dry the house.

He also informed me that there was no way to save the carpet, I had to replace it because of the extent of the mold. Great. Bu-bye China.

Oh, and I had found a new roommate who was going to be moving to the island in about two weeks. Crunch time. I really wanted to get the house back together before she came out.

So, I went to Home Depot, bought a whole bunch of this “Toast” flavored bamboo flooring, some Roberts 1408 Glue, new drywall, mud, nails and paint and went to work. Luckily I had a friend to help me a bit, and I hired a couple of guys to help with the projects as well.

I’m not going to go too into it, but two weeks and $4,000.00 later I’ve got new floors and my wall back together. Niki, my new roommate moved in the day I finished up. I was working till all hours of the night before she came in to get the house back together. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to clean the outside of the house until after she moved in, but it got done that day too, so it wasn’t too bad.

Now the floors look pretty good. There’s one bad area right in the hallway where the floor doesn’t feel like it is sticking to the ground too well, but other than that its very nice. I left carpet in the bedrooms, but the hallway and living area is all bamboo. It looks good. I like it. Maybe a few carpets here and there, but its good.

So yea, that’s why no updates lately. I have a ton of work to catch up on right now, but I will have an update to this site soon and some new info to share with you which I’m very excited about, but for now, just enjoy these pictures and this story and be thankful you didn’t drill a hole in your drainage pipe!

Have a great weekend!

Aloha,

Michael

Ready to tear apart floors with the mallet and chisel….

See ya later wall… Had to paint all behind here with this stuff to cover all the mold too. Pain in the neck…

The nugget wanted to help, but just kept finding herself getting in trouble, so she was banished to the bedroom for a few days…

Well, here’s the finished product before the furniture went in.

And with the furniture back in place and the munchkin out of her cell…

The couch was filthy from all the dust and everything (since I couldn’t move it into the store bedroom at the time). So I decided to take off the covers from the cushions and throw them in the wash…. but no one told me I couldn’t dry them.

So I decided to fill my 8″ gap with more pillows… It works for now, I guess. I guess I’ll soon have to replace this couch, unless anyone has any ideas on how to stretch seat cushions…. What an idiot I am sometimes…. Oh well, conversation piece!

Another month has come and gone and yes, once again I’ve slacked on sending out Aloha Fridays. This should be a Aloha monthly newsletter instead of weekly… Anyway, It’s Friday and I’ve got a bunch I wanna cover today, so sit back and buckle up….

First off – gas prices have now reached $4.50/gallon out here and surely it will go up. I bet you by the next Aloha Friday we’ll be over $5.00. Yea, crazy and I’m sure you’ve got a few choice words you’d like to share with the oil companies right about now, don’t you? Well, I do too: “Thank you.”

Nope, that’s not sarcastic, I’m stoked! Really, I am. Of course I don’t like paying half of my income on gasoline, but when I look around I can see how frustrated everyone seems to be about this topic, and brother I see the light!

Tell me that lately you haven’t been looking around at hybrid cars and alternative fuel sources. Tell me that you are considering a new Humvee. Tell me you haven’t had a conversation with your neighbors or co-workers about the price of gas or airfare lately.

That’s right, we are becoming fed up with this insanity, and collectively more and more people are becoming aware of alternative sources. For the first time ever hybrid cars are more in demand than any other. There’s a waiting line 60 deep in some parts of the country for a Prius. Now that my friends is a beautiful thing.

We are being forced to go green, and I say bring it on! I’ll pay the ridiculous prices for gas right now, because I know we’re on the threshold of a revolution. Electric cars are coming soon. There’s scores of companies producing them right now and they’ll be on the market before you know it. The race is on. GM has the “Volt” coming soon, and every other major manufacturer has its engineers building electric cars too. Not only that, but alternative manufacturers are producing electric vehicles too. Tesla Motors has their “Tesla Roadster” already rolling out to waiting lists that include hollywood celebs and even the Governator. And if you haven’t seen the Aptera, you better check it out. Under $30K and getting over 300 miles to the gallon. Yep, buckle up… things are just getting good….

So yea, the prices of gas are insane, but this forces us to become more conservative. It helps us look for other options and in turn we’re doing little things to become a greener nation…

As I mentioned already I have a few other things I want to talk about so I’ll move along from this topic… remember though, these words are just the opinions of me, myself and I. If you don’t agree with me or my opinions thats fine! Please have your own thoughts, ideas and feelings. If you didn’t and just took someone else’s beliefs as your own, I’d be scared for you!

I wanna give a great big shout out to Chris and Anne. I may have mentioned them before, but they’re getting married this summer in Chicago. Chris asked me a few weeks ago to stand up in his wedding, so I am honored to accept his invitation! And you know what that means… Chicago’s prodigal son is returning home and we’re going to turn the town upside down!!!

Alright, well that may be a little dramatic, but I’m really excited to get back for the wedding and to see my friends and family, and of course hit every blues club in town (not on the same night though….).

So for those of you in Chicago whom I haven’t seen in a while, block of some time for me at the end of August/early September. And if you happen to have Cubs tickets… I’d be willing to do just about anything to catch a game or two, so if you have extras, hit me up!!

Speaking of the Cubs… (yes, this is your warning to skip the next couple paragraphs)

Have you seen how hot our boys are? Oh, yea! Best record in baseball! They won again today! I know we’re barely a third of the way through the season, but this year feels better right now than it did in ’03. Honestly, the way our guys are playing right now, we can play with anyone! They are dominating on both sides of the plate right now and working so well as a team. Their lineup has 5 or 6 starters that could AVERAGE .300. Fukudome, Soriano, DeRosa, D. Lee, Ramirez, Soto (rookie of the year by my vote…) and so on. These guys are really good!

Not to mention our pitching has been spot on! Zambrano is on fire as always, Dempster has really stepped up his game, Lilly has been great too! And Marmol is insane as always. And who’s that guy closing for us? Is that?… yep, it is. Kerry Wood. Can you imagine what batters must think towards the end of the game? If they are getting worked through the whole game and when the starter gets taken out they know they’ve got Kerry Wood’s fastballs to contend with… wow, what a lineup!!!!

Alright, alright, moving along…

A few weeks ago I was asked to accompany one of the most feared competitors in the islands, Tyson Kubo as he crossed the Kaiwi channel in his one man outrigger canoe. Unfortunately, I wasn’t being called on for my exceptional paddling skills or my ferocious competitive nature. Nah, I was invited to come along on the escort boat and document the entire thing on video. Of course I accepted anyway…

The race was the Moloka’i Solo World Championships. Paddlers were coming in from all over the world. California, Australia, Tahiti, all over Hawai’i, even a couple guys from Canada (man, I’d hate to train in those cold waters….).

So, on May 17th we left bright and early on the ferry to get over to Moloka’i. It was myself, Tyson and Don Mehling, another fiercely competitive paddler and a wizard nutritionist/trainer. The three of us boarded the Moloka’i Princess for the hour and a half ride over to Kaunakakai.

On arrival in Kaunakakai we were picked up by Uncle Ron in his beat up old GMC pickup. He took us straight away to his house where Auntie Cammie had been cooking up some of the -no, wait, THE BEST fried rice and eggs I’ve ever had.

When we got to their place we could smell breakfast from the kitchen, and though we were starving, Don and I couldn’t even pull ourselves inside. The place was right on the ocean. Literally steps from the sea was the front yard! It was so beautiful! I could have thrown my fork (not that I would have) into the Pacific from the breakfast table. Just an absolutely amazing place. And the hospitality was amazing!

We sat there and talked story for a long time. Finally, we loaded the canoe onto the truck and headed out to Kaluakoi.

When we got there we stayed at a condo right on the water in one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. There were paddlers everwhere. All over the lawn there were canoes of different makes and models. Each paddler was tweaking his rig and checking out the winds, currents, and swell directions to plan their course for the next morning.

I took the afternoon and started exploring the area. There was a feeling I had at Kaluakoi that equaled no other place I’ve ever been, save the first day I stepped foot on Maui. I’ve been fortunate to have visited a lot of places in my short time on this planet, but very few have pulled at me like Moloka’i.

The island was untouched. Not even a street light on the entire island. No commercialism at all. Only about 7500 people on a pretty good size island. Everywhere was rolling hills, sea cliffs, mountains, greenery and nature. I know some people search their whole lives to find God, and brother let me tell you… If you can’t find God on Moloka’i, you need help!

I know most people probably wouldn’t have the same reaction as I had when I visited, but I don’t need much to be happy. I think I could be very content living on this island… In fact I came home with a whole plethora of real estate information from the land. If I ever make any money, I hope to purchase a small plot of land out here, looking out at the beautiful blue Pacific and build myself a humble abode. OK, well, I may not build it myslef as I’m sure I would mess up building a bench, let alone a house… but you get my point…

Anyway, so the island was sick (to me…. but don’t go out there, we don’t like tourism on Moloka’i…. ). The rest of the evening we planned our course, cooked up some pasta and got an early night’s sleep.

Bright and early the next morning we got down to the ocean and checked the conditions. The swell had built and was coming onshore pretty good. Don and I had to swim out to the escort boat about a hundred yards from shore with everything we brought with us. Everything I had fit in a small dry bag. I wore my clothes, packed a toothbrush, some deodorant and a credit card, and of course a couple cameras, so I was good. The swell was kinda big going out so the swim was a little rough, but we made it to the escort boat in one piece.

The race started at 9:00 sharp and the 131 boats fled in every direction. Some guys headed way up North to try and anticipate sharp trade winds coming in from that direction later in the day and giving them a great push down South towards Hawai’i Kai. Others headed South gambling that the winds wouldn’t pickup enough to make much difference.

Tyson and Don decided to cut North and head up wind. And though the day before Tyson had anticipated being the furtherst guy to the North, that wasn’t the case. Some guys were going extremely far in that direction, and we maintained our set out course. We wanted to focus on Haunama Bay and aim for that, then two hours in we would cut South and hopefully by that time the trades would be blowing enough to give us the push we were looking for.

The first two hours were great. Tyson was blowing past the other competitors around him. His composure looked great and his paddling was strong. By this point we couldn’t see anyone else around us. There were a few scattered boats on the horizon, but no one in our direction.

Unfortunately, this is about where Tyson hit a wall. He wasn’t drinking enough fluids early on and though he tried to replace them as he was paddling, it was too little, too late. His body started to get weak and we could see him struggling.

The winds never came up and the sea was churning like a washing machine. There wasn’t much as far as waves to catch and those that were around faded quickly into others passing in opposite directions. Not only this, but the sun was brutal and the clouds were none.

The competitor in Tyson is fierce, and his determination relentless. He didn’t let the physical exhaustion weigh on him like it would have other competitors. He pushed through even with his leg cramped completely he kept paddling. Two more hours of struggling towards O’ahu before his body couldn’t take it any longer.

Our escort boat was riding pretty close to him in case he were to pass out we could have jumped in quickly.

Just outside of Shark’s Cove on O’ahu he had to stop. His legs were cramped, his body was shaking and we didn’t think he could go any further. I tell you, it was really hard watching someone so big and powerful and with such amazing skills struggle the way he did. He jumped in the ocean to cool off and stretch his legs. A couple of other competitors passed him as he stayed there but he listened to his body and knew he still needed rest.

After a few moments he got back on his canoe and continued the race. Still weak, he was determined to finish the race. It was nearly another hour before he crossed the finish line, and nearly an hour after the time he hoped to achieve, but he never gave up.

I asked him later if he was disappointed with his performance and he said no, not at all. Even though he hoped to tame the channel in under 4 hours and finish with the win, he told me that any time you finish a race like that, any time you can make it across the 32 mile Kaiwi Channel in a 25 pound piece of fiberglass and survive, you have battled the elements and won. He said it with a smile and his honesty and humility were evident. He had put himself up against everything the ocean had to throw at him and came out on top.

The race was won by Danny Ching in a time of around 4.5 hours. Tyson finished in just under 5 hours and came in 15th. Even with his body shutting down through the better part of the race he had still out paddled many of the world’s best.

I sat next to Tyson on the flight back to Maui that evening, and as he slept, the events of the day played through in my mind. I was sad that his body shut down. He had made that crossing over a dozen times before and that hadn’t happened. He had trained relentlessly for years. He had just a few weeks before won the 30 mile race from Maui to Moloka’i. He was ready. He’s an athlete at the top of his game, and that channel gave him everything it had on that day. I may never forget the way he just chuckled at the ridiculousness of the question I asked him about being disappointed with his outcome. His answer made my respect for him grow tremendously. What a great outlook from such a great competitor. I hope next year I can accompany him again through the channel and watch as he again proves he is the protypical Hawaiian outrigger canoe champion.

Have a great weekend everyone. Enjoy the Cubs v. Rockies series and go out and enjoy the beautiful world around you. Oh, and if you have a chance, hit me back!

All my aloha,

Michael

Gotta love lava rock coastlines in Maui. How majestic!

This shot I really like. It was taken after sunset and is an extended exposure. I like the color contrasts in it and the way it looks completely blown out in the background to the right.

This is about a 10 minute exposure from a secluded spot in South Maui. I’d love to take you there, but I’m not going to tell you were it is….

On the way to the condo. We were staying in Kaluakoi on the West side of Moloka’i.

Here’s a photo of Tyson about 20 miles into the race. You can see O’ahu about another 12 miles away.

I can’t believe I’ve let a month pass without writing. I know, its terrible. You know what’s even worse? I don’t have much for you this week. Even the pictures are weak. But oh, well. I’ll make the best I can of it, so let’s go, maybe I’ll remember something extremely interesting as I type this out…

Alright, so… after I left you last time I went out surfing. I was out at Honolua Bay, which for my money is the world’s greatest surf break. It was a strange day, there wasn’t any surf anywhere, but I was over on that side of the island and I had my 6’3″ board with me, so I figured I’d at least drive up there and check it out.

To my surprise, there were waves. Pretty good size ones too! What was even more strange, was there were only a handful of guys out. Usually when there’s waves at Honolua half the island is there. So, I grabbed my board and headed out.

It was epic, caught a bunch of waves and the power behind them was enough to really push me down the line. The waves were anywhere from head high to several feet overhead, and there were only about 5 other guys sitting out at the point where I was surfing so I was able to surf a lot of good waves that day.

I remember surfing one wave and feeling a small tube come up over me and thinking how great this day was. I’m not a great surfer, so getting barreled is not something I’m all that used to. After that ride I paddled back out to the lineup where I was awaiting the next set.

I was starting to feel a little tired, so I told myself I was going to catch the next one and ride it into shore. A couple waves passed before I started getting anxious so when the next wave came I paddled into it. The ride was nice at first, it was strong and a little over head high, and looked to have a good line to it. Unfortunately, the line didn’t hold up and the wave started crashing in front of me. I tried to race ahead of the break, but it just kept peeling further and further down. So I decided to bail off the wave instead of surfing the whitewash.

I didn’t realize, however, how close I was to the rocky point. As I fell off my board, I could see the point creeping up on me. This was NOT the area you wanted to bail at, but I had been in hairier situations, so I didn’t think it that bad. And normally it wouldn’t have been too bad, but the power behind the waves at Honolua are unprecedented on Maui. The backwash was so strong it took and pushed me forward towards the point. I did my best to stop the waves inertia, but even I am no match for Mother Nature.

Before I could regain my composure and head back out to sea, My feet got slammed up on the reef. I clenched my teeth and could hear myself let out an inner scream as I was still underwater.

When I came to the surface, I could see the next set start to roll in, and I knew if I didn’t get out past it in a few seconds, the reef was going to really have its way with me next time. So I wrestled my way back onto my board and started paddling out in a fury. I was able to get past the waves and stay clear of the next couple sets.

As I was out there I remember thinking about how my right foot was hurting quite a bit. I figured it probably got all scraped up on the reef and would surely heal within a few days or so. I wanted to try again to catch a wave and end on a high note, but the waves were starting to come less frequently. So, I paddled for a smaller wave and rode it in.

For those of you unfamiliar with Honolua Bay, it sits at the bottom of a cliff and you have to climb back up to the parking area maybe a hundred feet up or so. It was during the climb that I remember thinking how sore my right foot was.

The adrenalin was still pumping though and I didn’t think it was that bad, so I drove home. It was after I got back to my place and took a close look at it that I realized it was full of wana (pronounced “vana” – sea urchin)! I had heard so many stories of people getting wana stuck in them, but never had the experience myself, so I didn’t know what to do. I knew I had to get it out, that was about it.

So, I sat down with a sterilized needle and started going at it. After a good bit of time I was able to get most of them out. Unfortunately, there was still one in there I couldn’t get. I tried everything, but to no avail.

Over the next several days, I still couldn’t get the thing out. And those of you who know me, know I don’t go to doctors unless absolutely necessary, so I thought “well, what would a doctor do anyway if I went in to see one?” The answer was clear, he would get it out. Maybe he’d use some kind of scalpel or something, but the dude would get it out, right? So I thought, “hmm… I have an exacto knife or two laying around…”

For the next few WEEKS I was constantly picking at my foot with exacto knives trying to get this last piece of wana from its resting spot. Well, I’m proud to say that earlier this week I got it out. It was about a quarter of an inch long and it was buried pretty deep. The bottom of my right toe looks like it just stepped on some kind of miniature mine field, but the wana is out!

Wow, that story came out being quite a bit longer than I thought it might. I’m hesitant to even go on… But there is one more subject YOU KNOW I have to talk about…

The Cubbies are now 15-7 with the best record in baseball. We’re 8-2 in the last ten games and are playing lights out! Even without Alfonso Soriano we have been dominating teams left and right. We swept the Pirates (twice) and the Mets! I’ve never seen them start a season so strongly!

Now, I know what all you naysayers are going to say, and yes, it is still April, but man, I’m stoked with how it’s starting out! I’ve gotta be honest, I’m loving this team. They are playing so well together. When we need a hit someone steps up. Be it Derosa, Theriot (or as I like to call him, “The Riot”), D. Lee, Ramirez, Pie or whoever, we’ve been putting up some runs!

It is still early, but if we can keep this up, there will be no stopping us. And for all you Sox fans who are going to comment on your great start, which congratulations, by the way… let’s just see what happens in the last two weeks of June….

I got a bunch more I want to say, but I think I’ve gone on long enough about everything. I’m not even going to go into a rant this week, so I’ll save you from that. Enjoy some photos and a short worthless video (I got a new point and shoot waterproof camera that had a video option on it, so I thought I’d try it out…). All these pics are from the new camera and none are museum quality, just for fun, but enjoy anyway!

Have a great weekend, and I hope to talk to you very soon!!!!

all my aloha,

Michael

Gotta love bamboo forests

Rob and I at his son’s baseball game. Marques plays for the Mets and his other boy Niko plays for the Twins. I only root for the Cubs, as you know…

Everyone loves the nugget. Even though she doesn’t do anything except bite me when she’s hungry and play with the springy door stopper thingy at 3:00am. My roommate loves that, by the way…

Surgery Set. Yea, used to be art supplies, but after that wana stabbed me in the toe, I had to resort to other measures…

Whew, boys and girls how’s everyone doing today? I’m a bit tired, was up all night with my new girl Sylphia. She is something else, let me tell ya! In fact she’s sleeping right behind me right now, but I think I’m going to have to wake her up again pretty soon… Wow, what a woman…

Black as the night, and with curves that flow like a silken river, not only is she a great piece of eye candy, but she can sing!! Man you should hear her! Got a set of pipes on her with a range that can go from Sarah Brightman to Janis Joplin to Norah Jones. Incredible!

As you can no doubt gather by now, I’m pretty into this one. She just moved here from the mainland. Actually came out on Wednesday (it was her first time in Hawai’i ever!) and she’s staying with me. I know, it’s kinda soon, but I really fell for her. Met her online (I know, I know…) but so far she’s everything I could’ve hoped for!

I still have Steph renting out the other room, but she’s not here so much anymore and Sylph is staying in my room. So there hasn’t been any problems between them, and I don’t really foresee any to be honest. They’re both super chill… I set up a little corner for her (had to move some things around so she could fit in relatively comfortably for now). Its probably not going to be a permanent move, but for now, she’s cool with her little corner of the room.

Alright, anyway, let’s move on…. I can’t talk about her all day… I’ll attach a pic of her at the bottom of this post. Shoot me any comments you may have…

In other news, I’ve still been spending quite a bit of time with my friend Caroline. She’s so much fun. We’ve been going out shooting photos, surfing and paddling canoes a lot lately. She’s been in charge of revamping my Netflix account too. So all the Jet Li movies that I had put up in my queu, she’s sent to the bottom of the list to make room for any old movie with William Powell and Myrna Loy, Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, The third season of Hawaii 5-0, and arriving tomorrow, Disney’s Enchanted! Oh, yes, that is excitement you’re sensing my friends. Nothing tops off a day like a nice home cooked meal and a Disney movie about a princess that comes from a fairytale and falls into present day New York City!

Now I’m sure you’re all wondering about Caroline and Sylphia, but so far, they seem to get along. I mean, Sylph knows that Caroline and I are just real good friends, and she doesn’t get jealous at all, so that’s super cool. She’s cool with me hanging out with Caroline and Caroline seems to like Sylphia too, so its great! We’ll probably all three hang out for a bit this weekend (well, if I’m lucky….).

On a more serious note, I do want to talk a little about an issue that is affecting our culture here in Hawai’i and is something I’ve witnessed first hand over the years. As you know, I spend a lot of time in the ocean, both above and under the water.

I remember when I first moved here I would go snorkeling almost daily. All the great reefs around this island were such incredible areas to view some amazing marine life. We’d go all over the ‘aina and find huge schools of fish from Honolua to La Perouse. But over the last few years it has seemed to me that the fish population was getting smaller and smaller. The big fish that we could count on seeing around Black Rock and Ulua Point are no longer there.

I do like to spear fish, but since I’ve only been able to actually catch a handful of fish this way, I don’t think I’m hurting the population all that much on my own. So I was wondering what it was, and why the fish aren’t around as much. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of great spots to view natural marine life, and there are still schools of fish swimming in the Pacific, just not as much as I remember in years past.

Well the other day I read this great article in the Haleakala Times about this very issue. Apparently, the demand for our “little Nemo’s” and other tropical fish has led to an increase of fish trafficking. Well, I don’t know what its actually called, so we’ll go with “fish trafficking,” sounds good, doesn’t it? Anyway, they say that about 10 MILLION fish per year are taken from these waters and sold to collectors all over the world to be put in there fish tanks.

Now, its my understanding that every year we have around 7.5 million visitors to the Hawaiian Islands. A lot of people come here from all over the world for the unparalleled tropical beauty and marine life we have here. But once again this beauty is being exploited. 30 years ago the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle was on the menu at most of the restaurants here in the islands. Because of this we helped push them to the brink of extinction. Now thankfully, the powers that be started listening to the Hawaiian elders before it was too late.

In Hawaiian philosophy it is acceptable to take from what God gives us, but not to take more than we need. It is also important to take note of the populations we take from. So if we are using certain plants or fish, we need to monitor those species and their environments. When the population of that species starts to become more scarce they become kapu, or forbidden, to use. This is a way of checks and balances employed by early Polynesian cultures that still holds merit today. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs only look at the bottom lines and if there is profit to be made they will do whatever it takes to fatten their pocket books.

As you can tell, this is an issue that has stirred me quite a bit. I don’t mean to get all political, but living in Hawai’i, 90% of our revenue here in the islands comes from tourism. If all our resources become depleted, who’s going to want to come here? I live in the Kihei area of South Maui and in this area alone, $28 million dollars comes in annually from activities in and around these reefs. 29% of that amount comes directly from snorkeling and diving in this area. That’s a good chunk of change that gets contributed to the state’s economy each year. And this is just one small area of the Hawaiian Islands.

So what can we do? Well, there are a few things. First, decrease the demand for these fish. Let them live in their native habitats and not in the salt-water tanks of collectors. These fish don’t often live well in small tanks anyway. Second, we can call and write to our state senators and voice your support for Senate Bill 3225. For more info on this bill you can check it out at this link.

Alright, that’s it for my rant. Sorry about that, it was on my mind for a while and I just wanted to let out these thoughts. I hope I didn’t offend anyone. I understand the fish collectors stance on this too, but I think we need to look at the bigger picture, not the bottom line.

Well, on that note, it’s time to go fishing… (catch and release my friends….). So, I’ll end it here for this week. Have a fantastic weekend, I hope everyone is doing well, and I hope to hear from you all very soon!!!! Have a great day and as always, stay safe!

Malama i ka ‘aina (take care of our land),

Michael

Me and Sylphia. What? You were thinking…!! Oh, my… naughty children….

Caroline and Sylphia. Wow, how gorgeous are these two ladies!

Another pic of my friend Caroline from Heritage Gardens up by Iao Valley.

Here’s a kinda neat pic of the water flowing around Iao stream.

Ginger

Iao Valley and the Iao Needle. Looks like something out of Jurassic Park, yea?

Another moving water shot from the oher day.

Yea, got ya back, didn’t I? I know you missed me! For real, I’m super sorry for not writing in a while. I’ve been meaning to, but you know how it goes… I really wanted to bring you an update to the teaser I left hanging in the last AF, but unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to at this time… It’s coming though, I promise…

So, onward we march… New sights, new stories and new adventures! Well, not really, but I’ll try and make some mundane occurences as exciting as possible…

Did I mention to you guys that I bought a new truck? Well, I did. A few months back.. A big ol’ Dodge Ram. It was really nice 4×4, Stick, V8 all the trimmings. Unfortunately, I always felt guilty driving it. I thought I needed all those things, but once I started driving it I realized that I hardly need all that to carry around some surfboards and kayaks.

And about 2 weeks ago I sold the truck to this guy on a Friday afternoon around 3:00. The I high-tailed it to the bank, deposited his cashier’s check and caught the next flight to Somalia (alright, it was actually O’ahu, I just thought that sounded more interesting….). From the airport I had this other guy pick me up in a much smaller, more compact Dodge Dakota. I drove the truck from the airport back to his pad and it drove pretty well.

So, I pulled out a wad of cash and made him an offer which he accepted. This is about 7:00p now, and then I cruised over to my boy Kev’s house. He and his girl Wisa were cooking a sick dinner so we kau kau-ed, shaved a mohawk into Kev’s head and went out to the club (I woulda done the mohawk thing too, except I had just shaved my head and there wasn’t much to work with….).

Of course that made for an interesting evening. Met some very interesting people with Kev and Wisa before heading back to Kev’s. Now it’s about 1:30am and time for sleep. I set the alarm on my cell phone for 4:30a and started sawing logs. Of course 4:30 came bright and early (well, bright, anyway). I took the new truck down to pier 19 (Yep, the superferry) and boarded the vessel.

For those of you unaware, the Super Ferry is an extremely large oceangoing vessel that departs once a day from O’ahu to Maui and once a day back to O’ahu. It’s only been around for a few months and has been met with a lot of static and doesn’t seem to be something that anyone really wants. But its here anyway, so I took it.

The nice thing about the Super Ferry is that it allows you to travel with a vehicle between the islands. So, perfect way to pickup a new pickup and cruise back to my ‘aina.

Funny thing, though, is when you get on the boat the employees hand out “emergencey bags”, ginger pills, dramamine and all kinds of seasickness preparedness items. They also go on and on with their warnings about how everyone gets sick, but enjoy the ride…. Thought that was great….

Did I mention this thing is huge? Well, it is. They must have been at only about 3% capacity on this thing, and there is no way it will make it financially. It must cost an absolute fortune for this thing to run and with the cost of gas and its impact on the environment, no one wants it here. Surely it will be gone in at most 2 years.

Long story short, I got another new truck. This one is a lot more modest. No 4×4, just a small pickup. But it works great for me. I like it. Though I’ve recently been told by my ripoff mechanic that it needs pretty much a new everything.

I wanted a second opinion.

So I gave it a new stereo, which seems to fix all the noises coming from the engine.

Other than the truck scene, I’ve been spending a lot of my time with my new partner in crime, Caroline. I met her when she came out to the Canoe Program at the Four Seasons. We hit it off pretty well and started hanging out quite a bit.

This girl is incredible. I’ve never actually met someone quite like her. She’s got an amazing outlook on life, is super sweet, innocent as a baby and drop dead gorgeous. Only flaw is that I’m not her type. Shocking, I know.

But even with this small hiccup, we’ve been hanging out pretty much daily. I’ve been taking her with me on hikes, teaching her about photography, gone paddling together, kayaking, surfing, stand-up paddle surfing, watching movies, walau’au-ing (talk story), cooking, dancing and more. She’s been fantastic! Makes me feel so good hanging out with her.

Unfortunately, she’s not a citizen of the US. We’re trying to get her a work visa so she can stay a bit longer, but we’ll have to see how that goes. Hey, speaking of Caroline, I gotta go, I think she’s coming over for dinner and a movie tonight!

Well, sorry about the short and completely random newsletter, I still do have a big announcement for you, but once again, it will have to wait. I really want to get a little further along on the project (code named: “Project”) before I let the cat out of the bag (not Kianapauka, figuratively speaking….). That’s it. Have a great weekend, everyone! Hit me back if you get a chance!

All my aloha,

Michael

I love tree roots. they seem to tell a story with every twist and turn.

A few botanical pics from the Maui Tropical Plantation… Nice these pics, yea?

Hey all, that’s me! (yep, bet you forgot what I looked like, since I’m usually the one behind the camera….)

Me again… Thanks to Caroline for taking a few shots of me. I know my mom is probably the only person that actually cares to see these pics, but hey, thought I’d share ‘um for ma’s sake anyway…

Serenity in motion

Yep, the whales are here again! It’s estimated we are going to have nearly 10,000 humpbacks visit the islands this year. Up from only 1,000 only 30 years ago!

Sorry it has taken me so long to get one of these off to you. I didn’t know if these were getting sent out or not. I got very few responses from the last one. It must have either not gotten to everyone or you all found it completely boring. Then again, I know there are only a handful of you that actually read these anyway…

…And for those of you who don’t read these, you’ll be happy this time because there are a BUNCH of pictures I’m attaching below.

Alright, let’s get started… First off, it’s about 11:15p on Sunday evening right now. I just awoke from an 8 hour nap and am pretty wired, so of course my first thought was of you guys and how could I live with myself if I don’t send another Aloha Friday off immediately?

The last few weeks have been extremely busy. I’ve been working hard and accomplishing a few goals, but I’ve got a long way to go to reach them all. I’m going to need your help too. That’s just a little precursor.. I can’t tell you everything that’s going on right now, but I’m working on a new project that will directly affect each and every one of you. And I WILL need your help to make it a success.

I’ll let you know when its ready. It probably won’t be for at least 6 months (more likely around Thanksgiving, if we’re lucky), and I’ve got a ton of work to do with it before its ready, so I’ve gotta stay focused…

BREAKING NEWS: Kianapauka, my cat, now thinks I’m a jungle gym. She’s crawling all over me right now and insists that I”ve already written plenty to you guys and its time to chase her around he house… …oh wait, now she’s decided to move on from me and attack the fish in her fish tank… goofy little nugget…

The holidays were nice here, I didn’t do much, but we did have a white Christmas… well, the sand was white, anyway… I haven’t surfed in what seems like forever, and I haven’t shot any pictures lately either, but that’s coming.

Wow, I really have nothing interesting to say right now do I? Well, instead of just rambling, I’m going to give you guys a visual AF with tons of pictures. Hopefully that will make up for my ineptitude in writing this week.

I’ll try to get out an interesting Aloha Friday shortly, but until then, have a great week and enjoy these pictures of the greatest city on Earth…

Aloha,

Michael

Signage outside of the House of Blues

The space egg at Millenium Park. I’m not sure what its really called, so we’ll go with “Space Egg.”

Here’s my boy Krape Suzette playing with a fountain downtown. This thing is crazy, if you haven’t seen it, the face on here changes, its some kind of video thing and sprays out water from the top and side here. I’m not sure there is any purpose for it other than entertainment.

I like this shot, again, taken from Millenium Park.

This guy was all stoked to get his picture taken. I wish I had a video camera, and could have captured his dancing skills. He was off the hook..

This fountain is tucked away in a little nook outside of the Art Institute.

How do you shoot a landmark that’s been photographed a zillion times? Well, for this shot of the Sears Tower, I actually shot it through its reflection off the glass of a building down the street. You can see the round recessed lighting circles from inside the building I was shooting. Kinda neat, yea?

I don’t know what this place is, some kind of religious building I think. Its right directly across from the Hancock building, and I love the old European abbey feel that it has. It has this great little courtyard inside it too, that’s just fantastic.

The old Water Tower, a landmark of Chicago. One of the only buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of October 9, 1871.

The building in the foreground here is the new Trump Tower that’s being built right down on the river. The building behind it is the Wrigley Building, I believe.

Another staple, the Chicago Theater.

Another shot from Millenium Park.

I like this pic too.

Not many cities can stand up to the Architecture of Chicago. Everywhere you turn there are amazing things to see. It was on one of my trips back after moving away from the city that I actually went on the Architecture Tour and that was amazing. For those of you who live in the area and haven’t done it… go be a tourist some time and take it. You’ll love it!

There was a thick haze in the city the morning I took this shot, but I thought it added to a neat atmosphere for the landscape.

A shot of the bridge from Millenium Park.

Central Camera Co. – Not really a landmark, I just like cameras, and thought this was a cool shot, so I took it… Kinda has an old time look and feel about it.

The Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier. Another staple of the Chicago skyline.

Well, this will be the last Aloha Friday for my South America trip. I’m sorry about taking a couple weeks off, but things have been pretty crazy out here. Anyway, so last time I wrote you I was in Puno, Peru up by Lake Titicaca.

From there I took a bus down to a city called Arequipa, also known as “The White City.” It is called this because almost everything in the town is built from a white volcanic rock called sillar. The town is pretty cool, not only because of the white buildings everywhere, but also because it sits at the base of three massive volcanoes.

When I first got off the bus in this town I immediately had a bad feeling about it. I don’t know what it was but I wanted to get out of there. I hired a cab to take me to this hostal I found but he kept pushing all these other places on me. Finally I told him to just drop me off in front of the cathedral which is basically in the center of this town of maybe 500,000 people or so. He did this and I found a place nearby that was run by a nice family. The place was close to the heart of town too so I was able to walk around easily and see what there was to see.

I still had this feeling like I was ready to leave this town the moment I got in, so after I locked my things in my room I took off and got a bite to eat, then started walking around the town square. Almost immediately I noticed a LAN airlines office, so I went in and booked a flight for the following day to take me to Lima. I don’t know what it was, just a feeling like I needed to get out of there. It was a strange feeling, but I went with my instincts.

As I finished my purchase and walked out of the building, I pulled out my camera and walked across the street to take a few pictures. This was literally maybe a minute or two max after making my purchase, when I ended up meeting this cute little Peruvian girl…

She’s in a group with about four other Peruvians and starts talking to me as I’m passing by. She says her friend wants to get a picture with me, so of course I oblige. The friend wasn’t nearly as cute as the girl who was talking to me, but I could tell her friend is digging me, so I strike up a conversation.

After a few minutes the cute girl asks if I had dinner yet. Apparently, she was a waitress at a restaurant across the street. I told her I did just eat, but I’d like to take a look at a menu, so she hands it to me. After seeing a dish I was very interested in trying, I told her I’d come back later and have a bite to eat at her restaurant. She said her name was Magaly and to ask for her.

So, later that evening after wandering the town for a while, I ended up going to the restaurant and sitting down at a table with a great view of the town square below. Magaly comes over, says hi and hands me a menu. Its relatively busy at the restaurant so we don’t get a whole lot of time to converse, as she has to tend to the other customers. She hands me a menu and I order a large Cuzquena (the local cerveza).

When she comes back with the beer she asks if I’m ready to order. I tell her that I’d like the Cuy al horno and she looks back at me with a smile. I think she’s a little impressed. Cuy is a very big delicacy in Peru, and I knew I wanted to try it while I was there. The previous night I ordered another Peruvian favorite – alpaca (llama) – and that was just alright, but the Cuy is the major delicacy in Peru, so I knew I had to have that too.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cuy al horno, Cuy is guinea pig. When Magaly came back with the entree, I ordered another large Cuzquena and took a good look at what was looking back at me. That’s right, the head was still attached, as were the feet and basically everything else but the whiskers…

The entree was delightfully served with two potatoes on either side of the guinea pig, and I was handed a fork and knife to get the job started. I didn’t really know where to begin, so I just dove in and started picking the meat off it.

Eventually I would put the fork and knife down and go to town on this thing with just my hands, eating it like fried chicken. I remember a table of Germans sitting across from me watching in horror as I picked up the leg and started gnawing at it. As cliche as this may sound, the Cuy actually did taste like chicken. It was good, in fact I probably could have ordered another one…. but I didn’t.

When Magaly came back she saw my plate was empty other than the bones of the rodent and she looked even more impressed now. We talked a little more (in Castellano of course, as she didn’t speak a word of English), and she told me she was going to be getting off soon. So, I decided to stick around and hang out with her when she was done working.

A few moments later we’re walking down the streets of Arequipa looking for some of the hottest salsa clubs in town. We checked out a few of the more popular ones but they looked lame, so we moved on. Finally we settled on this one place, but she asked if I would feel comfortable there as it was a completely local establishment and I would probably be the first gringo to ever step foot inside.

Of course I was cool with that, so we went inside and grabbed a table. We ordered up a couple Arequipenas, another local cerveza and started chatting. After a few drinks she pulled me out onto the dance floor and started teaching me how to salsa.

Most of you, even those who know me extremely well, have probably never seen me dance. That’s because I was born with two left feet, so dancing has never been fun for me, though I’m sure it is entertaining to those I’m with…. so long as they don’t stand too close.

But Magaly was a trooper, she taught me all the moves and after a while my rigid body began to loosen up. Well, either that or the 15 Arequipenas made it feel that way… She was a great dancer (and a great kisser , and a lot of fun to be with. She made me feel like I wasn’t the worst dancer on the planet (which clearly, I was – and am)…

We danced all through the night and into the next day. We stayed together until about noon when I had to leave for the airport. At this point, I was having such a great time, I didn’t want to leave, but I had the ticket already, and I stuck with my messed up intuition and got out of town. Of course, Magaly and I exchanged email addresses and goodbyes before I got on my plane to Lima.

I spent three days in Lima, where I have very little to say about it. Actually I stayed in Miraflores which is just South of Lima, right on the Pacific Ocean. It was a nice neighborhood in a massive city. But the problem was that of all the places I had visited throughout my trip, and all the culture I had seen, it was all gone in Lima. It was just a a big, plain, dirty, metropolis of 7 million people.

The highlight came on day two when I tried to go surfing. I checked out the waves the day before (it was cold and rainy) and they looked alright. Nothing great, but for a Maui boy who hadn’t surfed in weeks, I was itching to surf anything. So, I went around and found a place I could rent a board and wetsuit by the hour. Before I picked them up though, I went down to the rocky beach to get a good look at the surf and plan my strategy. The waves were good size, head high or so, but they were junky. Breaking all over and the water was dirty.

Not only that but when I stepped in the water to get a feel of the temperature it was FREEZING. It didn’t help that day two was colder, windier and rainier than day one, so ended up bailing on the surf. I knew I wouldn’t be able to last more than 5 minutes in that water, no matter what size wetsuit I was wearing…

Finally, I got on a plane in Lima and headed for Costa Rica. I had one night there and rented a hotel online the night before at a super sick place right in the middle of San Jose. I was on basically a 24 hour layover there before heading off to Guatemala.

I had been chatting online before I left for my trip with some people for Costa Rica, and this girl Soni had been telling me about all the places to go to and see and all this, but since I was only there for a day I couldn’t see too much. I did check out the Teatro Nacional and the city of San Jose, before giving her a call later that evening.

She ended up coming out and taking me out to some of the clubs, introducing me to some of her friends and just hanging out most of the night. After about the first four clubs we went to a really nice restaurant where some of her family was for her cousin’s birthday.

We sat around this table and talked for hours. Since most of the family didn’t speak much English the conversation turned to movie stars. They would say a celebrities name or a movie or something and I’d counter with another that I liked. It was fun, and they were trying to make me feel welcome.

After partying most of the night, I told Soni I had to go. I was literally falling asleep in my beer, and just wanted to sleep before I had to get up early for the airport. So, we said our goodbyes and the next morning I was off to Guatemala.

When I landed in Guatemala City, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I had 8 hours before my next flight and had heard how dangerous Guatemala was. I debated staying in the airport and just getting a good book, or more likely a surf magazine.

But of course, I didn’t want an opportunity to pass me by, so I left the airport and got on a bus for a town called Antigua. It was about an hour from the airport and I had heard busses left for there every hour, so I figured I could spend a few hours there before heading back.

As soon as I got there I was stoked. It was just a cool little town with tons of culture. The buildings were all different colors, reds, yellows, blues, browns, you name it. They were all so vibrant! And old! The town looked like it was built back in the 12th century and for all I know it might have been. Cobblestone streets, ancient looking architecture, the town just had its own flair that made me extremely happy to be there.

I don’t have much else to say about it, other than I had the best tacos I’ve ever had in my life at a small little hole in the wall restaurant there. Man, those things were good. I could sure go for some more of those right now… Guatemala definitely exceeded my expectations. Even though I was only there for 8 hours, I loved it, and definitely would like to go back!

Finally I made my way back to the airport and boarded the plane for Chicago. I would stop there for an indefinite amount of time (the plan was to stay until the Cubs won the World Series, which should be sometime in late October or so), before heading back to Maui.

All in all, South America was fantastic. I had a lot of great experiences, met some great people and saw some amazing things. The best thing about the trip though, was that the experiences helped me solidify my long term goals (more about this in the weeks to come). I would love to go back and experience all these things again, but for now, I’ll just have to re-live it through images, words and memories.

That’s if for now. Have a great weekend, stay safe and spread the Aloha!

A hui hou,

Michael

Arequipa, the White City and one of the surrounding volcanoes.

This pic was taken in the town square, it kinda reminded me of Venice’s Piazza San Marco with all the pigeons all over.

This was about the only picture I kept from Costa Rica. I found it interesting. This platter and head were outside the Teatro Nacional in San Jose.

These are some of Soni’s relatives that we met up with at a nice restaurant in San Jose. I’m the one in the red (in case you couldn’t tell), and my friend Soni is the one hiding behind her cousin in the first row peeking her head out.

Antigua, Guatemala. I found this fountain quite interesting, as I’m sure you will…

Everybody’s got cell phones these days.

This is some random group of musicians playing in the streets of Antigua. Note the kid in the middle of the image is playing the drums on a turtle’s shell…

There’s something that’s oh so photogenic about this…

Look at the colors in this town, cool, huh?

Are those supposed to be nose straps? Take a look at these guys, they’ve all got their caps strapped under their noses. I thought they were chin straps… who knows?

Don’t have much to say about this, other than, I like it.

Good morning everyone! So, after Machu Picchu, I headed back to Cuzco and arrived at about 5:00p or so. I decided instead of spending another night in that town (remember, it was pretty damn cold here..) that I would hop on a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. So I found a bus that was departing later that evening and got on board.

It was a long overnight bus ride out there, and though the bus was relatively new, it wasn’t exactly great sleeping conditions. But, eventually early the next morning I made it to Bolivia. Now when we got to the border we actually had to pay the Peruvian government a departure tax before we left and then had to pay an entrance tax into Bolivia. Kinda crazy, but Peru is good at nickle and diming money from you.

Eventually, I crossed the border into Bolivia where the landscape is bleak at best. Houses were lucky if they had roofs, doors or windows. Most of the time you just saw half completed walls that only stood maybe four feet high. Peasant women would walk their llamas and try to find them food. Others were trying to turn soil that was drier than clay. You could see they were trying to plant crops but they must have known there would be little or no chance anything could grow in such a desolate and hostile environment.

The elevation at Copacabana, Bolivia was over 12,000 feet and the town sat right on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake. My first thought when I saw the lake was how dirty the water was. It must have had a muddy bottom because the water in by the shore was a brownish green. It looked nasty, not like I had imagined.

The town of Copacabana was a bit disappointing as well. I soon came to realize that Bolivia was the poorest country in all of the Americas, laden with poverty and unemployment. But I decided to make the most of it. Since my dollar did go further here (I literally rented a room for about $2 a night – then again it was pretty much a broom closet under a staircase…) I made up my mind that I was going to enjoy this town.

The poverty of the town was actually its highlight as well. Because of so much struggle the town was in disrepair everywhere and made for interesting scenery. You could see all the potential the small city had to be great, but with the lack of tourism (the main industry) the town was quickly dying. There were several large hills or mountains around Copa, and I decided to climb one of them for a better view. From my vantage point on top of the hill you could easily visualize the magnificense that once was Copacabana.

After a couple days here I decided to head over to the Peru side of Lago Titicaca, a town called Puno.

Puno was much bigger than Copa and had a ton more going on. Lots of great restaurants, and of course tours around the Lake. There were a bunch of little islands in Lake Titicaca, but none quite like the Islas Flotantes.

First let me start off by telling you how big the lake is. The lake is more than 120 miles long and over 50 miles wide, and when you are looking at it, you can’t see the other side. It’s massive!!

And now a little history lesson… Back in the day there was much conflict around this area between the Incas and the other tribes in the region. The Incas were pretty much slaughtering everyone else off so they could control all the land. However, there was this tribe called the Uros who were basically a pacifistic group and they came up with a way to survive that was as ingenious as it was crazy.

The Uros, being backed up by the Incas all the way to the shores of Lake Titicaca, started building rafts out of the totora reeds that grew in the shallows of the lake. Eventually, they took these reeds – thousands of them – and basically weaved them together into these massive floating islands. The islands that they created out of the totora reeds were large enough to house several families each.

Every six months or so the reeds would need to be replenished with new ones to keep the islands afloat. Hundreds of years later, there are still Uros people living on these islands. The islands are huge, up to around a hundred yards long and up to about 4′ thick in parts.

The Uros’ lives were literally dependent on the totora reeds as they used them to make everything from their islands to their boats to their houses. Everything was made of Tortolla reeds.

There are around 20 of these floating islands that randomly float around the lake. Most of them are anchored down with a string and rock at the end. But the islands do bump into one another quite frequently. These things are just crazy…

So of course, I had to take a boat out to check these things out. I ended up going to two of them. The first one was a bit more traditional. The women and children were making necklaces, tapestries and trinkets to sell in the markets on the mainland while the men were out fishing.

The second island was quite a bit more touristy and even had a public telephone, “restaurant” and lodge on the island! I wish I would have known about this, then I definitely would have stayed there, but unfortunately I had already booked a place back in Puno.

The experience of walking on these islands was truly unique as it felt similar to walking on a sponge. Not that I’ve ever walked on sponges, but you know…

This was one of my favorite parts of the trip, I still can’t believe the Uros people and how crazy they are for living on islands made of reeds. When I got back to Puno, I decided to have a nice meal of Llama, a Cuzqueno – their local beer – and reflect on the insane way of life that they had out there…. Crazy.

I was going to continue this on and finish my trip in this edition, but I think I’ll put it off and maybe finish it next week. Or who knows maybe two weeks from now… I do have other interesting things to tell you about, but for now, let’s just let your minds simmer on the thought of living on the Islas Flotantes…

Have a great weekend, stay safe and spread the Aloha!

A hui hou,

Michael

Merchant at her store in Copacabana, Bolivia

Lake Titicaca tour offices in Copa

Here’s a shot of Copacabana from high above the city. I saw this big rocky hill and decided to climb it for a better view.

How adorable is this little school girl?

These two girls were great. We played for quite some time. I showed them how to use the camera and they kept taking pictures of my feet. I couldn’t explain to them how to point at what they wanted to take pictures of before pressing the trigger… Ah, well, I now have a hundred and thirty two pictures of my shoes.

This lady was sitting on a bench in Puno, Peru. I wasn’t exactly the most nonchalant photographer around, espescially since my camera is bigger than a small automoile.

Yep, even a website. Gotta love it. I’m not even sure if you’d need the provided mat to sleep on, since the ground is kinda like a sponge…

This is the first village on the Islas Flotantes that I arrived at. Smaller and quieter than the one with the “lodge.” You can see all the women and children are setup around a half circle with their trinkets out trying to sell them to all of us who visited their island.

Literally just about everything on these islands was constructed of the totora reeds. Here’s an example of a typical boat (it’s supposed to be a dragon, I think…).

This lady kept trying to sell me everything. These tapestries that she’s holding up are knitted by the women and show the fundamentals of their life. I wanted to buy one but for the life of me, couldn’t think of what I would do with it other than throw it in a closet…

This was the more touristy of the Islas Flotantes. Complete with phone, restaurant and lodge…

Here’s my boy waving me bon voyage.. Hasta luego, homey.

Houses made from the Totora reeds

You can see how thick the islands are. Good thing its not too rough in these waters. You gotta go out there and experience these things in person. They’re nuts!

How crazy are these places?

Here we go. It’s 5:00am and I’m sitting at the bus stop waiting for the first bus to arrive. I wanted to get to the summit before the crowds of people. I knew that would be difficult, but I felt it would also give me the best opportunity for photographs.

By 5:20am there’s a line of people waiting for the bus. 10 minutes later the line doubles as the first set of busses arrives. This place is no joke, serious tourist mecca, and for good reason. I mean after all, this was the reason for my entire trip, and believe it or not, there are other crazy fools out there like myself.

Anyway, so I hop on the bus and we begin the trek up the numerous switch backs up to the summit. When we arrive about a half an hour later the line forms quickly at the entrance. Of course I get pulled aside and told I can’t bring my tripod into the ruins….

That set me off. The lady working there was a complete [fill in the blank with your choice of colorful word(s)]. I started out being pretty cool, but as we were communicating (I say that loosely as my Spanish wasn’t exactly firing at 6:00am) I saw tens of people walking in with tripods. Unfortunately, the more I protested the [again, your choice of words] woman got more aggressive in her espanol. And I think to piss me off even more she started rattling off her sentences so fast that I don’t think anyone could understand her (even if they did speak Spanish).

I was raging mad, but what could I do? I spent a long time just staring her down, giving her my best Robert DeNiro, but to no avail. She wasn’t threatened. She just stared back like Rosanne Barr. So, I bit the bullet and let her hold on to my tripod for the day. I told her I’d pick it up later. I really wanted to get in there and shoot some pics…

By the time I finally did get past the entrance, hordes of people had already entered. I figured my pics were all going to have tons of people in them and I missed my opportunity to shoot pics of the site bereft of people. Luckily, however the sun hadn’t even risen yet and taking pictures before then would prove fruitless in picture quality without a tripod.

So when I first set eyes on the ruins after climbing a small hill to get to a vantage point, I was in awe. The place was so much larger than I had anticipated and every bit as magical. It was a village built at the height of the Inca empire in about 1450 A.D. and was used for less than a hundred years. It is said that it is the largest and least understood Inca ruin in the world.

The city sits perched atop a mountain at about 8,000 feet elevation and overlooks some of the most beautiful peaks in the Andes. The ruins were deserted less than a hundred years after they were built and were lost for hundreds of years. They were re-discovered by a professor from Yale University named Hiram Bingham in 1911. The ruins are now commonly refered to as “The lost city of the Incas.”

I spent all day up in the ruins, traversing up and down through the old streets and in and out of buildings and store houses. I even climbed up the tall peak that you can see in the background of many of the pictures below. That peak is called Wayanapicchu and it is excruciatingly difficult to climb. Between the altitude and the steep grade of the trail, it is not one that can be easily trekked.

I’m going to finish this story up pretty quickly as I am beat right now (Thurs. night) and just let the pictures tell the rest of the story. In short the day I spent up there was amazing. Fantastic scenery, amazing architecture and magnificent overall feeling of being there. It really made you wonder how they got all these rocks up there and how long it must have taken to build this massive place.

I spent a lot of time up there contemplating the world in general, people and life itself. Even as touristy as it was, there was still plenty of places to get away and just feel an overwhelming sense of awe at the magnitude of the beauty around you. I thought about you too. And I came away smiling.

Instead of taking the bus back down to town, I decided to hike down the mountain. As you may have guessed, I was the only one doing this, and that was peaceful and relaxing to me as well. Though the next day my feet felt like they spent the night jumping on hot coals and my legs felt like they just got in a fight with a meat cleaver. I needed a good amount of time to relax and let myself heal. But instead of being a baby, I got on the first bus back up the mountain at 5:30 again to do it one more time…

That’s about it for Machu Picchu, like I said, I’m going to let a few pictures show some more pieces to the story. I have hundreds (literally) more pictures from this place, and I will show you them too in the future, but for now, enjoy these 10 pics and hit me up when you get a chance!

Have a great weekend, stay safe and spread the Aloha!

A hui hou,

Michael

Hello Sunshine.

I found it! The lost city of the Incas. I found it!!

It’s kinda like a big labyrinth up there. Very easy to get lost…

Doesn’t this rock look like the perfect place to sit and contemplate life?

This is the view from Wayanapicchu looking down at the ruins of Machu Picchu. On the left you can see the zig zag road to get up to the ruins from Aguas Caliente.

These ruins were so much bigger than I anticipated. Just about all my pictures were taken with a wide angle lens to try to capture it all.

Es magnifico, si?

Who loves you?

Alpacas cruising around the ruins. Looks like this guy is enjoying the sites just as much as I was.

Onward we march to the depths of Peru! So as you previously read (assuming that you read), you’ll recall that I was leaving the Galapagos Islands and heading to Peru. When I left the Galapagos I flew into Guayquil in Ecuador. From the airport there I found a flight that would take me to Lima for a night and then off to Cuzco bright and early the next morning.

When I made it to Cuzco I found a small little broom closet in the Plaza San Francisco that I could rent for a few nights for about $7 or so. The room looked like it was built in about the 14th century (and very well could have been). There was no insulation and not much of a secure door either. Cuzco itself was perched at around 8500 feet above sea level and was FREAKIN’ COLD!!!!

I may have explained this before (I don’t remember, I’m actually on a plane right now at 7:00am heading to Denver so I can’t think all that well this early – and for those perceptive few of you out there, yes, I am writing this about a week before its intended release date…) but I expected South America especially the countries around the equator to be pretty warm. I knew there were towns in the Andes, but I didn’t expect it to be freezing cold for any part of the trip. Welcome to Cuzco.

Anyway, I put on all my clothes (literally) grabbed my camera and went off looking to see the sights. First things first, I had to find some breakfast. I ended up walking around for awhile and finding this place called the Baghdad Cafe in the Plaza de Armas. So I walked in and ordered something (I know it had eggs in it…) and some Mate de Coca.

Mate de Coca or coca tea is a very popular drink in Peru. It is made with coca leaves (obviously) and is said to combat fatigue, tiredness, and altitude sickness. It is a staple of Peruvian culture and can be found just about anywhere. In fact, many people actually just buy the dried leaves and chew on them with a catalyst to expunge the toxins into the bloodstream. It’s kinda like having a Copenhagen or Kodiak dip with natural substances.

Interestingly enough, the coca leaves were one of Peru and Bolivias biggest exports for many years. It is a staple crop that grows all over South America. This was the basis of Coca-Cola, it was made with the coca leaves as one of its main ingredients. However, over the years, Coca-Cola had to fade out the use of coca in their colas. The reason for this is because some jackass figured out how to process the coca leaves into paste. Then they’d take the paste, dry it out and cut it up thus creating what we now refer to as cocaine.

When the cocaine rage started in California and the drug became popular the US government stepped in and put pressure on the Peruvian, Ecuadorian, Bolivian and Columbian governments to not allow the exportation of Coca leaves. Of course the response from the South American countries was akin to “Hey, we’ve been using these leaves for thousands of years, look at the benefits! It’s not our fault that your people are drug addicts and want to process this plant into a chemical substance.”

Being the powerhouse that the United States is, that didn’t fly and so they forced these countries not to export any of the leaves anymore. What’s more, the “War on Drugs” campaign the US started gives $100m to these countries and then is divied up to coca farmers. Giving them $2500 a piece for destroying each acre or so of coca. This, of course, backfired, and instead of wiping out the coca growing in South America, it was a reason to plant more fields of coca, so they could destroy it and get more money.

So now that the farmers in South America cannot sell the coca leaves internationally, many businesses have gone under and one of their largest exports has been vacated, thus leaving the countries in extreme poverty. But that’s not all… since it is illegal to export the leaves now, it also boosts the demand as its harder for all of us to get our hands on this designer drug. So guerilla farmers team with local militants and corupt officials, police and renegades in order to grow a now extremely profitable plant and smuggle the leaves out of the country.

In conclusion, all that’s really changed is that Cocaine is now more expensive and South America is poorer than ever. How about a hand for the drug addicts and U.S. Government for their inconsiderate ability to oppress a wonderful people!

Sorry about that rant, Now back to my tea…

The tea was pretty good. I’m a tea drinker anyway, but I liked it. I drank it every day at least once a day and found the effects minor to unnoticeable. Though I did find that I had a suppressed appetite and was able to hike longer without needing to stop for food.

Moving on, after breakfast I decided to check out some of the local ruins around Cuzco. The most popular of them being Sacsayhuman (Pronounced “Sexy Woman”). The old Inca ruins of this area were pretty neat but not overwhelming. It got a little better when I met a l local guy with a couple of horses. He asked if I knew how to ride. “Si, Claro.” I responded, though I really had no clue how to ride a horse. He asked if I wanted to rent one and check out the ruins on horseback. And of course, I felt this was a great idea (or at least would make for a good story), so I gave the guy $10 and grabbed me a Stallion.

Jumping on the horse, I took off down an old dirt trail. The horse was all over the road, wandering like a drunk that just got cut off. I took hold of the reigns and started pulling them in the direction I wanted to go and eventually got the hang of it. I cruised around on that beast for a couple hours or so before taking it back to my Peruvian homey.

After a while, all these ruins started to look alike and really just started looking to me like a pile of rocks. So, I went back to town and crashed for the night. The next day I spent exploring the town, again having breakfast at the Baghdad Cafe.

By this time I was getting really tired of freezing my butt off so I decided it was onward to Machu Picchu. This was the reason why I had decided to go to South America and Peru in general. There is only one way to get there and the journey takes quite a few hours from Cuzco. Most people went and did it in one day, leaving Cuzco in the morning and returning to Cuzco at night. But I wanted to really spend some time there and reflect on the culture.

So, I headed off early in the morning, making my way to Aguas Caliente (or Machu Picchu Pueblo) by train. Aguas Caliente sits at the base of the mountain on top of which Machu Picchu is perched. I decided to stay in that town for a couple of days and found a great little room for rent not far from the train station.

As I situated myself in the room, I decided the next day I would go up to the ruins first thing in the morning and come back when the park closed later that night. But for today, I would explore Aguas Caliente.

The town of Aguas Caliente (literally, “Hot Water”) had no agua caliente. Nor did any of the places that I had been staying at that claimed that they in fact did have agua caliente. The quaint town had a lot of local charm. It was a place that people lived and played and those fortunate enough, could work. It was the last little stopover before arriving at one of the world’s greatest wonders but the town was still ripe with culture.

Their were several giant soccer fields sitting at the base of a housing area and on the corner of town. Local residences were lucky if they had windows, doors or roofs, while the tourist accomodations did at least have those luxuries. As in most other countries, soccer is a way of life, and you could find boys and girls of all ages kicking balls through the streets and in the fields.

As I perused the town, I came across a ton of street vendors, some of which would have a grill setup and would sell skewers of beef and a potato on the end for about $.30 each. There would be a little bowl of home made green salsa for your dipping pleasure as well. I think I must have eaten about 15 of these things they were so good, but for dinner I found another place…

On this trip I was determined to eat local cuisine, and when I found a local restaurant with all kinds of Bob Marley paraphenalia on the walls and coming out the speakers I almost felt like I was back home in Hawaii. So I strode in and ordered some Truscha (that was the special of the day – lake trout) and had a fantastic meal for about $3. Of course after the meal, I went downstairs and sat by a firepit and ordered up a few Cuzquena’s (the local lager of choice). I sat for hours there and struck up a conversation with one of the waiters. After doing my best to communicate (the Cuzquenas helped my Spanish, I think), I headed for my room and got ready for my early morning adventure at Machu Picchu.

Bet you were really hoping I’d go into more on the Machu Picchu thing, but don’t worry, I will. It will just have to wait for next week… And just as a little teaser, almost half of all the pictures I took on my trip were taken there in Machu Picchu, so stay tuned, next week should be a visual treat!

Yabada, yabada, yabada, That’s All Folk’s! Hit me back when you get a chance. Have a great weekend, and I’ll talk to you again next week……

A hui hou,

Michael

Some of the mountains surrounding Machu Pichu.

Aguas Caliente town. This is the area where the locals actually live. It’s quite a bit different than where the tourists stay (but not really that much different other than having roofs on the buildings in the tourist section).

This is some building in Cuzco at night.

These are some local Peruvian ladies dressed in traditional garb and making yarn out of Alpaca (small llama).

Aguas Caliente town shops.

The famous Inca Chief Pachucatec (I hope I spelled that right….) standing above Aguas Caliente, or Machu Picchu Pueblo.

This is Cuzco at night. A view from the Plaza de Armas.

Cute little local girl. Her mother got pissed that I took this photo of her, so I played it off like I didn’t understand and that I wouldn’t do it again…

This is a view from Cuzco, Peru. Cuzco is home to about 400,000 people or so.

Mate de Coca (Coca Tea) served with the coca leaves still in the tea.

Ya’ll ready for this? Two weeks in a row. How you like me now?

Alright, so as you may recall, last week I had somehow made it to the airport after 3 hours of sleep and found a flight to the Galapagos Islands for 8:30 in the morning. So that’s where I’m at now…

Around noon or so and after stopping in Guayquil for a quick layover to pick up more tourists, the plane landed on Isla Baltra and the majority of us grabbed transportation to Isla Santa Cruz and down to Puerto Ayora, the main port in the Galapagos. Now for those of you who have forgotten your 9th grade History class, the Galapagos Islands are famous for being the location where Charles Darwin came up with his theory of Evolution. The species of life found on and around these islands are very different from other islands and main land creatures. Related yes, but they have evolved to take full advantage of their current eco-systems. I’m not going to dive more into this, you can research that elsewhere, but if you forgot all this, try to keep up…

So anyway, I get to Puerto Ayora and start looking for a place to stay. I walk up the cobblestone streets and come upon this little hotel that claims they have agua caliente (hot water). This would be the first place I had found on the trip with hot water so I book the room for three nights. Of course, they don’t have hot water and I have to take cold showers, but whatever…

I drop my bag in the room, grab my camera equipment and start my journey around Isla Santa Cruz. I started off heading East and came upon an old pier on the side of the road. I walked out on it and through the many trees that lined each side before realizing that in the trees were these monstrous pelicans. These things must have weighed about 50lbs or so and were all over these trees. So of course I took a few pics of them…

When I got to the end of the pier I looked out at the turquoise blue waters of the Pacific and immediately noticed all the life in the water. No matter where I set my glance I would see sea lions and other marine animals cruising along the surface. There were birds everywhere, from Frigate birds to Pelicans to Blue-Footed Boobies (that’s right, I said Blue-Footed Boobies… stay tuned, more on them later…).

I sat at the end of the pier and marveled at the site for awhile before continuing on my journey. I kept heading East until I came to the edge of town and found the Charles Darwin Research Station. Continuing on I found a beach. I had heard there was a surf break around here somewhere so I was going to keep walking until I found it…

I walked for a long time along the white pebble and sand beaches and over lava rock in my search for the wave. I came across a small bay where there was a left handed break, and watched it for a little while. The wave was kinda ugly and didn’t seem to hold up very well. Not only that but it was pretty close to a large lava rock outcropping. I thought it must be the break, but wasn’t positive so I kept walking.

Eventually, I came upon a lava rock field I had to cross and as I started out over it, the lava rocks moved too! I did one of those cartoon-like double takes and then realized that they weren’t lava rocks at all but Marine Iguanas. And they were everywhere!!!! This was the main reason I really wanted to come to the Galapagos was to see these guys and here they were, I was stoked. Instead of scaring them off, I decided to get down on the rocks and creep up as close to them as they would let me.

It was a slow process, but I was able to get within about two feet of these guys and started snapping pictures. Some were a little scared at first, but as the flurry of pictures came, they seemed to get used to it. I would inch my way towards the ones I wanted pics of and fire away. If I got too close they would scurry a little bit, climbing over each other so they were just out of arms length. I spent about an hour with the iguanas before a couple local boys came running through my lizard field and made them scurry about every which way. But before they arrived, I got close enough to touch them, feel their bumpy hard skin and spikey backs. They were truly amazing.

When it started getting dark I began to head back to my room. I left the camera there and went out to grab a bite to eat. I ended up going to this place that looked pretty cool. Then while I was there finishing my meal (don’t ask me what I was eating, I have no idea), this girl walked by that could have been one of the top five most beautiful girls I ever laid eyes on. She was absolutely lovely. Long blonde hair in braids, perfect skin and a gorgeous smile. She looked like Angelina Jolie from that movie Gone in 60 Seconds, except instead of dreads she had braids. For a short time I thought she might actually be Angelina. She was gorgeous, but because of her beauty, she was incredibly intimidating. I saw she was with a group of people so I let it go and went back to the room…

Grabbed the camera and headed out taking pictures at night. Later when I had finished shooting for the night, I ran into this guy that owned a boat and offered to show me around the next day. We negotiated a price to see 5 sights and another small island. I was excited, I booked the tour with him (though I didn’t give him the full rate.. I promised the rest when we met in the morning).

The next day I waited patiently for this guy to show up but he never did. So I headed down to the pier and found him there. He said he came by my place looking for me, but as I was sitting right out in front of the building I told him I doubted that very much. Anyway we had to wait for a few other people to arrive before we could take off.

It was raining and overcast and I was kinda bummed about that, but I wasn’t going to let it get to me. When he finally reached the other people he said they wanted to go later and if that was OK with me, we’d go in the afternoon when it was a bit warmer and sunny. I said that was fine and that I would meet him here at the pier.

I then decided to go hunting around the island for these giant turtles (tortugas gigantes) that I had heard all about. I was told about this road I had to take to find them, so I called a cab and told him where I wanted to go. He was ridiculously overpriced so I told him no way and decided to hitch.

I finally thumbed a ride with some locals who took me close to the area I needed to go to. I hiked around and finally found an overgrown road that looked as though it hadn’t been used in years. So, I headed down it and after about half an hour or so I saw this huge boulder on the side of the road. Then I realized it wasn’t a boulder but one of these tortugas gigantes! I’m not good with estimating size or weight, but if I had to guess, I would say it probably weighed 400lbs or so. Maybe not, I don’t know, but it was HUGE!!!

I kept walking down the road and came over a hill when I saw two more walking down the road towards me! It was amazing how big they were and how slow they moved. These creatures truly were dinosaurs. Everything from their scales to their faces were so ancient looking it was unreal. Of course I snapped a few pictures and watched as they made their way towards me.

As they got closer however, they stopped and stared at me. As I got closer they got more nervous, and when I came within a few feet of them their bodies made a noise that was similar to Darth Vader’s breathing and the turtles got on their bellies and retracted all their limbs inside their giant shells. The sound was so unexpected it took me by surprise at first. It sounded like some kind of compression chamber door closing or something, it was nuts.

I studied these guys for a while, getting on my hands and knees and checking out the giant tortoises. During my travels down this road, I found one that wasn’t as scared as the rest and he actually let me take some pictures of him without being fully contracted (pictures below).

Eventually, I made it back to the main road and was able to hitchike to about 4 miles outside of town. From there I walked back to the pier and got on the boat for the next adventure. The boat was small (it basically just had a little bench where 5 of us sat and took an open sea journey to isla caamano where we went snorkeling in the freezing cold and extremely rough waters. There wasn’t great visibility, so when the first sea lion passed about 6 feet in front of me it scared the &*$%! out of me. I didn’t have fins either so it was hard to swim around in the current that was there.

Next we stopped at a few more places. More good snorkeling in the lagoon-ish waters off Isla Santa Cruz. Then we hopped on the island and visited a few more iguana sanctuaries. Here I started talking to this guy from California. He and I managed to get lost from the rest of the group, and when we made it back to where the boat was, the boat was gone. I wasn’t so worried about it. In fact, while he went off to try to flag down a boat, I went back inland to shoot more pictures…

Finally, the boat came back and picked us up to take us back to Puerto Ayora. Later, I booked a tour with them again for the next day. This time we would be going to Isla Bartolome.

That night I went back to the same restaurant hoping to bump into Ms. Jolie-look-alike, but to no avail. I crashed early as there would be a bus coming to pick me up around 5:00am to take us to the next island adventure…

At 5:00am I boarded the bus and grabbed a window seat. The bus went around and picked up a few more guests and then guess who hops onboard? Yep, Angelina. Nice. The bus takes us to a harbor on the other side of the island where we boarded a boat for Isla Bartolome.

Breakfast was served immediately as we boarded the boat and I took my seat directly across from the hottie. Like I said she was quite intimidating, so I started talking to her friend who was not at all intimidating. I come to find out that they were there as part of a work internship kind of thing through their schools. They were all from different schools but all working to help people in Ecuador and this was kinda like their last hurrah before they went their own ways back to their native countries and schools.

I didn’t exchange more than 5 words with the hottie at breakfast, and thought I’m not going to push it. She seemed like she had some kind of attitude problem and that was a major turn-off. Also on the boat was my friend from yesterday, Scott and his wife Barbara from California.

The ride to Isla Bartolome was about 3 hours, and in this time I sat on top of the boat with Scott and Barbara and we talked the entire time while watching the great blue sea. There were huge rocks dotted across the landscape from eruptions of some of the most volcanic islands in the world. But it wasn’t all the little islands and atolls that were most amazing. It was the sea life. Everywhere you looked there were sea turtles, rays, dolphins, sharks, sea lions and all kinds of fish visible from the boat. It seemed the ocean was overflowing with these things and everywhere there were jumping species of marine life. The ocean was teeming with life and watching it was mesmerizing to all of us.

We reached Isla Bartolome and were greeted by a pack of Blue-Footed Boobies circling the bay. These things were amazing to watch. They would hunt by circling the sea looking for a school of unsuspecting fish. Then they would make like torpedoes and shoot straight down into the water one after the next. It was like someone was sitting on top of a cloud and shooting a machine gun down into the water. That’s how fast these things moved. They would dive deep and grab their fish in their long needle-like beaks. These things would be under water for up to about 10 seconds before they would surface one after the next with fish in their beaks. they looked like a combination of an eagle and a duck (with bright blue feet), but man they were cool.

The island of Bartolome was pretty cool. We walked up and around the volcano area and had great views of the other islands and volcanic landscape. When we climbed back down we were given the opportunity to snorkel in a beautiful little bay. The boat dropped us off on a beach where there were sea lions sitting on the West side of the bay. I walked over to them, maybe about 10 feet from one of them and laid down on the sand.

I sat there for awhile enjoying the beauty of the natural world all around me. Then I thought I would try the same approach I did with the iguanas. I figured if I took it slowly they would realize that I’m not aggressive and probably wouldn’t mind me getting too close to them. So, I started inching my way closer. This took some time before I reached within about two feet of a pretty good sized sea lion. I sat next to him for a long time watching him sun himself and watching the little lizards on the beach climb on top of him and look around.

Then all of a sudden I sea another sea lion come out of the water and look at me like what the hell are you doing? He started waddling over to me (that’s when I realized the other one may have been a girl and this was her mate) but I didn’t move. I was extremely calm and relaxed and when he got right up next to my feet he started sniffing me. His whiskers were all over my feet inspecting me. I didn’t know if he was going to attack or not, but I just sat there waiting. I figured I could probably knock this thing to kingdom come if he started with me. But he did have big claws on his webbed feet…

He seemed to be OK with me and crawled between the other sea lion and me and laid down. This thing was practically touching me he was so close! I sat there still and admired my situation, and after awhile I decided to see how tame they were. I slowly reached my hand over and put it on the sea lion. He breathed heavy but then let it be. I couldn’t tell if he was nervous or not, so I decided to try petting him. I reached over again and set my hand upon him and started petting him slowly down his fur. It was extremely coarse and I’m not sure he enjoyed it because he soon started barking at me.

Of course I took this as a sign to step away, and I did. Now I decided to get in the water and it was magical. There were monster fish everywhere with all the colors of the rainbow melting together like a box of crayons. There were sea lions everywhere too, and they loved to play. They would swim right underneath us and blow bubbles up at us. It was amazing. If we were looking one way they would come up next to us on the other side and when we looked over (and naturally freaked out) they would cruise off laughing at us. I felt like I was in the Disney movie “The Little Mermaid” with all the playful creatures of the sea all around me. We even saw penguins chilling on this island and swimming through the bay. It was absolutely incredible.

Unfortunately, the time came when we had to get back on the boat and head back to town. I spent a good amount of the trip back sitting by the hottie and starting up a conversation with her. I then realized she wasn’t arrogant as I first thought, but shy. She was a Russian girl living in the Netherlands and we hit it off pretty well. We decided to get together for drinks later that night.

So that night we did get together for drinks and dancing and it was great at first. Everywhere this girl went she attracted attention and you could see all the eyes in the club looking over at her. I felt pretty good that I was the one with her, but after talking with her for a long time it became apparent that she didn’t have much self confidence. She seemed young (maybe 19 or 20 or so) and her maturity wasn’t all there.

Because she was incredibly gorgeous, I think that also became her achilles heal. She seemed like she needed people to tell her how beautiful she was. She was all over me at this club and I think she liked the attention she was getting from everyone else in the place. When I would leave to go to the restroom or order drinks or whatever she had guys coming up and flirting with her all night. After a while I couldn’t tell if she was trying to make me jealous or what so I told her it was great meeting her and I wished her best of luck with her trip and told her I was going home.

The look she gave me as her jaw hit the floor was priceless. Maybe no one ever walked out on her, I don’t know, but she looked as though she had just seen a three headed Blue-Footed Boobie. I gave her a little hug and walked out the door. She was dumbfounded and I chuckled on my way back to my hotel, never looking back. The funny thing is I never even got her name. Oh, well. No need for any drama in my life.

The next day I hung around town a bit, scouting out some new sites on the island before heading off to the airport. I decided I was going to start my journey down to Peru, and by nightfall I would be in Lima…

Ah, but Peru is for next week, so you’ll have to wait… Have a great weekend and holla at me when you have a chance….

A hui hou,

Michael

Nymph’s Lake hidden on the West side of Puerto Ayora.

The water in this area was a nice milky turquoise. This picture doesn’t really do justice to the scene…

Here’s the famous “Blue-Footed Boobie.” These things were some of the most enjoyable birds to watch hunt.

How’s the look on this Sea Lion? He’s winking at me! These guys love to play.

You can see how close we were getting to the wildlife. This is the Angelina Jolie look alike I met. Wish I had a better pic of her than this, but this is all I’ve got…

Pelican chilling in the trees. If you look closely you can see another one behind him in the tree…

Obviously these pics have been tweaked slightly. The background colors were changed, and I have quite a few of these like this, so I thought they may make for a nice series…

Iguanas showing a little brotherly love…

This is a panoramic of about 8 pics that I took at Isla Bartolome. You can see how volcanic the islands are.

Look at these guys cruising down the road. They are massive!!! Just about as big as a Mini Cooper…

Obviously this is me playing with the tortugas gigantes… This was the least scared of all the Giant Turtles I encountered.

It’s a damn good thing I picked up that Spanish book on the way to the airport…

But first… Congratulations to the 2007 Chicago Cubs. No they didn’t win the World Series (but did we really expect that?) but they did finish the season strong and did win their division. I’m happy that we had a winning season at least. And let’s not forget, we just did win the World Series in [19] ’07 and ’08. Next year starts today, and with the introduction of our new shortstop Alex Rodrigues, we should be pretty solid. I’m expecting a bright future for our boys in blue…

Alright, on to the meat. I know you all want to know how my trip was. Its funny because I always get the same first questions when people hear about the trip. The girls always say “You went to South America alone? How could you do that? How did you know where to go?” And the guys always ask “So, how were the chicks down there?”

Well, to answer your questions: Yes. I went alone. I figured out where to go as I went along. And guys, if you’re single I recommend Quito, Ecuador (though I had more fun in Arequipa, Peru…).

So I boarded the plane at about 2:30 in the afternoon in Maui setting out for LA. I started from page one in my new Spanish for Travelers book and got to about page 20 or 30 by 10:50p when I got off the first plane. The second plane took me to Costa Rica and I tried to read a bit more but I kept falling asleep. We arrived in San Jose, CR at somewhere near 7:30am maybe. From there I had one more flight, this one to Quito Ecuador. This flight was only about 3 hours and though I tried to read I didn’t get a whole lot accomplished…

The flight attendants on these international flights serve anything you want for free (well, anything they have anyway). Lucky for me, the one liquor that I do really like is Johnny Walker. So I was drinking JW all morning and by the time I was getting off the plane I had successfully spoken Spanish with a 50 something year old lady (who gave me her daughter’s name and phone number and told me to hook up with her while I was in town), and a young American girl with a full on beard who was living down there and helping out with some organization.

When the plane touched down in Quito I was lit up like the fourth of July and ready to roll. I had no plans though I did have some basic ideas as to where I wanted to go. So, I hired a cab to take me to the bus terminal. Spent about $7 on that and he took me about 6 blocks, not bad for American taxi prices but later in my trip I actually took a cab for about 3 hours for $10.

Anyway, when we were out of site of the airport, the guy pulled over on the side of the road and escorted me out of the car. See, apparently the bus station was way over in “Old Quito” and we were in “New Quito” and he didn’t want to drive any further than he had to. So, he found out I wanted to go to Otavalo, pulled over on the side of the road and flagged down a passing bus. Now remember, no one speaks any English at all, and though I can understand a bit of Spanish, these guys are rattling like machine guns. Anyway, the bus pulls over and the cabbie assures me that this is the bus to Otavalo. So, I figured what do I have to lose, I mean if I don’t make it to Otavalo, so what, I’ll go wherever the bus is going and be happy with that…

The bus took off and was heading North (which was a good sign as I knew Otavalo was a bit North of Quito). On the way, random locals would board the bus carrying a dozen or more soda bottles and waters tied to their bodies and some kind of local chips and snacks. They would walk up and down the aisles trying to hawk their merchandise and at the next stop they’d get off and a new local would come aboard with basically the same supplies.

It took about three and a half hours to get to Otavalo, and by this time my Jet lag was really starting to get to me. I had no idea what time it was. The sun was still plenty high in the sky, but it felt like about 8:00 at night. I paid the $2.50 or whatever it was for the long journey and stepped off the bus in Otavalo.

I basically had with me two carry on bags. One that held my camera, lenses, external flash and accessories, and one that carried my tripod and some clothes. If I didn’t have my camera, I could have easily traveled with nothing more than a small day pack. But, you know me… I’ve gotta carry 30lbs of camera equipment everywhere I go…

So, I grab my bags and start walking. I have no idea where I’m going or what I’m looking for, but eventually I see a sign that says “hostal.” I felt that was a good place to start and walked in. Negotiated with the lady behind the counter for a private room that set me back about $8 and I was in. The room was nice. Well, relatively speaking. I actually checked the beds by pulling off all the blankets and sheets to see if they were actually made of rock. Apparently they were actual mattresses, but man, I could swear it was just a slab of wood I was laying on.

One of the most shocking things for me was how cold it was. I mean, I was thinking “Ecuador = Equator = hot.” Well, no. I guess that which makes logical sense to me, is not entirely accurate. I understand that it was their spring when I arrived, but it was probably in the 60s to low 70s during the day and at night it dropped to COLD. I know what you’re thinking… 60s, 70s, cold? Are you kidding? Well, when you are used to 85 and sunny every single day and nights that get down to 77, yea, 60s and 70s and cloudy is pretty cold.

After I dropped my bags in the room, I went out to explore the town a bit. It was an older town but still in relatively good shape and the buildings were mainly in tact. There was a concert of policemen playing musical instruments in the plaza where I had earlier been dropped off by the bus, people cooking whole pigs on the side of the road, and empanada stands everywhere. As the sun set and the night grew darker, people came out of every little nook and crannie of the city. The place was more crowded at 11:00 at night than at 5:30 in the evening.

I stopped in at a local restaurant. Well, it was something like a restaurant. There were three tables and a grill in one big room. There was a blanket separating the “dining area” from the “kitchen” too… The lady comes up to me and hands me a menu. I had no idea anything on there. There was no “pollo” or “carne asada” or anything that I had heard of before. So I asked what she recommended and went with that suggestion.

When the meal came out I recognized the lettuce, tomato, rice and beans. There was a meat, though it could easily have been “gato” or “perro” as easily as it could have been beef. A little girl who must have been the daughter of the “chef” kept looking at me and smiling from across the room. She must have been thinking how strange I looked as I was wearing all my clothes and a green bandana.

I waved at her and after a while she came over to my table. Up until this point I had communicated pretty well with most of the locals, but this child would prove to be very difficult. She couldn’t seem to grasp the fact that “mi espanol es muy mal, y no entiendo mucho. Por favor, hablas mas despacio…”. With her soft nervous voice she would try to ask me some questions and I felt so bad because I hadn’t a clue as to what she was saying. So after a while I just started responding with “Si, claro.” And “me gusta mucho.” Then I would ask her questions which proved a lot easier because my Spanish was at a level much younger than hers. So I’d ask her “como se llamas?”, “Donde esta la zapataria?” And other meaningless phrases that I knew.

Throughout that dinner she would laugh at me and run back into the “kitchen” to tell her mom what I said. The funny thing is I don’t really know what I said half the time because I was answering her questions. And for the most part I would just pretend I knew what she was asking and respond appropriately. For example she would ask me something (it could have been “how old are you?” or “Do you have any kids?”) and I would respond as if she asked “Where are you from.”

She must have thought I was pretty funny, or at least entertaining because she did hang around for quite some time. After dinner, I said goodbye to my new friend and handed her some Tootsie Rolls.

I got back to my room and passed out on the bed. I think it was around 8:30p or so because I remember waking up at 10:00p and ever subsequent hour to marching bands and raging fiestas outside my window in the square. They must have partied until about 5:00am hardcore before it started to die down. Needless to say that even as over-tired as I was, I didn’t get all that much sleep that night.

The next morning was Saturday and I had read something about Otavalo on Saturday mornings there was some kind of market that would be really cool to check out. So I started out of my hotel and walked North looking for this thing. I realized quickly that everyone else was walking the other direction so I turned around and followed the crowd.

I soon came to street after street that were lined with merchants selling everything from Panama hats (which were originally from Ecuador I learned, and the association with Panama was some kind of mixup by the first importers of the hats) to clothing to rugs to fresh produce. As far as I could see up and down each street and plaza there were street vendors. This was about 8:00am now and it was bustling. By about 10:00 wave after wave of buses let people off at the market from towns as far away as Quito. The place exploded with color and life. People were everywhere and it was truly a sight to behold.

I spent hours perusing the marketplace, taking pictures of everything (shocking, I know) and enjoying watching the circus unfold. I came up to a lady with a push cart with a grill on it where she was cooking some kind of funky breakfast and bought a plate off her for about $0.70. I’m not sure what I was eating (again) but there was a batch of salsa that she made to go along with it and so I doused everything with the salsa. I can’t really say it was good, but it was interesting. She had her cart divided into sections. So there were plates on one end, a bucket of meat on one end (all fat and bones, it was pretty nasty actually), a crate of eggs on one side, some yellow corn/potato things I’m not sure what they were in another location and a grill where she slopped it all together in the middle.

Eating as much as I could stomach, I thanked her and walked away. I had decided before going on this trip that I was going to experience as much of the local culture as I could. I didn’t want to eat at established restaurants like McDonald’s or Taco Bell (which was a good thing since I didn’t see any of those anyway until I got to Lima at the last part of my trip…).

The marketplace crowds continued to grow and after spending a few more hours there I decided to head back to Quito. So I got my stuff checked out of my room and boarded a bus for the City.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m the world’s largest (not literally of course) Jet Li fan. I watch his movies at least once a week or so and have quite a collection of his films. I watch them all in their native Mandarin language with English subtitles, except when Netflix sends me pre-dubbed films that are only in English with horrendous voice-overs. Anyway, where this comes into play in Ecuador is that when I was on the bus back to Quito they had a TV/DVD player at the front of the vehicle. The driver then put on a JET LI movie for us all to enjoy for the trip back! It was the first time I had seen one in Spanish voice-over with no subtitles, but it was great! I felt like the driver must have known how huge a fan I was and put on the flick just for me!

Well, that’s exciting for me, anyway…

When I got to Quito, I arrived in “Old Quito” which was very cool. A lot of culture and old buildings and the like. However, I decided to take a cab to “New Quito” to find a room for the night. I found a place called the Amazonas Inn and crashed there for about $13.

That night I ate dinner at a local place called “The Red Hot Chili Pepper.” Of course when I saw this I thought of Thomas, my old roommate from Turkey and his infatuation with the rock band and had to eat there just so I could write this to him and make him slightly jealous… So Thomas, next time you’re in Quito look it up. It’s in New Quito somewhere (but its not very good…).

After dinner I decided to peruse the town a bit, walking up and down the different streets and checking out the local establishments. Now for those of you who aren’t familiar with Quito, its a pretty good sized city with about 2 million people or so. And easy to get lost…

I found a really neat little plaza area that was lined with open-air bars and restaurants that all hugged the outside of the plaza and looked in towards fountains and whatnot. There was a nice table just at the edge of the plaza that I took a seat in and ordered a few Black Label’s on the rocks. As I was sitting there I couldn’t help but notice that just about every single woman that walked by was beautiful! Not just cute, but gorgeous! As you can imagine, I didn’t mind that much (the eligible bachelor that I was). In fact, while sitting there I had this tune that kept repeating in my head. I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the old Dean Martin song “Standing on the Corner,” but if you haven’t heard it, it goes something like this:

Standing on the corner watching all the girls go by…

Brother you don’t know a nicer occupation,

Matter of fact, neiter do I.

Than standing on the corner watching all the girls go by….

I’m the cat, that got the cream,

Haven’t got a girl, but I can dream.

Haven’t got a girl, but I can wish,

So I take me down to Main Street

And that’s where I select my imaginary dish…

Standing on the corner watching all the girls go by….

Standing on the corner giving all the girls the eye…

Brother if you’ve got a rich imagination,

Give it a whirl, give it a try…

Try standing on the corner watching all the girls go by…

Anyway, I kept hearing my old friend Dino’s crooning in my head as I took his advice and did my best to give all the lovely girls “the eye.” After a few drinks, a few smiles and a few winks, I finally started to reel in a couple of girls. That’s right, not just one, not two, but three enchanting Ecuadorian ladies came over and started talking to me…

“Do you speak English?” one of them asked in a broken dialect.

“Si, si! Claro!” I said, ecstatic that someone other than myself spoke English in this country.

They introduced themselves to me, and I to them and they asked if I wanted to go to a club with them. I thought about it for a minute and said I would love to. So, we got the bill, paid the tab and took off.

I walked with these ladies well off the beaten path to a local club that was raging. When we got in, I was the only one with light skin and who didn’t know the words to all these Spanish hip hop jams that were blaring from the rafters.

The club was different than any that I had been to before. Many different levels and many different bars, but there was only one drink you could order. I don’t know what it was, but I think it was Vodka based. It was alright, kinda like a blue mojito. No Johnny Walker, but it would suffice…

I spent hours with these girls and we exchanged numbers and emails. They asked how long I was going to be in town for and when I said I didn’t know, they tried to convince me to stay as long as possible. Tempting me with promises that they would show me around all the great areas of Quito and the surrounding towns.

At about 3:00am we parted ways and I started back to my room (finding it proved quite challenging…). When I got there I passed out immediately. I felt like I would probably sleep for days, but somehow when I awoke it was only 6:00am.

Instead of going back to sleep, I decided I could sleep on an airplane, so I grabbed my stuff, ran out of the room and flagged a cab. When I arrived at the airport it was about 6:30 or so and I came to find out that there was an 8:30a flight to the Galapagos Islands. So, I booked the flight and said hasta la vista to Quito….

I know you want more (‘cuz I haven’t wasted enough of your day yet….), but you’re going to have to wait until next week, when I re-attach my fingers and start typing some more… In the meantime, here are some pictures to hold you over. Have a great day, a great weekend, and I hope to hear from you real soon!

A hui hou,

Michael

For those of you who complain about the people we carry in the back of our trucks in Hawaii being unsafe….

The whole square was surrounded by shoe-shine boys.

…And this guy has meat for sale… looks great, pick your steak…

One of my favorite things about Otavalo was the color that was everywhere. From fruits to fabrics, the town was flowing with all the colors of the rainbow.

Again, colors everywhere. These fabrics were really interesting, but to be honest I didn’t see one thing on the whole trip that I would actually have purchased. Not really my style, I guess.

Loved this guy. He was about 4’2″ or so (I think I was kneeling when I took this picture) and he had such a great look and smile about him. You can see he’s wearing a typical Ecuadorian “Panama” hat.

This was one of those serendipitous photos that I was lucky to have snapped. I was actually looking straight ahead when I saw this precious little girl walk by. I turned my camera down and took one pic as she was walking by me. 99% of the time a shot like that would never turn out. Lucky for me, this one did.

Wow, if these lines could talk…

This guy was one of my favorites. He was a sweet old man (again about 4’2″ or so… hey maybe the guy in that other picture is his brother, they kinda look alike…) and was extremely thankful when I gave him a handful of Tootsie Rolls…

Alright its not, but I won’t be here this friday, so you’re getting your lovin’ now…

I actually leave in a few hours for my South America trip, so I’m going to make this real quick.. Just wanted to give you all a heads up if I don’t respond to your emails or phone calls for a while. I’ll be back in front of the computer at the end of September some time, so I’ll respond to you all then.

I should be in Chicago the last week of the season to watch the Cubs secure a playoff spot (and then roll on to the series…). For those of you in the Chi, maybe we can plan a night out that last weekend in September. Kingston Mines sound good? No pun intended, it always sounds good…. Hope to see you there… I’ll shoot out a reminder, but lets say Saturday The 29th around 9:00 or 10:00 at Kingston Mines….

Alright, well I really gotta go. I better stop at Borders on the way to the airport and get a book on Spanish……….

A hui hou,

Michael

The first Mayhem bike. This thing really is mechanical mayhem.

Another view of the little beast…

Took a few studio shots too. Here’s one with the model, Sophia

And another with Soph. The bike and babe thing is a little cliche, but it seems to work…

The Revolutionary Souljah is coming to your town……

OK, so its Tuesday, but I’m thinking about taking the next two days off, so its kinda like Friday… You know I want to talk about the Cubs, but since they’ve lost 8 of their last 10 or something like that I’m going to hold off and just let you know that the season is not over yet. So Cub fans, stay calm, we’ve got 50 games to go… anything can happen!

I’ve been asked constantly lately what the countdown is until I go to South America. To be honest I haven’t really given it much thought. I know I leave on Sept. 6, so I guess about three weeks from now or so. I’ve been so busy with other things that I really haven’t had much time to prepare for my trip. My folks asked me for my itinerary for it over the weekend and I had to laugh.

Itinerary, I thought, yea I don’t really plan anything. I don’t even know what I’m doing an hour from now. Itinerary. haa. So I gave them what I had so far: Fly into Ecuador. Check out some cool stuff. Go to the Galapagos Islands. Check out some cool stuff. Go to Peru and make my way down to Machu Picchu. Check out some cool stuff. Make it into the Amazon. Check out some cool stuff. Head on over to Lake Titicaca. Check out some cool stuff. Find my way to Costa Rica. Check out some cool stuff. Fly to Guatemala. Check out some cool stuff. Eventually land in Chicago.

The apple must have fallen quite far from the tree. If my dad were doing this trip he’d have every little detail planned, like where he’d be stopping for gas and at approximately what time that would be. He’d have all his hotels booked and all his sights planned. But do I have any of that? Of course not. My plan is to land safely. Then figure it all out. Oh, yea, and to maybe buy a spanish immersion book for the plane ride over…

So yea, I’ll keep you posted on that. I should be in Chicago at the end of September and would love to see all my friends in the Chi. As usual I’m planning (well, you know… thinking of going would be a better way to put it…) on hitting up Kingston Mines or Buddy Guy’s or BLUES Chicago or something. Hopefully we can get that rolling as that’s always a good time, and I’m always happy to see so many of you make it out for that kind of event.

I don’t know how long I’ll be in Chicago. I don’t have a ticket back to Maui yet so I’ll be there until the Cubs win the World Series probably and then take off…

At this point I’ve gotta give a shout out to a couple of good friends of mine in Chicago. First, congratulations to one of my best friends, Chris who just got engaged to his long time girlfriend Anne, who’s such a sweetheart. Funny story about these two… Chris was planning on coming out to visit me a few years back with our other buddy Franky. Well, a couple days before coming out he mentioned he might be taking someone with. At first I was thinking “oh great, some chick is using my friend for his money to get a free ride out to Maui… dang.” See for those of you who don’t know Chris, he wears his heart on his sleeve and is extremely generous, so I figured this was just some girl he just met and was trying to impress. Well, either I was wrong, or Maui really makes people fall in love. Because when I met Anne, I immediately liked her, and am SO HAPPY those two are still together. Congratulations again, Chris!!!

The other shout out is for another good friend of mine and perhaps my oldest friend Nick. I’ve known Nick since kindergarten, and he lives right up the street from my parents so growing up we saw each other all the time and his family became like a second family of mine. For those of you who don’t know Nick, he’s one of the most gifted artists I’ve ever met. From as early as I could pick up a pencil I remember wanting to draw with him because he was so good and I really wanted to be as good as he was. Well, I never had that kind of talent (found out later that I was more of a designer than an artist anyway), but if it wasn’t for Nick I probably wouldn’t have chosen the life path I had and would be somewhere else right now. Anyway, Nick and I agreed to exchange services. I would build him a website to showcase his artwork and that he could use to market himself and in turn he would paint me an original painting for my house. So I sent him some pics that I wanted him to paing and he chose one and painted it for me. It arrived at the house the other day and looks insane! If you didn’t know any better you’d think it was a photograph. It’s so amazing! Now it sits in my family room above the TV and is much more enjoyable to look at than the tube! Check out the painting he did of Waimea below.

Couple other tidbits to catch you up on: Got a new roommate. Thomas moved out and headed back to Turkey to see his folks. It was sad to see him go, but hopefully our paths will cross again in the future. The new roommate (Stephanie), is a super cool chick from Colorado. She and I have been getting along extremely well (she’s crazy clean, in fact makes me look like a slob, so I love that), and she loves my little girl Kianapauka too. And since she feeds the nugget if I’m not around Kiana has taken a liking to her as well!

Next: Last week I was over on Oahu working with a good friend of mine and client on this website for his custom motorcycle company, Mechanical Mayhem. The site is coming along really well and should be going live pretty soon. We have a bunch more info to put in, but its foundation is pretty solid. It’s a pretty hard core biker site and can be rude and crude, so if you’re easily offended don’t click here. If you don’t mind a few vulgarities here or there check it out and shoot me your feedback.

I gotta throw one final shout out to my boy O-shen. OK, so he doesn’t really know he’s my boy, but I’ve loved this guys music for years now and he came out with a new disc a few weeks ago that’s incredible. Then he played a show in Lahaina that was off the hook. It was really a great time, and after the show I got to meet him and thank him for the great show. That really made my week, I love this guy’s music. Check him out and listen to some of his music here.

That’s about it. I’ll finish this with one final thought. Last night I sat on my lanai (porch) and watched the meteor shower rain down over my South Maui home. I was probably out there for about two hours enjoying the scenery and letting my mind marinade on the beauty all around me and just how lucky I am for everything in my life. I feel so fortunate to have a beautiful house in the most amazing place on earth, a great job (and awesome boss ), the love and support of my family, the opportunity to travel relatively often, my health and of course my friends like you. If I haven’t said this lately, thanks for being you. You are an important part of my life. Have a great week, stay safe and smile often!

Malama pono,

Michael

Waimea by Nick Avezzano (looks like a photograph, doesn’t it?). You too can commission Nick if you have something you want painted. Just get a hold of me if you’re interested.

Sunset at Kamaole II beach

I thought these closeups of the sand were pretty cool. What do you think?

Kianapauka, my little munchkin mcnugget.

Here’s a neat little shot of the tide movement at sunset at one of the beaches here on Maui’s Sun Coast.

How ’bout them CUBBIES!!!! For those of you living under a rock, or who just aren’t interested (shame on you) The Chicago Cubs have won 11 of their last 13 games to climb to only 4.5 games back of the division leading Brewers. Our middle relief has been fantastic, and the hitting has really come around. The Cubs are now playing to their full potential. I’ll be honest, I don’t think they are a world series caliber team yet, but they could easily make a run into the playoffs. Then next year when we pick up A-Rod and Griffey Jr. we’ll be a force to reckon with….

So now that I’m sold on the Cubs making a run into the playoffs, I’ve purchased my ticket back to Chicago. Right now, it is only a one way ride, with a few stops along the way. See I figure I’ll stay as long as the Cubs are hot, and if they don’t ride this wave deep in the playoffs then I’ll buy my ticket back to Maui. But for now since I don’t know when the Cubs last game will be, I’ll keep it open ended.

I mentioned that I have a few stops along the way en route to Chicago… I’ve decided to take another trip. This one will be for a couple weeks or so and I’ll be traveling solo, so that should give me plenty of time to really scout out the best pictures for YOUR viewing pleasure.

I leave two months from today and I fly from here to Ecuador. I’m thinking I won’t spend much time here, though I may go to the Saturday market in Ovtalo, which is supposed to be pretty cool. Did you know that Panama Hats are originally from Ecuador? That’s about the coolest fact I’ve learned so far about Ecuador. Oh, and the fact that Darwin’s Galapagos Islands are off the shore of this country.

I think I’ll be spending 5 days or so in the Galapagos. Not really sure what I’m going to do there except check out a bunch of super cool Iguanas and maybe take a ride on a giant tortoise…. What else they got down there?… Should be a place for a zillion pictures to be taken…

From there I’m going to head down to Peru. I’m thinking I’ll spend most of my time down by Machu Picchu and the surrounding areas. I definitely want to see that as it will likely be the pinnacle of my trip. I’d like to also cruise over to the Peru/Bolivia border and check out the world’s tallest navigatable lake – Lake Titicaca.

Apparently this lake sits at about 10,000 feet up in the Andes and is about the size of the entire island of Maui! That’s pretty damn big! Not to mention there are some floating islands on the lake where people actually live. I’ve gotta see that. I’m really excited to see Lake Titicaca.

After Lake Titicaca, I’ll be heading to Lima to fly out to Costa Rica. I’ve planned my layovers to be as long as possible so that I can take advantage of each destination and hopefully see something cool along the way. So for Costa Rica, I’ll be there for about 21 hours. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do there yet, so if anyone has been and has any ideas about where to go and what to see in one night, let me know. I’ll be there from about 1:30p until 10:30am the next day.

Then its off to Guatemala. I’ll only be in Guatemala for 8 hours, but I figure that is still enough time to check out something cool. Again, if anyone has been and has an idea of what to do or see, lemme know!

From Guatemala I fly into O’hare on the 24th of September. I arrive at 1:45am (anyone wanna pick me up?… it’s a Monday…) I’m sure I’ll be in need of a shower at this point, so probably wouldn’t be a good idea to give me a ride. I’ll take care of this…

So I’ll stay in Chicago for a little while. My parents, who just had their 30th wedding anniversary (congratulations and thank you, mom and dad!!!), are moving into a new house that should be finished with construction and ready to move into around that time. So, I’ll give them a hand moving in while I’m there.

As always, I want to see all of you who are in Chicago on my trip, so let’s start planning something. Kingston Mines or Buddy Guys has got to be put on the agenda. So does Portillos, White Castles, Gino’s East, etc…. It’s amazing I’m not fat. And if anyone can get their hands on Cubs playoff tickets, let me know!!!!

Oh, another thing I wanted to mention before I end this. I’m looking for help with ideas of gifts I can bring to South America. What I’d like to do is collect small dolls and matchbox cars or some other trinkets that young children might enjoy and hand those out to the kids I meet down there. If anyone has any better ideas of things I can bring or if you have a collection of some items that may be useful that you’d like to donate, please let me know.

That’s about it for now. I’m tired, my eyes are bugging out and I still have to write a proposal for a potential client tonight. So, I’m going to leave you with that. Hope all is well with you, and if you get a chance, hit me back! Have a great weekend!

A hui hou!

Michael

I’m always getting asked for series of pictures. Well, here you go. Enjoy.

These pictures are all taken of the same tree on the same night right around sunset at a place that’s in between Mokapu beach and Keawakapu Beach down in Wailea.

I love this area, the sand is so soft, and the views are amazing.

That’s it. Hope you liked them.

Yea, that was only about what 2 weeks since I sent the last AF off? So, I’m getting better at making this a weekly occurrence again. Twice a month is much better than its been in years though, actually. I mean if you go back and check out the archives, this is the first double issue month since I’ve been posting them online.

I took a couple of days and went up to the crater again. This time I decided to go solo. I wanted to just get away from everything and everyone for a while. I guess I needed time to think and reflect. I packed a bag with a tent, sleeping bag, some food and water and of course tons of camera equipment.

For those of you who haven’t been to Haleakala, its nothing like you would picture Hawaii to be like. Its kinda like the moon. There’s not much up there. A random plant here and there and a hell of a lot of lava rocks. The summit of the mountain breaks the 10,000 foot barrier so it is extremely high. And with nothing to block the wind between there and Alaska, it can get pretty gusty. And COLD!! I’m not talking 65 degrees cold, I mean in the forties plus the wind. And that’s during the day. Sunrises from up there are incredible, but you better be packing some serious parkas or brother you are going to freeze your toes off!

Anyway, I hiked in on Saturday morning. The crater is massive so its not something you can do all in one day, even if you are ambitious. It is said that the crater alone is large enough to house the entire island of Manhattan within it. So with a pack filled with probably 35 to 40 pounds of gear on my back I only hiked in about four miles or so.

When I got to the area I wanted to camp I setup my tent and started shooting some film. From this time and for the next 20 hours or so, I didn’t see another soul. It is that vast and expansive. I was able to perch myself on top of some great little ledges and shoot some relatively interesting pictures during my time there. I even did some more star trail photography, though the pics didn’t turn out as well as I woud have liked.

It got cold that night. And windy. The air was thin and the altitude was high and there were clouds creeping in all around me. It was a great feeling.

The next morning I hiked to this cinder cone where I spent about six hours lying around reflecting on my life and waiting for the right light to take some pictures. Finally the haze lifted and I was able to snap a few shots.

It took me quite a few hours to hike out of the crater with all that gear and an uphill climb of four miles, but I made it. And the pics at the bottom of this letter are all from my solo trip into the crater.

I’m really tired right now but I can’t finish this up before letting you all know that the Cubbies are playing the White Sox this weekend on the south side. It should be a great series. Especially when we sweep the White Sux. Go Cubs!

That’s it. That’s all I got for ya. Until next time,

A hui hou!

Michael

Clouds coming in at sunset into the crater of Haleakala.

This is a neat shot where you can see the slopes of the crater on the left and the Ko’olau Gap on the right where the clouds are hovering.

The next few pictures are all of the ainahina plant or Silversword. This plant grows only inside the crater of Haleakala. Nowhere else in the world. They can live for up to 50 years and they only bloom once in their lifetimes before they die. This was my first time actually seeing these amazing plants in full bloom. The next few pictures show the plants in earlier stages of their growth.

A close up of the silvery substance on its leaves.

This one must have just started to bloom. It will get much taller and wider as it grows.

The head of the plant before it blossoms.

The flower stalk coming up from the base of the plant.

me. aloha.

Hope everyone is doing well. It’s been a few weeks, and during that time many things have happened. My brother came in town for a week, my old teacher from the CIA came in right after my brother left, and of course, Betsy left.

I know I mentioned to you that this was coming, and inevitably it has. Betsy left about a week and a half ago. Its strange not having her around, but I’m coping. It was a weird break up since we both knew it was coming for a long time, but we both remained very close.

It’s what she wanted though. She really wanted to be closer to her family and to have a family of her own some day. I’m really happy here in Maui and am not sure if I will ever want children of my own. Obviously that’s not really something we could come to a compromise on (though I tried… I offered to get another kitten….) but it was useless. I guess it was for the best for both of us, but it will be difficult without her. She really brought a lot of happiness to my life.

I still have Kianapauka, though. That’s good. My little nugget now shares the bed with me. She tries to take over for Betsy, giving me massages every night. They usually start at about 2:00 or 3:00am and last until I wake up and feed her. The massages are cute because she’s purring real loud when she gives them, though the problem is her nails are LONG AND SHARP! So they’re not all that enjoyable. I’ve tried cutting her nails down, but even then they still hurt.

Now that her “momma” is gone, she hangs around me most of the time. In fact, she’s crawling on my desk now and pushing papers off it so she can find a place to lay down and watch me work. I bought a fishtank a while back for her to look at and that’s at one end of the desk, so she enjoys that too. Except when I have to scold her for getting up on top of it and trying to catch the fish.

I also got a new roommate recently (actually, he came in the day after Betsy left). He is out here working at the Four Seasons on an internship and is renting the office until August. He’s a nice guy, but I’ve had to move the office into the bedroom which has been rather tight, but definitely helps with the mortgage.

So to get me out of the house some of my good friends (Mike and Mike… yea I know… ) and I all went out camping this weekend. It was a phenomenal time. Just the three of us on the beach watching the stars and the ocean waves crash on the shore all night. Oh, yea, and I took a few pictures too… I let the camera shutter remain open for a variety of time intervals up to 2 hours. Unfortunately there was too much ambient light for the 2 hour shot to come out, but the 20 minute shots look pretty good. I’m attaching three of them (they’re not all 20 minutes, but the one with the star trails is about that long).

We had a great time until we went back to our trucks in the morning and they were gone. Yep towed. So we had to pay $230 each to get our trucks back. That on top of the cab fare to go from Naupaka beach to my home and then up to Kahului. So that kinda put a damper on things. But anyway, I really like how these pics came out and I’m hoping to do some more real similar shots from around the island.

One of my buddies signed me up for a basketball league this week. Basketball has always been my least best sport. I enjoy it, though I’m not very good at it. Well, hang on let me re-phrase that… I’m absolutely terrible at it. I can dribble and put up shots that hit the backboard or rim, but that’s about it. Too bad close doesn’t count in this sport. Oh yea, and did I mention I’m short? Well, by basketball standards that is.

But, I’m taking it like a man. I went out and picked me up some shoes (didn’t have any of those) and a basketball. I started shooting around last night and though I had a good time, I realize that my whole goal with this basketball team will be to PASS THE BALL. Yea, that I can do with some accuracy.

It will be a long season (longer for my teammates), but it will be fun. I’m excited. Since I’ve come to terms with the fact that my field goal percentage is not going to be that high, I’ve decided to focus my practices to free throw shooting. To me, anytime I watch basketball I see a bunch of very good players and a bunch of very good actors. These guys are so good at acting like they were hit when they fall or make a bad shot, I’m thinking I might be able to pull something like that off.

So the plan is to fake all my shots like I got hit on the play. My acting skills far out weigh my athletic ability (in basketball terms, anyway). Not that I’m a good actor, I really don’t have anything to base that on, other than my starring role in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in sixth grade. And actually, now that I’m remeniscing about that, my acting skills aren’t very good either…. Maybe I could volunteer to be the waterboy…

Speaking of basketball though (and I’ll keep this short for the three of you out there that read my thoughts on sports) how about these NBA playoffs this year? Who would have thought the Mavs would have gotten knocked out in the first round? Who’d of thunk the Cavs would beat the Pistons? I’m happy with how the Bulls did. They’re a great young team and will only get better. They need someone who can penetrate, though.

I’m stoked for the whole city of Cleveland and LeBron James for making it to the finals. That’s a heck of an accomplishment for a team centered around one superstar. Even Michael had Scotty. LeBron doesn’t have anyone. And did you see game 5 against the Pistons? WOAH. I haven’t seen a performance like that in basketball… EVER! Even Michael’s flu game against Utah wasn’t as memorable as LeBron’s game 5. That was truly unbelievable. I hope the Cavs go on to beat the Spurs, but I don’t see it happening. The Spurs are way too deep.

And you know I’ve gotta say something about my Cubs, so here it goes. IT’S JUNE. Relax. The Cubs are only a half dozen or so games out of first place, and being in a division that’s as weak as it is this year, they could easily pull it together and come out of the Central. They’ve got enough pieces to do it, let’s just be patient with our beloved Cubbies.

That’s about all I’ve got for you today. I’ve got a few more pics that I wanted to share, but I’m going to save some of them for next time. As always, I love hearing from you too, so hit me up when you get a chance! Have a great weekend!

Aloha,

Michael

Naupaka Beach #1 I think this one is close to ten minutes.

Naupaka Beach #2. This is about a five minute exposure I think. I like the composition and colors of this one.

Naupaka Beach #3 This one is about 20 minutes or so. I took a two hour shot here too and the star trails are pretty cool, but the rest of it has messed up colors. I like the colors here…

This is the last picture I took of Bets on top of Haleakala. Best of luck to you, sweetheart!

Sunset from our trip to the top of Haleakala. Kinda cool you can see the sun setting over the clouds and over the Kahalawai Mountains.

Here’s a 1.5 hour shot from a campsite in Haleakala National Park.

I think the last time I wrote I broke the news about Betsy leaving to go back to the mainland. Well, that hasn’t changed, but our house was taken off the market. I’ve decided to keep it. I’m not sure how I’ll pay for it, but I’m thinking it will take the bank a good six months before they can foreclose it. So, I should be here another six months or so….

To my surprise, I got no inquiries into renting my other bedroom (what, were my qualifications that difficult to maintain?). That’s cool though, at least I still got my cat… So I may have to put her to work with a hat and sign down on the corner. She’s cute, she may be able to pull in some coin to help pay for bread…

Anyway, moving on… I picked up a new toy a couple weeks back. It’s a beautiful big black Canon. Yep, shoots up to 60 shots in a single burst. It’s pretty heavy, but I can still manage it with one hand. Hang on… before you all start going NRA on me, let me clarify, it’s a camera not a weapon, though it probably could do some damage based on the size of this thing. The new camera is over twice as powerful as my old one and seems to take pretty decent pictures. I’ll attach a few below.

I still don’t have the online store up and running, basically because I’m not sure how I want to setup the whole project. I may try to sell some of the images through some fine art galleries out here, though I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get in or not. I’ll probably put a few pieces together, frame them and bring them around to see what happens.

I found a pretty good printer that I’m going to try out with these pics to make sure the quality is top notch and the colors come out correctly. In fact, if any of you would like to order any of these pics for your walls, I’ll print and ship them to you for cost ($20 for a 6″x9″ print or $30 for a 12″x18″ print). Prices include shipping of the print (rolled) to your house or business.

The only images I’m going to offer right now with these rates are the ones shown at the bottom of this newsletter. If you are interested, please let me know the file number(s) you are interested in, the sizes you’d like and the quantity of each you’d like to order. Once I’m ready to go ahead and offer these for sale to galleries the prices will be full price, and all pieces will be limited edition, so if you do want any of these images, take advantage now.

I’m interested to see what you guys think of these images too. Do you find they are too boring? Are they too much like photos and not artistic enough? I’m not sold on all of them, that’s for sure, so when I do present a portfolio to galleries I want to make sure I’m providing the best possible images. If there are some in here that you feel are weak, please let me know.

Anyway, that’s about it for now. Betsy leaves in about two weeks, so I’m going to run and make the most of our time together. I’m sure once she’s gone I’ll be writing a lot more consistently (and somberly, I suppose). Until then, have a great weekend and write me back when you get a chance!

Aloha,

Michael

First off, my folks were in town for a little over a week. It was awesome having them out here and getting to show them around the island. They were here before, but until you see the island with someone who really knows it, you miss a lot.

They stayed with us a few days and spent the rest with friends on the West side. I think they had a great trip. Hopefully next time they won’t wait 19 years to come back (their last trip out was in ’88).

They seemed to have come at a perfect time too. It was miserably cold and rainy in Chicago (shocker, I know…) so coming out here to the tropical weather and warm water was a very nice change of pace. I warned them too that our rainy season was coming and it usually lasts a week (Chris and Frank you know a bit about this don’t you?….) so I was hoping they wouldn’t arrive with the rain. Fortunately the rain came the day after they left.

We had rain for about 3 days and then it cleared up. Unfortunately, I missed it all as I was on O’ahu working on a website for a client and friend of mine over there. And when you only get 3 or 4 days of real rain a year, you want to be able to enjoy it. Oh, well. I guess it was a good thing as I’m sure Betsy wouldn’t have remembered to water the grass anyway…

Next up : Final Four. Oh, yea. This has been the best year ever for my brackets. I picked three of the final four teams. And both of my final game teams are still in the running. There haven’t been too many upsets this year so I’m sure just about everyone is doing pretty good in their picks. The only team of the final four I didn’t pick was Florida.

I know, they’re probably the most obvious team to have picked, but I guess I was just hoping they’d be upset by Oregon. Not that I’m a ducks fan, but I would have liked to see Oregon drop threes all day on Florida and knocking them out.

That’s alright. I picked UCLA and Georgetown in the finals and I’ve got Georgetown taking it all. I’m sure now that I’ve revealed that, both of these teams will lose this weekend. Oh, well. At least I didn’t pick Kansas for the 5th year in a row and get disappointed early again (Sorry Chip Chap, I couldn’t resist)…

Moving on.

Literally.

This is a hard topic for me to bring up because it changes everything I’ve known for the last four years. As some of you already know, Betsy and I have decided to part ways. We’ve come to the conclusion that we both just want different things out of life. We still love each other, but she wants to move back to Chicago and pursue a different career, and I want to retire and stay here in Maui.

Of course I won’t be retiring any time soon, but I will be staying here in Maui. Over the last five years this place has become a very important part of my life, and I’m not ready to leave it. I’m not sure if I will be here forever, but I can’t see leaving any time soon.

Because of this situation and the fact that we bought a house together I’ve got two options. I can either try to buy out her half of the mortgage or try to sell the place and we can split the profits. I’m not sure what to do yet. We’ve put the place up for sale, but I still have the option to buy her out. In fact, I did make her an offer, but she thinks we can do better by selling it outright. I guess we’ll see…

One option I am toying with is if I do buy her out I may need to rent out one of the rooms. So if any of you would be interested in living about 500 yards from the beach, don’t do drugs, don’t smoke and don’t drink (that much, anyway) you could submit your application directly to me. Then you’d have to pass a rigorous cleanliness test too. I like my house clean and in order. Don’t even think of applying if you don’t do dishes, don’t clean your bathroom or vaccuum your floors. I’m kinda weird like that but if you’ve ever been in my parents museum – er, house… you’d know where I get it from.

It would sadden me to leave this house, but we’ll see what happens. I’m also not sure what I’d have to do with my cat. I’ll still be responsible for her too, and I know its difficult to find places that allow pets, so I guess I need to start thinking about that too.

How ironic…. I just got a phone call from Betsy. She said there is a lady who is interested in seeing our house tomorrow morning. Great. Well, we’ll see what happens, I guess.

Betsy is planning on leaving in late May or early June. I know that’s not much time, so I’ve really got to figure out exactly what to do… I’ll keep you all posted though. Hope all is going well for you. Hit me up when you get a chance. Have a great weekend!!!

Aloha,

Michael

Ladybug or Asian Beetle?…. eh, who cares.

Hamoa Beach on Maui’s East coast. Absolutely beautiful…

Oheo Gulch’s tide pools in Kipahulu.

Waianapanapa State Park in Hana.

Leaf

Another leaf

This is an unreal little church nestled in the heart of a quaint little town on Maui’s Northwest shore.

What up Jackass?

First off, let’s set the record straight about Da Bears and their Super Bowl appearance. The better team won. Yep, its as simple as that. You can argue if you want, but when it comes down to it, the Bears were outplayed.

I was pretty confident going into the game that the Bears had a good chance to win, and I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if they did win. They started out great with the Devin Hester kickoff return, then the interception, but then they started to slow down. The defense couldn’t stop the run and they couldn’t stop the short yardage passes. It seemed as if they were playing ultra-conservatively on D when they probably should’ve been a bit more aggressive.

I could understand why the Colt’s wouldn’t kick again to Devin Hester, but what was boggling me (and making me yell at the TV) was why whoever picked up the kickoffs and punts wouldn’t lateral back to Devin. He gives the best chance for big plays, give him the ball!

There were a number of embarassing plays on offense, but you really can’t put all the blame on Rex. I didn’t think he did that bad of a job. It was pouring rain down there so you knew there were going to be turnovers, and other than a couple costly turnovers (notably two horrendous throws) Rex really wasn’t doing too bad. The offensive line was getting pounded, our receivers were dropping balls and the running game was stuffed. I’m not saying Rex was great, I’m saying if you really look at it, you’ve gotta pass the blame around. Both sides of the ball. Lance Briggs made what? One tackle? The almighty Bears defense got worked. Plain and simple, the better team won.

Let’s move on (to the Cubs!!!), I don’t want to think about that game anymore *sniffle*…

Spring Training has started in Arizona and the Cubs are back on the field! I’m very excited for this season. Especially with the weakening staff of Houston in our division I think the Cubs have a great chance to go far this year (I know I say that every year, but its only because I believe!). If you look at the top of their batting order its as good as anyone’s in baseball. With Jacque Jones, Aramis Ramirez, Derek Lee and Alfonzo Soriano that’s pretty dang scary for any pitcher. That is, if they all stay healthy…

But I’m excited! We should do a pretty good job this year of putting up runs. Now its just a matter of if we can keep them down on the opposing side.

I’ve been trying to find the movie “Wait ‘Til Next Year” about the Cubs. I was told it was incredible, and was an HBO documentary. Unfortunately, I don’t have HBO and the movie isn’t available yet on Netflix. If anyone happens to have this and can put it on DVD, I would be eternally grateful to get a copy…

Alright, since I know all of .3% of my readers care about the Bears or Cubs, we’ll move right along…

Paddling season is back underway. We started training for the Four Season’s Outrigger Canoe Team in January and are now starting to piece together our team. There are some promising young paddlers with us, but we’ll see if they stick around when we stop whale watching.

Yep, that’s how we get them out. We tell them all we’ll take them out to watch the whales, get right up close to them [the whales] and then after a month or two we’re practicing sprints and pulling tires…. In fact, this is a cool story, I made this flyer for the canoe program and one of the ladies that works in housekeeping was so moved by the picture on it that she took a vacation day to come out paddling with us. I thought that was pretty neat.

So, last weekend I found this hike on the Northwest part of the island. Actually I had assumed there was something there for a while because of some holes in a barbed-wire fence, but just checked it out las Sunday.

It started out pretty slow, hiking a while back and forth over stream beds and through a thick patch of bamboo forest before making it to a fork in the road. We ended up going to the right and eventually came to a canyon with a waterfall at the end. It was a pretty nice waterfall but nothing incredibly overwhelming.

Then I saw the rope… It was dangling just above this 20 foot or so waterfall. There wasn’t much of a path up to it, but only one possible way to get there. So, I put my camera into the dry bag, slung the tripod over my shoulder (see the danger I put myself in for you?…) and made my way up to the rope. From the bottom of the rope I could see other falls ahead. Betsy came up behind me and we both decided to check out the adventure that lay ahead.

The rope was across from the peak of the 20 foot waterfall so it did take some careful maneuvering to get to it, and once there it was about a 10-15 foot climb to the first ledge. From here there was an exquisite view of the second waterfall. This was a double fall that looked like a mirror of itself plunging about 50 feet or so.

From the ledge we were able to creep along to another rope that ascended about another 30-40 vertical feet. We climbed straight up the sheer rock wall until we got to a nice little 10 foot waterfall. This one was really pretty and was a nice place to take a dip (though the water’s a bit chilly).

We weren’t done yet, though… There was yet another rope that climbed about 10 more feet to a short stream bed we followed to our prize. At the end a two-tiered waterfall that plunged probably about 150 feet. Very cool, excellent place to hang out for the day. If only I had a couple icy beverages and a radio with the Cubs game on it, I may have stayed all day.

So yea, that was a pretty cool hike. I’ve started referring to it as the “Green Beret” hike for multiple reasons, notably the color and challenge of the terrain.

I’m pretty excited for my folks to be coming out here the first week of March. And though I don’t think my mom will be up for the challenge of the Green Beret hike, I’m sure I’ll be taking her on other adventurous endeavors from which I’ll grab a few new pics for the next time I’m able to put together an Aloha Friday.

That’s about it for now. I’ve been really getting some good documentary movies lately from Netflix, so if you’re looking for some great eye-opening movies here’s a couple I wish everyone could see. Put these on your list or find them at your local video store and check them out, they’re all well worth it!

An Inconvenient Truth. This movie really made me want to do more to help clean up the environment. Very well done and inspiring. Made me change to energy efficient light bulbs throughout my house, setup multiple recycling bins and really start looking into doing all I can to conserve the natural resources I use.

Who Killed the Electric Car? Another incredible movie that you absolutely must see. I was all gung-ho about getting a new truck, but after watching this, it changed my views.

Wal-Mart: The High Price of Low Cost. I had heard about a lot of this stuff before, but never from people so high up in the company. I always hated Wal-Mart, but now I refuse to go there completely.

Why We Fight. Very good movie, poignantly powerful in a scary kind of way. Very highly recommended.

Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War. Another good movie, more about politics, but also very enlightening.

If anyone else has any recommendations for me along these lines, I’d love to hear them. That’s all for now, I’ve been on this thing for hours, and I’ve gotta unplug. Get me some shut eye…. Have a great weekend!

Aloha,

Michael

As per requested, another picture of my lovely lady, KP (Kianapauka).

Whale season is starting to shape up nicely. Oh, yea.. so is paddling…

The Third waterfall up the “Green Beret.”

The second waterfall along the “Green Beret” Hike we discovered last Sunday.

There was a nice little patch of thick bamboo forest on the “Green Beret” hike on West Maui.

Yea, yea, yea…. I know. It’s been forever since I last sent out an AF. The problem was I didn’t have any pictures to send with one. And because I know many of you don’t even read this and skip right to the pictures anyway, I felt it was best to wait and send out a good one when I had pictures.

Let’s see, where did I leave off… We went to Chicago for Betsy’s brother’s wedding. It was a fantastic time (except I didn’t stop shivering the whole time I was there). Chicago was a great trip! My friends Pete and Sheri had a gorgeous baby boy. I was able to check him out when we all got together for the Bear’s monday night game against Arizona. I’m sure you remember that game….

Pete Jr. was so cute and he slept through practically the whole game! And if you could have heard how loud all us guys were screaming and yelling at Rex the first half and rooting for the defense the second, it was impressive the kid could sleep at all!

I got my fill of some of my favorite Chicago establishments too. You know, all the classics, White Castles, Portillos, Kingston Mines…. Thanks to everyone that showed up at Kingston Mines, what a great time that was! It’s always so good seeing friends.

We spent half the trip in Wisconsin for Betsy’s brother John’s wedding. It was good to see her family and friends and catch up a little bit. John’s wedding was in Milwaukee on the 21st of October.

The night before the wedding we had the rehearsal dinner and came to find out that John couldn’t find his ID. So Betsy’s dad and I drove back to John’s place and looked around for it, but it couldn’t be found.

Later we found out he left it at the bank when he was depositing some funds on Friday. Now this bank is about the only bank in Milwaukee that wasn’t open on weekends. And John needed his ID to fly out to Cabo for his honeymoon Monday morning.

So he ended up calling American Airlines and asking what he could do. They said he had to have a government issued photo ID. Turns out John had a government issued (Milwaukee County) Golf Pass. He gathered everything he could think of: social security card, birth certificate, college ID, golf pass, etc. Then decided that he’d take a shot trying to get on the plane with these things.

The wedding came off without a hitch. It was a beautiful ceremony followed by a great reception at an old brewery in the heart of Milwaukee. Everyone had a great time, and nearly all the people there stayed until closing at midnight or 1am or whatever time it was.

The following day, Sunday, Betsy and I took John and his new wife Beth down to Chicago. They were flying out of O’hare airport for Cabo on Monday morning. Betsy was flying back to Maui Monday morning too so I was going to give them all a ride.

Well, bright and early Monday morning we all went to O’hare where we dealt with some of the most obnoxious security personnel on the planet. These people felt they were the Judge, Jury and Executioner of the airport. Talk about a power trip. I’m not going to go into details or it will just frustrate me even more, but at that point I couldn’t wait to get back home to Maui. Ain’t no aloha spirit at O’hare.

Betsy ends up getting on her plane no problem. John on the other hand….

Apparently they were really nice at American Airlines and told him that they would except his golf pass and the rest of his ID to fly to Mexico, but they warned him that once he got there the Mexican officials probably wouldn’t let him into the country without his ID. So they ended up not getting on the plane. They would take a later flight that ran into Houston and then landed in Cabo. During their several hour wait, John’s new father-in-law drove to the bank in Milwaukee, picked up John’s ID and drove it down to O’hare airport before his next flight.

John and Beth ended up getting on the flight and having a fantastic honeymoon in Cabo.

The next few days I spent with family and friends in Chicago. I was to fly out on Thursday, so I spent a good amount of time with my family.

On Wednesday night before I left, I went out one last time with my friends Chris and Vince. We went out for Sushi at this great little place on the South side. It was fantastic, drinking Sapporo and Sake and eating a boatload of raw fish.

For a nightcap, Chris wanted to take me to this bar called Amber by his place. He warned me that the owner was a good friend of his and was from Serbia, I think. Anyway, he also said Toni Kukoc hung out there quite a bit. So I was down for that and we cruised out that way.

When we got there Toni and the owner were sitting at a table drinking red wine. Chris and I showed up, took a seat next to them started chatting and having a few drinks with them. They were very nice guys. Then Chris pulls out four Cuban cigars and the night got a little merrier. Toni and Bronco (The owner) were raving about the cigars and we were raving about the wine.

It was a heck of a way to spend your last night in Chicago. It was also pretty funny watching all these strangers come up to Toni and say “Hey, Toni! I’m a huge fan, I remember in the ’97 finals when you….” Toni would shake their hands and say thank you, and whatever. But it was amazing how many people came up to him. And the ladies. There were a bunch around him most of the night.

Toni and I started talking and I asked him how often people would come up to him like that and he said all the time. Then he started talking about how when he was in Europe he was the Michael Jordan of the league, but when he came to play for the Bulls he never got the recognition he felt he deserved. I guess its hard to play alongside Jordan, I said, and he agreed.

He said Michael was the most intense athlete he had ever seen. He ALWAYS had to win. I guess if there were a practice game going and Michael’s team lost, they would replay until Jordan won.

So in conclusion, Chicago was a blast! We had a great time seeing all our friends and family, especially those whom we don’t get to see too often.

Moving on…

Since I didn’t bring my camera with me to Chicago and I needed to have some pictures to send you all, Betsy and I booked a trip to Kaua’i to explore the garden isle.

We went over the day after Thanksgiving and stayed through the weekend. Kaua’i was a trip. Very similar to Maui in many ways and on many levels, but with much less people. On Friday we drove up to check out Waimea Canyon. This canyon is known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” and if you take a look at the pictures you’ll be able to tell why. Now it isn’t as large as the one in Arizona, but it is much more green! So beautiful Waimea Canyon was that we stopped at practically every lookout and took pictures.

At the top of Waimea Canyon Road was an outlook for the Na Pali coast. The Na Pali (the cliffs, in Hawaiian) is basically the North West side of the Island. An area inaccessible by car and much of it inaccessible by foot too, was a fantastic view of peaks and valleys, peaks and valleys.

That evening we took a sunset dinner cruise around the Na Pali coast and watched the waves crash on the shore. The captain of the boat rattled off dozens of films that were shot at these locations. Many of which were only accessible by boat. We had a pod of spinner dolphins jumping in the wake of our catamaran for quite a ways of the journey too, so that was a blast to watch.

Sunset was magnificent as it melted into the sea next to the forbidden island of Ni’ihau. Finally we sailed back to shore, all of us extremely impressed by the Na Pali.

Saturday we cruised up to the North Shore and found some secluded beaches (including one called “Secret Beach,” a gorgeous stretch of barren sand, large waves, lava pools and in the distance a lighthouse). We spent a good part of the day lounging around these areas, cruising from beach to beach before finally winding up at Hanalei Bay. Hanalei Bay is renowned throughout the islands for its impressive beauty, big surf and tremendous cliff views. We laid on the beach and watched a bit of the surf there before heading back to our place.

On Sunday we went out in search of surf, but unfortunately the wind was killing all the waves and it wasn’t worth paddling out for. So we decided to head down to Poipu and watch the Bears game before flying home.

Unfortunately the Patriots were playing and Rex looked like he was playing for them and no matter how tough the Bears defense was and how many stops and interceptions they made, Rex kept giving the ball back to Tom Brady. So the Bears lost.

I had a lot of other things I was hoping to tell you about including (as some of you know) a new project I’m working on. Unfortunately, however, its been moving a little slower than I anticipated and doesn’t look like its going to actually launch for a little while yet. I promise I’ll let you all know as soon as I can. I know I also said an online store was coming for this site where you can purchase pictures if you like. As you may have noted, it’s not here yet. That got put on the back burner for a little while until the new project gets unleashed and then we’ll worry about this store. Thanks for your patience and interest though. Hopefully soon I’ll have this new project up and ready for you to check out.

Hope everyone is doing real well. Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and a very merry holiday season. Oh, by the way… I want you to send me your physical address. All of you, I’ve got a little something to send out and I’m going to need that. So, when you get a chance shoot that over to me, just make sure you do so this week. Mahalo!!

Have a great weekend!

Aloha,

Michael

Yes, that’s me doing a flip into a lava pool on Kaua’i. Don’t look too impressed, I landed on my back.

Lighthouse at the north end of Kaua’i.

It was hard to photograph the majesty of the Na Pali coast, but here’s a shot Betsy took that captures a fraction of the beauty (behind me, that is….).

Betsy and I found a place called “Secrets Beach.” We were both quick enough to figure out why they called it that….

I love this place!

The next few pictures are panoramics that I took while out on Kaua’i. Most of these are stitched together from at least 18-24 pictures. So in essence, these next few shots can get printed HUGE! Unfortunately, they don’t translate all that well to these small sizes, but hopefully you’ll get an idea.

This image was taken from the first place we stopped on the way up Waimea Canyon Road. I think this is about 21 photos that I stitched together.

Here’s another view of the canyon with a massive waterfall. The falls only look small in this picture because of how giant the canyon is.

The North Shore’s Hanalei area is a tremendous place. This is a picture looking out at some of the more rural areas of the North Shore.

I know you’re probably a little overwhelmed I’m sending another AF out only 2 weeks since the last one arrived. And since most of you are likely to be still reading the last one, I’ll keep this a lot shorter so you can get on with the pictures and the rest of your day.

Just wanted to update everyone and give you all fair warning if you live in Chicago, I’m coming to see you next weekend. I fly in on Saturday, October 14, and that night we’re heading out to Kingston Mines. So be there!

If you live in Chicago you should be very familiar with Kingston Mines and where its at. Usually when I come in I like to meet up with everyone down at a Blues bar in the city, and this one is one of the best in Chicago. It’s at 2548 N. Halsted. For directions or more info check out their site here.

So that’s Saturday night. We’re going to try to get down there by about 8:00 or 9:00 and jam out with two unreal Blues musicians. So if you live in the city you’ve been given your warning. I hope everyone can make it. If you have other plans, this should give you sufficient time to break them.

Alright, moving on, I really don’t have much else for you this week. The Cubs lost Dusty, which I think was inevitable. I’m okay with that, especially if we end up picking up Joe Girardi to replace him. And how ’bout them Bears? Woah. They look good. Real good. This is the first time I remember seeing an actual offense in place since the follow up to their Super bowl year in ’86-’87 20 years ago. Dang, can you believe it’s been 20 years?

Okay, enough Chicago talk. Weather is great out here, not that I’ve been able to enjoy it as I’m still on home detention with my burned hand. But its getting better. I’m able to move pretty well with all but my index finger, and even that is coming along nicely. I’m hoping to be 100% before the North swells start firing in a month or so. I don’t know if that’s realistic or not, but I’m hoping…

Yea, so that’s it for now. If you’re in the Chi, I expect you to come down to Kingston Mines next Saturday. Bring a friend or two, everyone’s welcome! Give me a call on my cell if you have any questions – 808.551.7138.

Last but not least, I’ve gotta throw out a big shout to my good friends Sheri and Pete Saele who had their first son, Pete Jr. on Franky’s birthday, Sept. 20. Congratulations again!!!

Have a great weekend!

Aloha,

Michael

Got a few more pics from Indo for ya. Here’s another view of the temple on Lake Bratur.

A “King” in one of the Barong dances we saw.

These ladies were dancing in the Barong dance as well.

Several times along our trip I spotted the Chiquita Banana lady. Here she is with a half load of fruits in her basket. What balance these ladies must have (at least with their heads).

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I was actually shooting a landscape from a road above where these kids lived, and when they saw me with the camera they shouted at me and waved. So, I climbed down this dirt hill to get into where there little bungalow was and shot a few pictures of them. This is the best one. Beautiful little kids, aren’t they?

I told you last time, not that anyone actually read it, that we had purchased a few pieces of original artwork from a marketplace gallery in Ubud. Here is a set of masks Betsy dropped $800,000 Rupiah on. These are hanging in our living room above the couch.

And here is the Buddha I dropped $1.2m Rupiah on. This piece is hanging above the bed. Since its about 6′ long it’s actually bigger than the bed, so I’m thinking we either need a bigger bed or a bigger house…

For those of you who haven’t heard, I’m fireproof. Well kinda. My right hand is pretty charred with second degree burns, but the rest of me has survived quite well. As you can imagine, typing is rather difficult and this AF will take me a good amount of time to complete for sure, but since I’m jacked up on Vicodin right now and more or less on home-arrest, I figure what the hell. That’s right, who loves you?

I know you don’t want to hear any more about the fire, so I’m going to dive right in to what you’ve all been waiting for, the review of Bali. Got some time? This may get lengthy. Maybe I’ll work on converting it to an audiobook or a podcast or something in the future for my literally challenged readers. Alright enough. Here we go…

Many of you know that Hawai’i has gotten a new airlines recently known as “GO!” With the arrival of Go! pricewars have broken out between all the other interisland airlines, which have been great for travelers but terrible for the airlines. We had booked a flight on Go! to take us to Honolulu to catch our flight to Bali on Continental.

The flight from Maui to Oahu took all of twenty minutes, but in that time Go! managed to lose Betsy’s bag. We had three hours before our flight left Honolulu for Guam and then onward to Bali and since there were two more Go! flights from Maui to Oahu we were confident the bag would make it before our next flight.

Unfortunately we were wrong. Go! completely lost her luggege which contained all our clothes, medicine (malaria pills, travellers diahrhea pills, etc.), toiletries, Betsy’s contact solution, etc. They promised to FedEx it to Bali as soon as they found it, but it didn’t arrive until three days before we were to fly back to Maui.

The flight from Honolulu to Guam was about 8 hours or so. As we exited our first flight we could hear over the loud speaker “This is the final boarding call for passengers Neubauer and Gardner on flight CO9S to Denpasar Bali…” So we ran through this strangely monstrous airport to barely make our flight.

7 hours later (and 10:00pm local time) we landed in Bali with only my bag. Luckily it was filled with camera equipment, so we were able to capture our trip quite well. We had a taxi drive us to some little hotel in the ghetto of Kuta for the night. The place was nice enough, and the rate of $7 or so was pretty good, so we didn’t complain. By this time we were so tired and ready to crash anyway.

The next morning we awoke early and started walking through town. Kuta is a big surfer town, filled with many international people from Australia, Germany and Japan. The area is similar to the international marketplace in Waikiki (only about a million times bigger) with these tiny little three walled buildings that turned into trinket shops at 9:00am daily. There are thousands of these little shops everywhere you look. Every street looks the same, every shop sells the same stuff, its very surreal.

The shops have mostly surfer clothes like Volcom, Billabong, Quiksilver, Reef, etc, except they are all rip-off designs. And nothing actually has a price tag. As we were shopping for a few new outfits since we didn’t have any clothes, I picked out two shirts and a pair of boardshorts. When I asked how much the man told me “For you good deal $750,000 Rupiah.” That came out to about $85 or so which was incredibly high for out there. For the next 10 minutes we negotiated and finally I ended up walking with everything for about $10.

But that’s the way everything is. From clothes to souvenirs to Taxis to hotel rooms, you have to negotiate for everything. It’s kinda fun but after a couple weeks it gets pretty annoying.

As you walk down the streets of Kuta the smell of incense from Hindu prayer offerings fills the air. Every shop, every restaurant, every business puts out these little bamboo plates filled with rice, flowers, food and inscence in front of their stores. It’s very neat and very meticulous how its all put together, and the smell is quite pleasing. However, as the day goes on, people also burn their garbage on the corners and cars vans and mopeds start cruising the streets with no filters on their carbureators, thus adding a mixture of putrid aromas in with the incense.

Betsy and I decided pretty quickly that Kuta wasn’t really a town that we wanted to spend much time in. We had read about this little island off the coast of Lombok that sounded like a really cool place to hang for a while, and so we opted to head towards Gili Meno.

We hired a cab to take us to Padang Bai on the Eastern coast of Bali. The goal was to go from there by ferry to Lombok, head up the coast of Lombok to the northern port city of Bangsal and take another boat to the virtually uninhabited island of Gili Meno.

That was the goal. Actually accomplishing this would prove a bit more interesting. As we got into the taxi and started to head towards the coast Betsy and I sat clung to each other as if we were watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre in an IMAX theater. The drivers throughout Indonesia are all insane. None of them comprehend what a break pedal is for, and those nice white and yellow lines riddled across the roads didn’t seem to have a purpose. That is, unless they were representative of Pac food and the taxi was a Pac-Man vehicle because we spent more time running right down the middle of those lines than on either side of them.

To make matters worse, none of the cars we rode in had seatbelts. So we had to brace ourselves as best we could inside the virtual moving coffins. We also found out that when driving, the car in front always has the right of way. So if you’re speeding down the road and somebody cruises up next to you and cuts you off, well that’s your fault – you should’ve braked.

So driving was insane, but we made it in one piece to the coast where we planned on booking a fast boat to Lombok that was supposed to take 2 hours. Unfortunately however, the fast boat had gone bankrupt and the large slow ferry was all that was available. So, we hopped on that and got ready for what we were told was a 4-5 hour boat ride.

As we boarded we were led up to the top deck with several other tourists. There were metal bench for us to sit on for the trip. As if that wasn’t bad enough, these benches were directly behind the smoke stacks which erupted with black smoke and ash right into our faces. Five hours of this, aww hell no!

Since Betsy has been with me she has learned not to be as high maintenance as she used to be, but there was no chance she was sitting on that metal bench (without even a backrest) for the entire trip. And frankly, I didn’t blame her, it was pretty bad. So, she went down to the second level, found a lounge area that didn’t smell too bad and asked if she could sit in there. The workers obliged and after a few minutes she asked if she could bring her boyfriend down there. This was grudgingly accepted so she came and got me. Later these guys showed us a VIP lounge that we immediately payed the extra dollar or so to sit in.

This area was nice and quiet, with first class airline chairs, tables, a TV and more. This made the ride a bit more comfortable, and since we were the only ones in the VIP we felt relatively pampered. That is until Betsy had to use the restroom. The VIP area had its own private restrooms, and when she saw them she called me to explain to her how to work it…

Behind the VIP restroom door was a room with a slanted floor. There was a drain in the low corner, and a bricked in three foot square by three feet high area filled with water and a bucket. I’m not going to go into more details or comment on the smells as your imaginations can surely paint a vivid enough image… I’m still curious to find out what the normal restrooms looked like, if these were the VIPs…

We got off the boat after about 6 hours and got into a van that was to take us to Senggigi. It was very dark at this time, the men were shady looking characters that didn’t speak to us much and not much English at that. We both felt as though we were in some sort of horror movie. We traveled at an alarming rate over dark streets and through barren towns. Finally we arrived alive in Senggigi where we found a room for the night.

The next morning (This is our second full day) we headed out to Bangsal to catch a boat to Gili Meno. When we got to the harbor we boarded a rickety old wooden boat about 45′ long and filled with fruits, vegetables, eggs and Indonesians. There were probably about 20 of us that lined the two sides of the boat, with everyone’s belongings sitting in the middle of the boat. The majority of people on the boat were going there to bring supplies and hawk sarongs and beads to any visiting tourists.

The boat had a fifteen horsepower outrigger motor and took us about an hour to go ten miles or so. Also on board were jugs of water. Since the island we were visiting had no fresh water of its own, water had to be brought daily for consumption.

Most of the bungalows on Gili Meno did not offer fresh water and showers were generally of the saltwater variety. We were used to not having hot water (very few places on Bali and Lobok had hot water) so we were used to that, but not even fresh water? So we splurged, paid for an upgraded bungalow ($10/night) and at least had fresh water to wash in.

Gili Meno was unreal. With only 300 people that lived there full time, white sand beaches, great snorkeling and diving, this was the kind of place we were hoping to find. There was an internet cafe, a handful of restaurants, and a general store along the East coast of the atoll. There were no roads, no cars and no electricity. Well at least not during the day, electricity came on at about sunset and lasted till early morning.

As the sun set the restaurants displayed all their fresh caught fish and shrimp in pans in front of cabanas that looked out towards the sea. We ate like kings, drinking Bintang beers and Coke in bottles and eating freshly grilled baracuda, tuna and shrimp all for under $10. These were some of the best dinners we had and the atmosphere could not have been more perfect.

We stayed on the island longer than we had planned and really wouldn’t have left if we didn’t already have nights saved for us at the Four Seasons.

Instead of going through the same process for getting back to Bali, we decided to hire a guy and have him take us on one of these small boats with an outboard motor from Gili Meno directly to Bali. This cost us almost $1 million Rupiah, but we were able to save a day in the process, so it was worth it.

When we were back on Bali we hired a driver to take us to a town called Ashram in Central Bali. On the way there we drove through tons of rice terraces, through mountain ranges and past scores of temples. Again the drive was insane, but the scenery was something to behold.

We arrived at a nice hotel on the shores of Lake Bratur. The hotel had a view of the lake, an extinct volcano and one of the coolest temples I’ve ever seen. We dropped our bags in our room and hired a canoe and paddler to take us to this temple on the lake.

The temple was shrouded in clouds that hung on top of the lake and was majestic as the sun set behind it. While here I setup the tripod and snapped a fifteen picture panoramic that I was able to later stitch together into a truly remarkable photo.

The next day we hired a driver to show us around a bit, take us on some local hikes and eventually take us down to Sayan where we’d begin our stay at the Four Seasons. Our driver, Suriyadi, took us around Munduk and really introduced us to the local culture and way of life.

He showed us the three varieties of cocoa beans which they use to make coffee out of and took us to the only traditional coffee factory in Bali where they still crush the beans by hand and blend the different varieties to make richer roasts. He also showed us fields where as far as you could see where clove trees. The smell was amazing, and he taught us how the locals picked the cloves from the tree, dried them in the sun for three days and then shipped them off to be used in tobaccos and for more traditional uses.

Suriyadi was a wealth of information, and the perfect Balinese guide. He told us how the economy had struggled since the bombings in 2002. He brought us to rice terraces where local farmers grew rice in these amazing fields filled with intricate water irrigation systems and scantily constructed scarecrows.

As the day winded down, we had him take us about 2 hours south to Sayan. When he dropped us off at the Four Seasons, he was blown away. This third world country where people barely had enough to survive somehow also housed this utopian retreat in the middle of the jungle.

This resort could hardly be explained in words or with pictures, but I’m going to try to do the best I can with both. This is one of those places where you know those kinda people that always have to top you when you’re telling a story or always try to one-up you? Well, this is the ultimate trump card. Let’s go on a virtual tour just of our villa at the Four Seasons Sayan resort….

This is our entry way from the cart path that takes you to our villa. As you can see, we were in Villa #7.

This is right past those stairs in the first picture, you look out at a lotus pond and rice terraces. The lotus pond you can kind of see behind the railing of the stairs. At the railing is a spiral staircase that heads down into our villa. See picture below…

View from on top of the staircase, you can see Betsy in the doorway of the main entrance.

If you look straight back in this picture (on the right hand side), you can see the doorway where Betsy was standing in the last picture. The staircase is through those doors to get up to the cart path. As you’ll notice, there is a nice little day bed on the right hand side, a table and chairs in the foreground, some beach chairs off to the left and, oh, yea, our own pool on the far left. The walkway around where the beach chairs are leads to an outdoor shower. And directly behind the beach chairs is our California King Bed….

Here’s a view from the walkway to the outdoor shower. You can see the yard, table and chairs, lawn chairs, pool….

This is a bad picture, but let me try to explain, obviously this is the bathroom. Straight back is the walk in closet. To the far left is the indoor shower. In front of that would be the doorway to the outdoor shower, and below where I’m standing is the indoor spa. Should’ve gotten better pictures of this room, but I didn’t.

Here’s a view looking in from the beach chairs. The two french doors slide all the way open revealing the huge bed, hardwood floors and living area.

Here’s another view of the pool.

This was just our personal villa. You should’ve seen the rest of the resort. It was located in the middle of the jungle and was some kind of Balinese meets Frank Lloyd Wright design. It was built into the side of a hill and with multiple levels of open air dining, infinity pools and a lotus pond on top of the building the place was truly amazing. By the time we left my jaw was bleeding profusely from being dropped on the floor so many times. It was unbelievable! Everybody should go experience this place at least once. This is how royalty lives.

Alright, I could go on about this resort, but I think it’s better for all of us if I don’t…

This area was just outside of Ubud, which is a well known artist community and a great place to find souvenirs, paintings, sculptures and more. So for two days we shopped heavily in Ubud. We purchased tons of hand sculpted plates, platters, statues, paintings and wood carvings. That was cool because everything we bought was extremely inexpensive as we became great negotiators.

Bananas were cheap too and this leads me to the highlight of Ubud. The bananas themselves were nothing out of the ordinary, but the monkeys who craved them were…

Ubud is home to one of the most prolific monkey forests in Indonesia. We were told how they loved bananas and how they would literally come right up to you if you had some. Well, they weren’t lying…

Betsy had purchased four bananas from a shop on our way to the monkey forest. When we were about a block or two away we saw the first couple monkeys. They could smell the bananas and immediately rushed over. In the blink of an eye Betsy, who was carrying the bag of bananas was literally covered with half a dozen of these creatures tearing at the bag of bananas. I began to throw them off of her two at a time, but more and more came until they had successfully taken all the bananas and the bag that contained them. It didn’t take long, only a few seconds and the whole escapade was over. The locals were laughing hysterically as we became victims of the monkeys thievery. We were amazed at how quickly they worked and with such force. We then decided to take off all valuables and not bring any food with us into the actual monkey forest.

The forest was amazing, monkeys everywhere and climbing all over everyone, whether or not they had any food at all! I spent most of the time with my arms outstretched, the camera turned around and trying to capture some images of these crazy monkeys climbing all over us.

It was a great experience watching the monkeys terrorize all the visitors, especially those with food.

From Ubud we hired a driver to take us to a very famous temple called Tanah Lot which is an amazing structure constructed on a precipice of land slightly offshore and is one of the most magical places to watch sunset from on the island of Bali. Unfortunately, this was a place well known by tourists so there were many many people with the same ideas as we had. But we spent the night there anyway, enjoyed a gorgeous sunset and then headed down to Jimbaran Bay.

Jimbaran Bay is part of the Bukit Peninsula at the very southernmost tip of Bali. This is one of the more touristy places of the island, where you can find the Westin, Hyatt, Ritz Carlton and of course, The Four Seasons. We checked into this resort in the early afternoon with the expectation of it being very nice, but how could it possibly hold a candle to the resort in Sayan?

Well, it did. We again were escorted to our own private villa overlooking the ocean. Again complete with indoor and outdoor showers, outdoor recreational area, daybed, picnic tables, outdoor lounge chairs, and yes, our own private pool and fountain. Inside we had another amazing room with California King bed, two vanity areas, indoor spa and indoor shower with a head bigger than a manhole cover. Just amazing.

This hotel was where we spent the last three days of our trip. Betsy’s long lost bag had arrived the day we checked in, so she could finally wear her contacts again, and by this point we had so many clothes we didn’t know what to do with them all.

The Bukit Peninsula is home to some of the most notorious surf in all of Indonesia. Dreamland, Impossibles, Padang Padang and Ulu Watu are all around the southern tip, and they are all extremely serious waves.

I was lucky enough to paddle out at Dreamland and Ulu Watu. Yes, Betsy did give me a few days to surf while we were there. Dreamland was insane. It was huge with a monster tube, but it broke right on shore, so it was extremely dangerous.

Ulu Watu may have been worse. Just getting out to the surf spot was crazy as you had to traverse over razor like coral that was about 6 inches deep (at high tide). I had to carry my board over this area which continued on for a long ways until I got to an area deep enough to hop on the board and paddle out to the break.

The surf break was in only about three feet of water and it was firing. The waves were easily double overhead and with the number of surfers with broken boards and helmets on, I knew I was a little beyond my limits. But screw it, I was there, I was gonna surf it. And I did, I dropped in on a large wave that just kept building. I rode it well and by the time my ride was over I was on top of the world. That was a huge wave and I conquered it! That was probably the best part of the trip for me, as I never came down off that cloud.

I surfed a few more days, but nothing compared with Ulu Watu. The rest of our time in the Bukit Peninsula we spent virtually entirely at the Four Seasons. We became accustomed to getting pampered and everyone knew us in the restaurants and throughout the resort. When the time had come to leave, it was sad, but we had lived quite well in the two weeks we spent in Bali, so we were in some ways ready to get back to reality.

We arrived at the airport late on Thursday evening and began the check-in process for our 10:00pm departure. Unfortunately, when we got up to the counter they told us our flight was going to be delayed an hour getting into Guam. This means that we would miss our connecting flight to Honolulu too. After explaining our situation that Honolulu was not even our final destination, Continental Airlines assured us that they would setup another flight for us to get home to Maui and take care of everything…

So when we got into Guam, they put us on another flight to Nagoya, Japan where we had a hotel waiting for us and 8 hours before another plane would take us to Honolulu. So I guess it was kinda cool getting to spend a little time in Japan. However, when we finally reached Honolulu….

We had purchased extra baggage for all the souvenirs, clothing and artwork we had purchased on our journey. We packed them securely, so we weren’t too worried about the items inside. But when they came down the conveyors in Honolulu, they looked more like soccer balls than boxes. Fragile stickers were all over the containers, but apparently these don’t mean anything to Continental Airlines employees who likely could care less about customer service.

To top that, the Continental counter wasn’t even open so we couldn’t complain to anyone. And when we tried to find the reservation that they had surely made for us to get home to Maui, no one knew anything about it.

By this time we had been traveling for over thirty hours and just wanted to get home so we purchased seats on the next flight to Maui and went home. Of all the gifts and souvenirs we had brought back for friends and family, none arrived in one piece. Our plates were shattered in thousands of pieces. The only things that survived were clothes and luckily the paintings we brought with us.

So our experience with both Continental Airlines and GO! Airlines was despicable, but the rest of our trip was fantastic. Unfortunately we don’t have any gifts for most of our family and friends, but we have plenty of stories and pictures!

If anyone actually read this whole story, I’m amazed! If you read this at work and still have a job I’m even more amazed. Dang, dude, do some work! I just spent my whole weekend writing this thing, man these drugs must be like ridlin. I’ve never had this much concentration for anything in my life! Alright, it’s hot in here, I gotta jet and sit under the AC for a while. Hit me back when you get a chance! Have a great day!

Aloha,

Michael

These schoolboys from Ashram begged me to take their picture.

Millions and millions of Rupiah. Yea, I dropped some coin over there. Like I’ve already told a few people, you just ain’t lived until you’ve dropped over a mil on a painting…

Kuta, Bali. Clothes and trinkets fill the shops all around.

Everybody drives mopeds over there. We saw some unbelievably acrobatic stunts like this one of a couple carrying rice and flowers down the highway doubled up on a moped… unreal.

This is the harbor at Gili Meno. A small little island off the coast of Lombok where about 300 people live full time and real estate is surprisingly cheap…. hmmmm….

These are some of the resident girls of Gili Meno. Yep, that’s their house behind them.

These kids were from the other side of Gili Meno. I encountered them on my two hour walk around the island early one morning.

If you can’t read the sign, it says: “Cafe Lumba-Lumba.” And yes, that is dinner walking around in front of the cafe.

Sunrise on Gili Meno. It was a very difficult place to leave and one I am very intent upon visiting again.

The Hindu temples in Bali were unreal. All the details in the architecture were so unbelievable, it must’ve taken so long to complete most of the structures. You all know how I feel about dragons…

This panoramic picture is actually made up of fifteen individual images stitched together in Photoshop. This one came out very nice, and will be for sale shortly when I get the online store up and running. Better start to clear some wall space though, it’s dimensions are 12″ by about 60″…

Waterfall in Munduk in Central Bali.

I loved all the merchant shops. There was so much fresh fruits and vegetables (not that I eat vegetables, but…).

These people are so starved for money they work themselves to the bone, like this old lady selling vegetables in the market.

There were tons of monkeys in Bali. Especially near Ubud. This one liked me and took me by the hand to show his friends.

The monkeys were a lot like the kids on Bali, fascinated by the camera.

I took so many shots with the camera at arms length away from me as these monkeys climbed all over us. Most of them didn’t come out so well, but this one did!

I’m not sure who’s more photogenic here…. They both have such pretty poses.

Barong dances are a trip. These ladies are all decked out in I don’t even know what kind of garb and then they move around like they’re doing the robot. Very strange, but very fun to watch.

The Barong dances are great, but the Kecak dances are amazing! If you’ve seen the movie Baraka, then you’ll probably recognize these plaid sarongs. That scene was filmed in Bali. If you haven’t seen Baraka, don’t bother renting it. It is a must own. Go get it.

This is Ulu Watu temple at sunset. The world-famous surf break is right under this cliff several hundred feet.

Damn, that’s two Aloha emails in a month, maybe I’m starting to get back on track… probably not, but maybe…

Getting prepared over here for our trip to Bali, Indonesia next weekend. I’m starting to get pretty stoked. I guess we end up getting into Denpasar at around 9:30pm. So we’ll try to find a place to crash around the airport the first night probably. Then we’re looking at cruising off to the island of Lombok for a day or so and check that out on our way up to Gili Meno which is a super relaxed little atoll with about 300 people that actually live there. From there we’ll head back and check out the north shore of Bali for a couple days before checking in to the Four Seasons Sayan on the First of September. This place is sick. You have got to check out some photos from their site. Click here.

We’ll spend two nights at the Sayan resort before venturing off to another place near Kuta beach for a night. After that we’ll cruise down to the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay for the last three nights of our trip. This one is insane too. Check out the photos here.

Other than checking into these hotels we don’t really have any secure plans. You all know me. I like to figure things out as I go along. We’ll probably hire a car and driver for the majority of the trip so I think I’ll ask him what he recommends or let him know some of the ideas we had and get his feedback. Play it by ear, you know….

There’s a ton of heavy surf breaks around the island from G-Land to Ulu Watu to Dreamland to Lacerations, etc. I’m hoping to get some good water time in while I’m there. We’ll probably also do a scuba dive or two. There is supposed to be a sweet shark dive on the north shore (sorry ma….). Other than that, there’s a ton of really cool architecture, temples, monkey forests and local culture to check out.

So yea, don’t really have many definite plans, but it should be a great trip! I’ll definitely be able to send you some new and exciting photos in my next Aloha Friday.

Other than looking in to Bali (still don’t know a lick of the language. I guess I’ll have to cram on the plane….) I’ve just been working hard and paddling harder.

We had our State Championships a few weeks ago. There were probably 20,000 people there at the event. It was insane! There are 56 canoe clubs in Hawai’i and all of which were required to race in authentic Koa wood canoes. It was so beautiful to see all these hand carved boats in the water.

Our club did pretty well. Of the nearly 40 race divisions we qualified for 13 I believe and won two of those. Also had a few second and third place finishes. Overall we took 11th place. Out of 56 teams that’s not too shabby.

One of our crews (our Novice A Men) are super strong. They easily won almost every race of the season leading up to states. Well, anyway, at States they were lined up in lane two and our biggest rival, Hawaiian Canoe Club was in lane one. The race was a mile and a half long and on the second turn we were coming around the flag and Hawaiian was going into their turn. Our outriggers ended up hitting each others and we flipped (hulied) their boat! Not what you want to do in a state competition. And an easy way to get disqualified. As everyone’s heart on shore broke, our team continued on and still managed to take 1st place! That was an amazing race and we were really lucky not to have gotten DQ’d from the huli.

I’m sure that last paragraph didn’t make too much sense to many of you, but there is a picture of the moment when Hawaiian’s outrigger was half way into the air and they were getting ready to flip the boat. Take a look, it’s the last pic.

So now we’re in Distance season where are races are not a half mile to a mile and a half like during regatta season, but 12 -41 miles. Yea it’s rough, but a lot of fun!

Anyway, that’s about it for now. I hope everyone is doing well. Also hope to hear from you. Especially those of you whom I’ve not heard from in a while (you know who you are)! Hit me up! Have a great day!

Aloha,

Michael

Molokini at sunset from La Perouse.

Another picture of Molokini at sunset.

Hibiscus outside our house.

State Championships of Outrigger Canoe Paddling on O’ahu.

The beginning of the huli…

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve let two months slide and still not given you a dosage of your cure for the summertime blues. Well, here’s your LONG awaited Aloha. It’s been quite a wild ride the last two months. I haven’t had much of a chance to sit down and write like this, so the last thing I’m doing before I shut down the office for the weekend is write to you this Aloha Friday.

So let’s get started…

I’ve been working my butt off the last few months. I’ve got a bunch of website projects I’m working on including a hotel resort off the Boardwalk in New Jersey, a photographer, a yacht sailing club on O’ahu, and one of our trusty readers’ cousin’s company called Data & Sound Specialties, Inc. who do something that’s way above my comprehension level. Though I can make a killer website for them!

I’ve also uploaded my new Dragyn Studios site, which many of you have already commented on. Thank you, glad you like… If you haven’t checked that out yet, click here.

I also finished a website for a local Hawaiian vineyard out of the Big Island called Volcano Winery. That site came out great because I was able to redesign their packaging (wine labels), redo their advertising, update their apparel and even shoot some photography for the website. This project has really turned around the company and they have increased their sales tremendously since I started re-branding their image. Take a look at that site by clicking here.

So, the Cubs have won two in a row (against the Cards, nonetheless…). Could this be the start of a miraculous comeback?…

I was offered a position at the Four Season’s Hotel and Resort about a month ago teaching Outrigger Canoe Paddling to interested guests of the Hotel. I thought it sounded cool and would be a fun way to start the day a couple times a month. So I accepted the job. And it’s great! Especially their lunchroom. Full buffet, huge salad bar, unreal entrees, desserts, soups, sandwiches, whatever you could want. The only problem is they said it would be around three days a month, which would be perfect, but lately it’s been three days a week, which is insane! That means I go to paddling practice at my club at 5:00am, get to the Four Seasons to paddle at 6:30am, get to lunch by 12:30 and back to my place and showered by 1:30pm. So I have had to work late in the office to catch up. I don’t really want to leave the Four Seasons. Not because of the money, but because of the lunchroom! I love it there! But man, I’m working my butt off.

Not to mention, today was extra rough as we just had an earthquake yesterday which may have attributed to the rise in the swell, and we had the remnants of a category 4 Hurricane (Daniel) today that really increased the size of the waves and the swell in the ocean. Not to mention when I’m taking these visitors out they don’t really know much about what they’re doing, so I’m doing most of the work. It gets strenuous after the fourth, fifth or sixth tour of the day. Plus since the canoes we take out are authentic Hawaiian racing canoes, they only have one outrigger, making it very easy to tip over in rough conditions…

Moving right along, I’ve got to put out a warning to everyone booking their airfare online. The other day I booked my airfare to Bali, Indonesia for two weeks through Cheap Tickets. I printed out the itinerary that they sent me and started writing it in my daily planner a few days later. It was then that I noticed the flight which was supposed to be from here in Maui to Honolulu, from Honolulu to Taipei, then from Taipei to Bali and the same in reversed order on the way home. However, on the itinerary Cheap Tickets failed to put the return flight from Taipei to Honolulu. The rest of the stops were there, but no flight from Taipei to Honolulu. I thought it was somehow an internal error and they must have somehow missed putting it in our printed itinerary, since the flight was visible online.

We called up Cheap Tickets and after hours on hold and being transferred to each dumbass that works there, we were finally told by one of the managers that our flight had been cancelled. I’m pretty glad we called, otherwise we would have shown up for our flight and been in for a rude awakening! I couldn’t believe that they wouldn’t contact us, (no phone call, no email) and tell us that they were refunding our money and -oh yea, you’ll have to book a different flight.

Long story short, I called a travel agent and got a better deal from him and booked my flight over to Indo for August 26 – September 7th. So if you were thinking about coming to visit me during that time – don’t. I won’t be here.

Finally, wanted to let all my chi-town homies know that I booked a flight back for the Cubs World Series hopes (oh, yea, and for Betsy’s brother’s wedding which just so happened to be going on around the same time). I’ll be in town October 14 through the 26th.

So give me a ring, write me a postcard or shoot me an email and let me know what’s up with you. And if you’re in Chicago, let’s hook up while I’m back. But make your reservations soon, as my schedule is booking up rapidly!…

Aloha,

Michael

This is kinda a neat shot of some of the canoes we have at the Kihei Canoe Club. The “Hui Wa’a O Kihei” is one we use to race on Saturdays.

Gotta love sunsets on Maui…

Last night’s sunset at the beach across from our condo.

Pineapples growing in the fields. I love it! I’ve been eating these things like they’re going extinct.

Also taken last night, I like how this shot shows footprints disappearing into the sea.

I couldn’t wait until Friday to tell you about the crazy day I had on Saturday, so let’s dig right in…

So you all know that I’ve been heavily involved with Outrigger Canoe Racing now since January. I know I mentioned in the last Aloha newsletter that I won my first two races and yada yada… Well, we had another race a few weeks ago and I won both of the races I was in there as well. So yea, I’m not too shabby at this thing.

I got recruited for the local Kihei Team and I joined that too. So now I paddle every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 5:00am. And on Thursdays again at 5:30pm. There is one guy on the Kihei Team (which is huge, we’ve got like 300-350 members) who is a Hawaiian elder. This guy (Kimokeo is his name… I don’t know if I spelled that right… but hey, I bet you don’t know any better….) has the map of ancient Polynesia on his face. His presence exudes wisdom and culture, and he is a man that doesn’t need to say anything and his point is understood. Have you ever met a guy like this? Really incredible the energy and spirit around this guy.

Anyway, he has taken notice of me and has come over and talked to me a few times after practice and what not. Never saying much just small talk. Well, I come to find out he’s the founder and leader of the Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe Voyaging Society. Apparently his ambition is to reconnect all the Hawaiian Islands via canoe. For those of you who don’t know there are well over a hundred islands in the Hawaiian Island chain. Mostly they are just small atolls that no one lives on, but they stretch halfway to Japan. Anyway, he has paddled crews from the island of Kaua’i 1600 miles around a whole bunch of these islands and made it back. I don’t know how long it took him, but it must have been a while.

So, last week he came over to me after practice and asked if I would like to be part of one of his crews for the coming weekend. It would only be a short trip (by his standards) of about 50 miles. Of course I said I would be thrilled to go. He told me to meet down at the boat ramp at a quarter to five on Saturday morning. I said I would be there.

4:45am Saturday morning I meet Kemokea and a crew of nine other guys at the Kihei Boat Ramp. There is an escort boat that will be going with us so we can change out crews as we paddle to keep a fresh set of arms in the boat at all times. Now, generally at this time of the night there’s usually no wind and pretty calm seas. On this day it was mild but there was a little wind already. No one really thought anything of it as we headed out on our journey.

Myself and three other guys stayed in the escort boat for the first change and learned the fundamentals of water changes as the other crew started off in the six man outrigger canoe. Basically for a water change what happens is the escort boat pulls up maybe a hundred yards in front of the canoe and drops the fresh paddlers in the water. At this same time the guys on the canoe that are switching out (not all of them, some always remain in the boat) pop out the other side of the canoe and wait for the escort boat to circle around and pick them up. As the canoe nears the fresh paddlers you get one chance to make it in the boat. Everyone lines up next to each other and as the boat comes upon them the paddlers have to pop up into the canoe in their appropriate seats (I hope that made sense).

So, anyway we make our first water change (actually there was only one other guy as inexperienced as myself. Everyone else had done this before) and I hop into the first seat in the canoe and take the crew towards our island of destination. The goal of the trip is to go from Maui and head south around the island of Kaho’olawe (an uninhabited island used for target practice by the US Armed Forces since World War II, though it was recently given back to the Hawaiian people [all shot to hell, how nice]) and come back around the north side and back to Maui. By now the sun has already risen and we’re covering good ground, though the waves and wind have both picked up.

By our third water change we were passing the little snorkeling and scuba mecca of Molokini (not pictured on the map below) and the waves were still increasing. At this time the waves were at about 4-6 foot swells, big, but not overwhelming. As we passed Molokini we entered into a channel where the wave heights easily doubled. Some of the waves were probably around 20 feet. The escort boat was being tossed around like a pinball and paddling the canoe was barely even possible. As I watched the waves grow from the escort boat I thought Kemokea would have turned us around, but no. I got ready for the next water change, and as we were in position I jumped in the water with the other three guys ready to make the change.

The waves were so big that all four of us in the water were ordered to hold on to each other so we wouldn’t get swept away from each other and we would be easier to spot and pickup if we were blown off the course of the canoe. When the canoe came upon us we hurriedly jumped in and started paddling. The outrigger on our left was bouncing around like it was attached to a thousand helium balloons. The waves were like small buildings coming from all directions. That was actually the scariest thing was that the waves were coming from the South, the East, the North, the West… it didn’t matter. The ocean was very much analogous to a washing machine.

No sooner had we gotten in the Canoe then a giant wave blew the outrigger up out of the water and over our heads (The outrigger for those of you who don’t know is the stabilizing bar attached to the canoe to keep it balanced in big ugly waves…). As the outrigger came over the canoe flipped and all six of us were trapped under the boat. The boat is not that big or heavy (400lbs) and is designed to float even if flipped (at least for a short while) so all of us were easily able to escape drowning. But then we had to flip the boat over in the wild open ocean which was no easy task. It took all of us to get the boat back over and bail out the water that did get inside.

The waves were relentless, the wind was now howling and though we were back in the canoe there wasn’t much sense of security and we all anticipated the next time we would be unable to keep the boat upright. We were traveling at about 3 knots, trying to get out of the channel and into calmer waters. But there were none. When we did pass the southern tip of Kaho’olawe the ocean was slightly less destructive, but still scary as hell. The waves were still in the 8-10 foot range and the wind was punishing. The wind was so strong that the temperature with wind chill was probably in the 50s (pretty severe when water is being blown at you and you’re paddling for your life with nothing more than a pair of board shorts on).

Even when we were back on the escort boat the conditions were terrible. The boat, a 28 foot Boston Whaler, felt like it was going to succumb to the same fate as the canoe. I wasn’t sure it was going to stay afloat for the entire journey.

The Boston Whaler had plenty of food and drink on board for the trip but not many of us could keep anything down. There was always a guy or two on the side of the boat giving his lunch back to the sea. The other guy as novice as myself ended up going into the cabin of the boat and refused to get back in the water. So now there were only three of us to change out every time.

For the next six hours all I could see was George Clooney’s face sinking to the bottom of the sea in the Perfect Storm. I’m not kidding either. The boat was being tossed around like a rag doll, and trying to keep in good spirits I began whistling to myself the theme from Giligans Island. I tried imagining the ancient Polynesians who made the journey from Tahiti to Hawai’i and from the Marquesas to Hawai’i thousands of years ago. How did they do it? We were lucky to be alive and we hadn’t even been gone for a full day yet. I’m sure many of them didn’t make it but for those who did…. my Cubs hat is off to you! (I did wear a Cubs visor on the trip, come to think of it… gotta represent…).

There was a point where I thought about throwing the captain of the escort boat into the water and having him fend for himself. He was a nice enough guy, but as we were about to make another water change he started mumbling about how he used to come out this way all the time to do spear fishing and scuba diving but just couldn’t do it anymore because of all the aggressive sharks in the area. Yea, he said that about 5 minutes before I was to jump in the water and get back in the canoe. Like the waves and wind weren’t enough to worry about, but now I had to think about sharks. Thanks a lot, man….

As we came around Kaho’olawe and we could see South Maui again I started to feel a little better, but the waves were still huge and the wind made the air so cold I could hardly stop shivering enough to paddle. Eventually we made it around the island and back towards Molokini. Everyone kept saying that as soon as we got out of the channel the waves should die down a bit, but that didn’t happen. It wasn’t until we passed Molokini and got within about 3 miles of Maui that the waves started to settle to a reasonable 3-5 foot range.

By this time my arms were like Jello and although I could see the end in sight I couldn’t help but feel so far away and uncertain that we would really make it. Thank God we did finally wash ashore. The entire trip was the most grueling 10 and a half hours of my life. The only reward was that I was alive and I knew I had a good story for all my faithful readers…

Alright, I’ve taken up enough of your time. I’m not going to go off on my Cubs or any other sport or sporting event this time. I do want to give everyone a link to the new Dragyn Studios site I’m going to be going live with probably later this week. Check it out by clicking here. Shoot me some feedback when you get a second too, let me know what you like or don’t like about it. Thanks! I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great Memorial Day and hit me back when you get a chance!

Aloha,

Michael

This image of Kealia Pond is exactly 180 degrees behind the picture of Haleakala above. Literally all I had to do was rotate the head of the tripod to get this shot at sunset of Kealia Pond.

This is kind of a funky picture of Haleakala at sunset. I left the shutter open on the camera for about 15 seconds. The red stripes are tail lights of cars passing by. This area is about 3 miles from my house.

My cat, Kianapauka likes to interrupt my work. Here she is laying on my keyboard. I tried to get her to move but she wasn’t having any of it, so I started taking pictures of her. I was able to download one pic of her to my computer and set it as a desktop pattern then take this picture of her with the computer image of her up and she stilll wasn’t moving. After this lost its humor for me I lured her off the computer with a shoe string… she loves those things….

This is a map I took off Google.com that shows a satellite image of Maui County. The red dot is where my house is on the island of Maui. The dotted line shows the 50 mile path we took on the canoe around the island of Kaho’olawe. The other two islands are Moloka’i (top left) and Lana’i

So it’s actually Friday today. I can’t remember the last time I sent out an Aloha Friday on a Friday.

Alright, let’s dig right in… It’s baseball season. Cubs are 5-3 as of right now, but should continue to improve on that record today versus the pirates. Even without Prior and Wood the Cubs are looking pretty good. Though what’s up with Carlos Zambrano? Yikes, he’s having a rough start. Ah, but don’t you worry, he’s my boy and he’ll come around just fine. I really like the new lineup. Juan Pierre and Jacque Jones are good additions to the lineup and I’m really liking Matt Murton. I think he could be a great player to watch.

There are going to be a lot of good teams to watch out for this year, I think. Especially in the NL Central, which is I think the toughest division in the National League. Of course the Cards are going to be tough as they are every year (though pull out the brooms, how ’bout that sweep!!!) and Cincy always plays us tough. And that team can score some runs. They’ll be a solid team if everyone stays healthy. But the team I’m worried most about is the Brewers. Yep, I said it. They’re not the Brew Crew of old, they are a new team with a LOT of talent. I said it late last year too, watch out for the Brewers this year. I think they could take the top spot in the Central when it’s all said and done. That would leave the Cubs vying for a wildcard. Along with the Cards and maybe the Braves, Phillies, Nationals, Giants, etc. Yea, you noticed I didn’t mention the Mets. I think they could win their division. End the Braves 14 season run. It could happen. I probably shouldn’t pick against conventional wisdom, but their are a lot of good teams in the East too. This is going to be a great year for baseball…

One other note I wanted to make real quick, I told ya so. All of you Sox fans that were bitching about getting rid of Frank Thomas… where you at now? And what did I tell you about Jim Thome? He’s the man.

So all this talk about baseball is leading me to a grand inquiry… I’m looking for someone who’s so excited about this season, loves the game and wants to partake in one of the greatest adventures of their lives… with me….

Can you take off two months this summer? Or work from the road? If so, why not help me plan a two month odyssey to see a game at every ballpark in MLB. Think of the adventure a road trip like this would be. Imagine framing a ticket stub from every ballpark, hot dogs, sunny weather, baseball. Oh, what a journey. Can you handle it? Give me a shout… I’d like to do it. I don’t know how realistic it is, and it would be tough to do on my own, but if any of you want to make the trip with me, yea, that would be one hell of an adventure…

Alright, coming out of la la land now…

I’m working on a new website design for Volcano Winery. They’re a vineyard on the Big Island of Hawai’i. I redesigned all their labels, advertising and apparel, and am now onto their website. It’s coming along great. Should be finished next week sometime. I also did some “studio” photography of their new wine labels. They asked how much I would charge and I said “just make sure the bottles are full when you send them over, and there’s no charge..” I didn’t want to charge for studio photography, because, well… I don’t have a studio and have no real idea of what I’m doing… Thanks for the help with setting that up, Josh… I think you’ll get a kick out of the pictures I took of the “studio.”

Saturday was my birthday. Thanks for the emails and cards! We had our first Outrigger Canoe Race that day and did pretty well. Both Betsy and I raced in a couple different events. Betsy raced the Novice Women’s and the Novice Mixed. I raced the Novice Men’s and in the same boat with her on the Novice Mixed. I also somehow got put on a crew for the Experienced Mixed team. Betsy led her Novice Women’s team to a first place finish. She sat in the first seat and set the pace for the rest of the team. She did great! I led my Novice Men’s and Novice Mixed team to first place finishes as well, sitting in the first seat and setting the pace. The Experienced race was a little more difficult. We had two heats, the first one we came in fourth, but we won the second one qualifying us for the finals. Unfortunately, we didn’t end up racing in the final event. But that’s OK. Together Betsy and I took home four gold medals. Yea, we kick ass!

The event took all day, and after it was all over we were beat. We had plans to go to the Four Seasons for dinner. Not that we could afford it, but we were lucky enough to win a contest for a T-shirt design for the Walk for all Hawai’i. I guess its some kind of charity event. They held a contest for a T-shirt design, winner getting dinner at the restaurant of their choice. So I entered. And won! We decided to have dinner at Pacific Grill where the steaks will run you $57. So all-in-all it was a pretty good birthday.

But it wasn’t over. On Sunday, Betsy kicked me out of the house for a few hours. My buddy Mike and his girlfriend Maria took me out to breakfast. When we got back Betsy had a surprise present waiting for me… A set of Golf Clubs! As you know, I’m a big fan of all sports and anything that keeps me active, and I love golf, though I’m absolutely terrible at it. Not only did she get me a set of clubs, but she booked a tee time for the four of us at a course out here in Maui! Another friend was already up there and waiting for us. How cool!

We played at the Waiehu Golf Club and before we even made it to the first green, we got asked to “Hurry it up” by one of the pros. So we skipped the rest of that whole and after losing several balls to the water on the next we decided to skip that one too. But the rest of the course was awesome! Right along the ocean, beautiful beach and mountain views. I was lucky my brother sent me some golf balls for my birthday because we went through dozens… literally. I felt bad for the groups behind us, but we had an excellent time. Now I want to go out again soon!

Well, I don’t really have anything else to tell you. I guess that’s about it for now. Have a great Easter and hit me back when you get a chance!

Aloha,

Michael

Some of my teammates in the Experienced Mixed group.

Novice Men’s paddling finals. That’s me in the first seat sporting my Cubs Visor, gotta represent…

Betsy and I did really well. We each took first place in two events. Hey and check out them killa rashguards… yep, I designed those too….

The winning design for the “Walk for all Hawai’i tee shirts. For those of you who don’t know the state of Hawai’i, the toes are a map of the islands. I didn’t mess up and put eight deformed toes on there….

The makeshift studio I setup in my house to shoot the new wine labels… How ghetto…

I shot them with a 400mm lens and though it looked pretty lame, the bottles came out looking alright… What do you think about them shnazzy labels.. eh?

I know I promised you more Aloha newsletters, and you’ve probably given up on me by now, but if you haven’t, stay with me. I have a good reason for not writing in a while….

I was actually working on writing an Aloha Friday a little over a month ago, when that was put on hold by an insane situation that I’m going to describe now….

You’re not going to believe this, but…

Many of you were aware that I was speaking with a potential client in the Middle East about corporate identity and branding for a company he was working with. We had been in contact for about two weeks every other day or so. He was providing me with information about the client and I was working with him on an estimated cost for the project.

Now I can’t go into too much detail about what it was or who it was as I don’t want to raise any flags with this newsletter, but here’s the jist of it. Apparently the man with whom I was speaking (I’m being real careful so not to use the wrong wording here…) was on a list of people the US government was restricting access to. The name he used was not his real name but an alias, I guess. And contact with that person draws in the National Security Agency (NSA) to listen in on phone calls, monitor emails, whatever…

So, I got flagged. Now, mind you, I don’t leave my house much, in fact during the week I rarely go any further than the mailbox, if that. I didn’t notice, but I guess there were two surveillance trucks parked in my condominium complex for a few days and noted suspicious activity (I guess that was me not leaving the house).

The NSA was tapping into my internet records, what pages I was viewing, how long I was on those pages, etc. Now during this time I was researching the Middle East quite extensively for research on this project. I was also pricing out airfare for a trip over there to meet the client and study the culture in depth before beginning the project. Many of the sites I was frequenting were in arabic, and I had to rely on the translated English versions as my source of information.

Anyway, after monitoring my emails, internet records and suspicious activity for a few days, the government decided I was involved with “Terrorist Activities” and came to see me.

It wasn’t a particularly nice visit. Two men came to my door dressed like agents from the Matrix and flashed their NSA badges. They were carrying handguns and made their way into my house. Behind them I saw several other figures camped out around the perimeter of my house, weapons drawn.

At this time, I was freaked out. I didn’t know what to do, who these people were, what they wanted from me, or anything!

In a matter of minutes there were I don’t know, ten agents in my house, maybe more. They went right for my office, started rummaging through filing cabinets, drawers, closets, etc. I was yelling, but it did no good. Two men escorted me out to a large black Ford Expedition with blacked out windows. There were two more Expeditions decked out in the same color scheme. From inside the truck I could see some of the agents carrying out my computers, filing cabinets and all kinds of random equipment.

At this time, Betsy was at work, and she had no idea what was going on.

The agents drove me down to an area of the island called Oluwalu. It’s a relatively secluded area with a lot of tucked away little places on the water. I’ve driven through the area a million times, but never spent any time there. Well, I was about to…

The car ride was long and quite. I kept asking questions and getting very little response. I felt like I was in a movie. I thought for a while this was some elaborate hoax like in the Michael Douglas thriller, The Game.

When we got to this house on the ocean, I was escorted into a small speedboat with about six of my favorite agents. In the distance was this HUGE structure I had never seen before. I don’t know how it got to Maui, but I was sure that it hadn’t been there before. I knew we were headed for it.

I think it was about this time that I started hallucinating. I do remember somewhere on the boat ride over that this was going to make for a great Aloha Friday when it was all over…

On the floating structure that looked like a floating lightbulb Star Wars ship, they took me to an empty room with one way glass, like you see in all the cop shows. Except their was no table or telephone. Just a chair. I think I was sedated somehow, but I don’t remember when it could have been. I vaguely remember an Asian man telling me to relax and sticking needles in me. This was at a time when I was falling in and out of consciousness.

When I finally came to, I could see from looking around that I was still in the chair and there were scores of tiny needles sticking out of different parts of my body. Later I found out that this was a form of acupuncture that was used to relax my body and mind. I guess it was supposed to help me tell these people whatever they wanted to know. It was weird too, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move. It was like I was paralyzed in that chair. There were no restraints, yet I couldn’t get up. The needles were sticking out of pressure points that didn’t allow me to move until they were released.

Three agents came into the room when I had come to. Only one of them spoke. He started asking what I know about [ I'll call him Zeke so not to trigger any more alarms... ]. I told them what I knew, which was very little and they accused me of helping to plot a terrorist activity that was going to take place in the future in Southeast Asia.

I didn’t know what they were talking about (obviously), and let them know that in quite a few colorful words. I tried to explain to these people that I don’t leave the house because I’m trying to run a small branding and identity company. I told them all about Dragyn Studios, what I do and how I know Zeke.

They questioned me about why I was on all these arabic websites, why I was looking at architecture in Middle East countries, why I was in contact with a known criminal. I could see that this was just a huge misunderstanding, and explained to them how I like to research my clients, their cultures, and everything I can about them before I start working on a project. Since this particular project was for a Steel Factory in a Middle Eastern country I was researching everything I could that was related to this client.

I described that the client had told me they were looking for branding of a corporate identity, a website in Arabic and English and a corporate standards manual for there design team to reference when using the new identity.

I was sure this would all start falling into place and the lightbulb would turn on in somebody’s head, but no. I was aiding a known criminal. They left me in that room with the needles still sticking out of my body.

I don’t know how long they were gone before they came back again and harassed me about some other nonsense. I started laughing because I thought how unbelievable this whole situation was. They threatened me that they had their experts going through all my cell phone records, home phone records, computer files and physical files and once they found out what I was up to with Zeke, I would be charged for International War Crimes.

I gave them plenty of motivation to review anything they wanted, take a look wherever they liked, call anyone in my cell phone. They left the room again, frustrated that I was “not cooperating.”

The lights were on the whole time in the room, so I had no real sense of time. I remember sleeping for a while and waking up again. More of little catnaps than anything.

In all, they kept me under surveillance in that room for about 18 hours. Finally after loads of questioning me and Betsy (they took her too when she got home from work and kept her in another room similar to the one I was in) they took out the needles, gave me some food and brought me into another room. This one had a table and chairs.

I was sat down in a nice cushioned chair with armrests (this was a huge improvement over the steel chair with no comfort factor whatsoever). There were four agents in the room if I remember correctly. Then the door opened and two more agents escorted Betsy into the room. I was shocked and appalled. I couldn’t believe all this was happening. I couldn’t believe they had thought I was a terrorist and Betsy was an accomplice and we were all working for some dude I never met half a world away.

They sat her down in a chair next to me. I could see that she had been crying. Her makeup was all running down her face and her hair looked disheveled. An instant after she sat down and we were hugging, the door opened again. In walked General Bernthoff of the NSA. He sat across from us and spoke direct.

He said that he was sorry for the “inconvenience” and explained who they thought I was working with. Apparently the guy I was in contact with in the Middle East had the same name as an alias used by some terrorist they were after. I guess they pressed Zeke at the same time they took me. Even though our stories were all the same they didn’t believe us at first.

I think after they checked all of our files and everything else, they realized they made a mistake and came to apologize. At this time I was in two very conflicting moods. I was relieved that I wasn’t going to be brought up on International War Crimes, and pissed off that I was treated like dirt and so too was my girlfriend and potential client in the Middle East.

I let the General know how [bleep] upset I was at his [bleep] [bleep] ineptitude at getting the facts straight before accusing innocent people of such extremely serious crimes. He said he understood, yada yada and he would make it up to us.

He had arranged a trip for Betsy and I to visit the Big Island for a week with an all expenses paid. They were putting us up at the Four Seasons Hualalai Resort (supposedly the top rated resort in the United States. Airfare, rental car, and all meals were to be provided.

That seemed to settle us a bit. He apologized again and thanked us for our “understanding.” They escorted us back home where all my computers, files, software and equipment were back as I had left them.

They held their word and did pay for us to take a week vacation to the Big Island. Man, what a nice time that was… The Resort was unreal! It had its own little snorkeling pond called King’s Pond where they stocked this good size pond with all sorts of sea life including all kinds of huge and tropically colored fish and even a couple Spotted Eagle Rays.

The rooms were phenomenal, and the restaurants had the best food and service either of us had ever experienced.

We left the resort to do a little hiking and to visit a client of mine (Volcano Winery), but other than that, we spent most of the trip in one of the many hot tubs and pools at the resort. This place is highly recommended for anyone planning a trip to the Big Island.

I know this is getting to be a rather long Aloha, but I’ll finish up by saying when we got back we also had our share of visitors (my oldest friend Nick came for ten days, and my sister and her friend Simone were here for about a week or so).

It was great having them all in town. It really is nice having friends and family come visit. Though it will be good to get some time away from all of them too. I need to settle back in and get some work done over here. My clients aren’t as forgiving about taking so much time to complete their projects….

Oh, yea… I know I haven’t touched on sports for a while, and I’m not really going to get into it now, but it is March Madness, and I’ve setup a free group that I want all of you interested to join. It’s through ESPN. It doesn’t cost a thing, and it only takes a minute to signup and put in your picks. Even if you know nothing about college basketball, its still a fun way to play. I am going to make sure Betsy plays, and she knows nothing about sports. So, if she can do it, you can too. click here to signup. The group name is “Dragyn” and the password is 06tourney. You can invite whoever you want to play too. If you have any questions please let me know! But definitely signup!

Well, back to work now. I told you it was an unreal story. I hope you can forgive me for taking so long to get back to you with an Aloha newsletter. I promise I will try to make them a lot more frequent. I’m attaching a bunch of pictures to make it somehow worth your while. Have a great day, and hit me back when you get a chance!

Aloha,

Michael

Here’s the crazy floating lightbulb station the NSA took us to.

They flew us to the Big Island on a private little puddle jumper.

Here I am sitting on our Lanai at the Hualalai Resort on the Big Island.

We saw a bunch of cool waterfalls on the Big Island including this one called Akaka Falls.

Me and the Tikis…

The Big Island is known for its active lava flows from Kilauea. Here’s the sign before you actually get to some of the lava…

Unfortunately, this was as close as we could get to the lava the day we went. I guess sometimes it flows closer to the visitor area, but at this time, this was the best we could get, and this is taken with a 400mm zoom lens. It was about a mile away from where we were standing.

The Big Island has a “Green Sand Beach.” Apparently there are deposits of Olivine in the sand here which make it take on this coloring. Kinda cool, but an all out expedition to get there.

Turtles on the beach. Cool.

Me and my sister when she came to visit. You sure can tell who got all the good genes….

My oldest friend (well, the one I’ve known the longest). This is Nick who came to visit and lived with me in college at Northern Illinois for a few years.

We took our visitors to these super cool waterfalls in Nahiku just outside of Hana, Maui.

Dang. I know. It’s been over two months and no Aloha. Where’s the Aloha? I got so many emails from inquiring friends and family and the reason I didn’t want to write an aloha before now was because I wanted to show everyone how our kitchen was coming along. But instead of the project taking two to three weeks, it took two to three months. I had started writing the story of the whole grueling process, but it would fill up thirty or more paragraphs, and I just don’t feel like writing that much. And I’m sure you wouldn’t feel like reading that much, so here’s a synopsis…

We ordered new kitchen cabinets, countertops and appliances before Thanksgiving. We also decided to tile the floors at the same time. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong did. The stove had a different connection, the fridge was too big for our kitchen, the countertops were too small, the cabinet fillers were too short, the electrical on the microwave was jacked, the new countertops were too tight, every screw stripped, the drill didn’t fit, we needed new connectors for everything, the new fillers split, the tile sounds hollow… I could go on… believe me, I could go on for a while…

In all it took three months without a microwave and sink but finally today we have a kitchen. Case in point, don’t buy a house if you don’t like the kitchen.

So moving on, Christmas was nice. Betsy went home I stayed and surfed. Went to Oahu for a few days to relax. Got put to work over there teaching surf lessons, but it was all good. I had a great time. Betsy was back for New Years, we made it to abou 8:30 before passing out. I’m so old.

Business has been gowing real well lately. I’ve been developing a few new websites, logos, rack cards and more. Some of the new websites are www.paleowest.com (an archaeological consulting firm in Arizona) and www.teachmemphis.org (a teacher recruiting website in Tenessee). I’ve had some really interesting clients lately, including a surf lodge in Tahiti (yea, I wanna go visit this guy…), a dating service/professional help advisor website (sounds interesting, I’ll fill you in when I know more), a huge construction company on Oahu, an Author, an airconditioning installation company, a winery and more.

I’m hoping business stays extremely busy as it has for the last few months. If it does, Betsy and I are planning a trip to Bali, Indonesia for August. Yea, that should be sweet. Tons of awesome surf breaks, cheap everything and free stays at the Four Seasons. Gotta love it…

I’m sorry I really don’t have that much other exciting news to tell you about. I’ve been working so much with Dragyn Studios and the kitchen that if I make it out to the mailbox, it has been an adventurous day. Netflix has been keeping me entertained, though. And I’ve gotta recommend the new Batman movie to those of you who haven’t seen it. I’m not big into movies like that normally, but its very cool. And Gotham City is filmed in Chicago, so there are some good shots of the city. I’ve watched the film three times already and its unreal every time. Definitely up there with Sin City as two of the best movies I’ve seen in 2005.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday (Thanksgiving thru New Year’s) and I hope to talk to you all again real soon. I’m going to try to get better at this whole Aloha Friday thing. I swear…

Have a great day!

Aloha,

Michael

Here’s our original kitchen. Not too bad, right?… Doesn’t NEED remodeling… tell that to the woman…

And here it is after the cabinets were out and the floor was completely scraped. Ready for the tile.

Here’ the new tile before the grout is laid. It does look better, I’ll admit…

Almost there. We’ve now put in a makeshift countertop (3/8″ plywood). Still need to finish the cabinets, handles, and microwave…

Alright, and here’s our kitchen as of this morning. Microwave is in, Countertops are on, handles are in, etc. Starting to feel like a kitchen again…

Well, I’m back from my trip, and though it wasn’t exactly as I anticipated, it was a great time! If you remember, Betsy and I were going to a wedding in Denver, well that was great. Betsy’s folks flew out for the wedding as it was for one of her closest friends since kindergarten. It was a nice time with nice weather. After the wedding, Betsy flew back to Maui bright and early the next morning. It was a good move on her part because it got COLD a few days later…

I stayed in Denver for another 5 days, visiting with family and friends. I stayed at my Aunt and Uncle’s place down in Monument for the first night and though I didn’t get any cell phone reception, the area was beautiful! There house was gorgeous, tucked away on a few wooded acres just north of Colorado Springs. It was great. Nice to see my cousin and Godson too. Growing up so fast… Maybe that’s because I haven’t seen them in four years, but hey….

Once I was back in cell phone reception and able to check email it was all over… My inbox was full of potential clients from a hand surgery center in Florida to a Horse Massage Therapy company in Kansas City. And it didn’t stop. Over the course of the next two weeks while I was in Denver and Chicago my inbox blew up with new work. It was great of course, but not exactly how I anticipated spending my “vacation.”

I headed up to Denver where I spent the next few days with my good friend from college, Lou Lafond. Lou is a legend. Anyone who knows him can verify that. When I first met him in 1998 all I ever heard about was halloween. To this day, its still pretty much all he talks about, but for good reason. Lou is the master at creating the freakiest haunted houses on the planet.

Hailing from Chicago, Lou started when he was old enough to walk, and by the time I had met him he was already a genius in the industry. I flew to Chicago one year to check out his haunted house, and was blown away. Ever since, I’ve been one of the many to jump on the bandwagon… He’s that good. The following year his old pal and fellow halloween extraordinaire Steve came out. They put on a haunted house in collaboration with Alice Cooper in Denver that was unlike anything anyone had ever seen.

Since then they’ve only gotten bigger and better. Lou now runs Lafond FX, a company dedicated to creating special effects, sculptures and props for ghoulish events and clients. While I was there he was just finishing up a product line scheduled for release in Walmart, Party City, Spencer Gifts and other fine shops by halloween of next year. And he had just gotten back from the Playboy Mansion where he delivered some props for a party they were having.

Does it get any better? Oh, yea… he told me he was just in Toronto meeting with Clive Barker about doing some props for a couple of his movies next year. I could go on, but I don’t want you to get too jealous…. I’m the fan club president!

Alright, so anyway, I spent the next few days with Lou, helping him with what else… a haunted house. This project was right on Broadway in Denver and it was an 18 and over only haunted house. This thing came together like a movie production. Waivers had to be signed, IDs had to be checked… there was cursing and topless actresses throughout. Along, with meat cleavers, scythes, nooses, tons of blood and chainsaws (of course).

Unbelievable. I called him on Halloween and he was chasing people around with a chainsaw.

Though I spent a lot of time with Lou, I spent just as much time working. I now had a mess of open projects including a web design/hosting company, winery, hotel, theater, hardwood floor company, print shop and more with open projects.

Despite the majority of the time that I spent working, I did meet up with nearly all my old friends including Eric and his wife Sarah, Seth, Alberto and more. I even saw an old teacher of mine from the Art Institute. It was truly great to see everyone and wish I had more time to spend there. I’m going to have to make another trip back to Denver real soon.

So on to Chicago…

My family and I cruised down to Southern Illinois for a little getaway the weekend I got in. It was a nice time to spend with my folks and my brother. I don’t often get a chance to hang out with everyone that much, but this time I did.

The rest of the week I was there I really didn’t get a chance to do much.. no White Sox game, no blues bar, not many friends… though I did get to see Nick and his family – Thanks for the Pizza Mrs. A! The night before I flew out a bunch of us got together at my buddy Chris’s place to watch the Sox game (the room was divided, Cubs fans on one side, Sox on the other) but that was about it. I worked most of the time I was there.

The highlight of Chicago though was finally seeing my Dad’s 1969 Mustang Mach I fully restored to original factory condition. My dad has had old cars my whole life, my Grandpa and uncles too. I used to go to car shows with my dad every weekend, so I know a little about the muscle cars of that era and how to tell if they are in pretty good shape or not. This thing is unreal. Unlike any other Mustang I’ve ever seen. Probably in better shape than it left the showroom floor. There are not many cars that can be pu in the same class as far as authenticity, and original condition, not to mention immaculate shape.

The ’69 Mustang has always been his and my favorite muscle car, and to see this beast put together the way it was was like stepping back in time. But the most tearjerking moment was when he handed me the keys. You gotta understand, my dad doesn’t even drive this thing. It sits in a garage and on two or three perfect days without a hint of rain, wind, snow or dust in the air, he’ll take it around the block. That’s it. Then the car cover goes over it, the engine gets hooked up to a battery charger (to keep the battery fresh as it sits for the next six months) and the car goes to sleep.

My hands were shaking along with my feet as I sat in the cockpit. I slowly reversed it out of my driveway with my dad sitting in the passenger seat. It took a little while to get used to how it handled. Not like todays cars. It was loose and the wheel was very touchy. I guess that’s how they were back then.

So we took it out of the subdivision and I slowly got used to it as we turned down McCarthy Road. I started to open it up a little getting used to the four speed transmission and gear ratio. I made a loop around the area and turned north onto Will-Cook road. Then I put the hammer down. My body lurched back in my seat, my eyes opened wide and my knuckles became white as I shifted through the gears in heart-racing fashion. In about three seconds I had gone from first to fourth and the spedometer was already past ninety (sorry mom). The car sounded like thunder as we whipped over hills and down the road. I could feel the car yearning for more, but I had to slow her down. It was like being pumped full of adrenaline. I couldn’t handle any more. The torque of that big 390 engine in that tiny little frame was unparalleled. I bet it would have easily exceeded 150 if we had more room to race her.

I took her down and pulled off the road. Stepping onto the pavement my knees were shaking. I’ve traveled the country and a good part of the globe. Been scuba diving in the pacific hang glided over San Francisco and have jumped out of airplanes, but that was the biggest rush of my life. No joke. I want one.

I can’t really go on from there. Every time I sit in my pickup I pretend I’m back in the cockpit of that ’69 Stang and though I run through the gears like Mario Andretti, it tinkers along at 65 if I’m lucky.

I flew back to Maui a few days later and have pretty much been sitting in my office ever since. The work has been steady and nearly too much, but I’m ready for it. I hope everyone’s day is going well. It’s Friday, have a great weekend. I’m gonna go look at buying me a pony… preferably one with a large engine…..

All my love and Aloha,

Michael

Dad’s ’69 Mustang Mach I.  Move over Eleanor…

Not sure what kind of plants these are, but they look pretty cool…

Walking in the clouds

Birds of Paradise

Elizabeth and I at the wedding. How about that, I still remember how to tie a tie…

Another month, and I’m still slackin’ on sending these “weekly” emails. Ah, well, it has been a productive month at the least….

Let’s see, last time I left off telling you about our dinner at Ferraro’s at the Four Seasons. Yea, that was great. In fact, it was so good, we’re going back this weekend. A little weekend getaway, Betsy and I will be checking into our suite at the Four Seasons Saturday morning and enjoying the rest of the weekend at the resort.

I’d like to say its just because we’re cool like that, but in truth its Betsy’s “Fam Stay.” I guess after three months of working for the resort they give their employees a free night stay at the hotel, complete with two free meals, one at Pacific Grill and the other at… oh, yes…. Ferraro’s. Nice. So this weekend we’re going to enjoy being pampered. Sweet.

I’ve actually been commissioned by the Four Seasons to redo their Menus for them. What I didn’t know was how many different menus they have (5) and how many pages each of them are (3, 12, 24, 29, 36). Yea, those are some big menus. I’ve finished the 29 pager, and hopefully will finish the rest by the end of next week…. If I work day and night.

In other industry related news… I’ve been working with a winery on the Big Island called Volcano Winery in creating new labels for their wines. This is such a fun and exciting project. I’ve always wanted to work with a vineyard. Actually, I’ve always wanted to own a vineyard (Chianti, ever since I left Italy). But this is a good first step. Maybe owning isn’t the right approach. I don’t really like to work, I just enjoy drinking the wine….

The Maui Small Business Development Center has been very helpful to me lately. I’ve sat down and asked for counseling with a couple of excellent business persons from around the county. Each of whom had some great ideas for helping me network and in turn generate more business in the community.

In fact, I even attended a Chamber of Commerce after hours this week, as a recommendation from one of the counselors. It was my first time at such an event, and I felt a little out of place ( the only guy there in shorts and slippers… though they were nice shorts… and slippers….), but it went well. I met quite a few people and handed out a half a dozen business cards or so. Next time I’ll be more prepared, but it was a nice event, and a great way to put a face to many of the names of community leaders.

Moving on…

I guess the biggest news since I’ve written to you last is we have adopted a new member to our household. Betsy is a dog person, and I’m a cat person, and to tell you the truth, I can’t really stand most dogs. So I figured the best way for her to see the light was to take her to the Maui Humane Society and just “look” at the kittens.

We were there all day. By the time they were about to close she was sold. In fact, she pulled out her credit card! We found the perfect little ball of energy. A salt and pepper and tiger-striped short hair that could give Curious George a run for his money.

We decided to name her Kianapauka, Hawaiian for dynamite, and she lives up to it… Betsy came up with the name. I had originally wanted to call her Picklebob, but that didn’t seem to fly for too long.

But yea, we got the cutest of them all. She’s starting to grow now, but her oversized ears which we thought she’d grow into have grown too. Her ears are literally about the same size as the rest of her head. Betsy thinks that every other cat has small ears, and Kiana’s are perfect.

On another note, I may have mentioned before that I’ll be traveling to Denver and Chicago in the near future. Well my friends in the Mile High and the Chi, that time is upon us. Next Friday, Sep. 29, I’ll be landing in Denver. That weekend we’ve got a wedding that I committed to nearly a year ago, so I guess I have to go…. Betsy is standing up, guess I’ve gotta be there.

But then I’m staying in town until the following Thursday. Don’t have any plans really, except to see family and friends. Maybe do a little photography up in the mountains. We’ll see.

I don’t think I read my flight times before I booked my tickets, because my flight from Denver to Chicago departs DIA at 6:00 IN THE MORNING! So I’m thinking that means I’ll have to be there by about 5:00 to drop off rental car and check in. Dang. I really wish I would have read that part of the itinerary before booking the flight…

So I’m off to Chicago after that. I’ll be in Thursday morning and fly out the following Thursday (though I don’t know yet what time, hopefully a little later than 6:00). That first weekend my family and I are going to head down to Southern Illinois to experience a little outdoor adventure.

I get back on Monday, and after that I really don’t have many plans. Oh, except my boy Chris just gave me a ring yesterday telling me about his playoff tickets for the White Sox. It just so happens they’ll be playing at home that same stretch of time while I’m there. And Chris is offering me a ticket with him for one of the games! Do friends come any better than that?

I mean, its not the Cubs, and the Cubs have virtually no chance of getting into the playoffs at this point in time, so I guess I can go watch the Sox. I’ll still be sporting a Cubs hat, but I can root for another Chicago based team. I live and die with the Cubbies, but that doesn’t make me a Sox-Hater. Then again, the sox have to make the playoffs in order for me to go to this game. And the way they’ve been looking lately, I’m not sure they’re going to pull it off. Right now they are only a game and a half ahead of the Indians and their last series is against the Indians in Cleveland. Could get ugly.

Only other plan I have is to check out Pistol Pete at B.L.U.E.S. Chicago on Wed. the 12th of October. Supposedly this guy is incredible, and you really can’t go to Chicago without hitting up a Blues bar at least once. So if you’re in Chicago head down on Wed. the 12th. I’d love to see you!

That’s about it for now, give me a call (808)551-7138 or shoot me an email if you’re going to be around Denver or Chicago and want to hook up while I’m in town. Unfortunately, I will be traveling alone. Betsy is flying back on Sunday the second of October right after the wedding because she has to work on Monday. So I will be flying solo, but you know what that means…. BOYZ NIGHT OUT! Holla!

Aloha,

Michael

Kianapauka hanging around at the office…

Bets and a statue at Tedeschi Winery

My lemons, These are now in my fridge, part of my secret recipe for homemade lemonade (alright, well its no real secret, one part lemon juice, one part sugar, five parts water).

I can’t believe its been over a month since I last wrote. Dang…. Anyway, here’s what you missed….

Betsy’s parents came for a visit shortly after my last email. This was there first time in Maui. In fact, it was there first time seeing a palm tree. Or the Ocean. Heck, it was there first time on a plane since the 70′s. Yea, what a trip….

They had an incredible time. When they got off the plane we unpacked there stuff at the house and immediately took them down to Lahaina Town. Took them to a little Fish and Chips place called Alexander’s for their first meal, and from there it was over. Well for her dad anyway…. 5 of the 7 days he was here he ate Alexander’s. He loved it!

Jack (Betsy’s dad) is a big time golfer. He’s on the links almost every day. So when they booked their trip out here the family pitched in for him to play 18 holes at Wailea’s Blue Course. Being the consumate pro golfer that I am ( I’ve probably played that course 85, 90, 120- oh wait, 0 times) I was invited to play with him.

I tried to tell everyone it was alright, and it would be fine for him to go play on his own, but no one seemed to listen. So, I reluctantly gave in and decided to make a fool of myself…

It’s not that I don’t like golf. I do. The thing is, for anyone who has played with me, you know that my consistency is nil. Except for the fact that I can constantly hook it to the right on every single shot. Not just a little to the right, I’m talking a good 30-50 yards minimum. See and I have this nasty problem where my hands sweat profusely, not just when I’m nervous but almost always. So it’s not uncommon for me to swing a golf club and have the club go further than the ball…….

I decided I needed to at least have a golf glove if I was going to play….

So the big day comes and we head out to the links. We arrive early and start hitting some balls around at the driving range. I’m feeling good, my shots are looking alright… I head over to the putting green. Nail a few long putts, now I’m feeling real good…

The starter calls us over, tells us we’ll be next and we’re just playing as a two-some so if we need to play an extra ball to keep our flow going that would be fine… cool. Real cool.

We make our way over to the whites and get ready to tee off. Jack hits first. Smack… 150 maybe 200 yards. Nice shot. I’m up. SMACK… into the trees. Deep breath. Load up another ball, take a few practice swings…. SMACK…. into the trees. Shit.

I’ll take a drop.

It didn’t really get any better through the next seventeen holes. I lost all kinds of balls to the trees. Thank God we were playing solo. The good thing was even though I lost probably two dozen balls or so, I found three dozen. So at least I didn’t have to page the pro shop and have them bring me more golf balls…

The Wailea Blue Course is a very prestigious PGA course. Costs $110 to play a round and scrubs like me didn’t really fit in to well, especially with their extrememly well maintained lawns… Well, they WERE nice, anyway.

By the last 9 holes the course seemed to get much more narrow. There is a major road on one side and multi-million dollar houses on the other. I think Jack was nervous for me. I had to compensate for my terrible hook by aiming the ball at the multi-million dollar houses and there oh so many windows… Luckily, my terrible swing prevailed and the ball hooked back towards the fairway….

Man, it was a long day.

The next few days were much better. We took them to a Luau, hiking around Hana and through a bamboo forest and to the beach multiple times. And Alexander’s, Jack loved Alexander’s. But the best dinner was the second night. We ate at Ferraro’s…..

Ferraro’s is apparently ranked as the top Italian Restaurant in Maui and is conveniently located at the Four Seasons Resort. Betsy was lucky enough to have a boss with a gigantic heart and heard the story of her folk’s never seeing the ocean and their anniversary and whatever and offered to buy us all a complimentary dinner at Ferraro’s.

It gets better. By now, Betsy has told me numerous stories about the Four Seasons and the lengths they go to for their guests. It’s unreal. She told me that even though they have menus at Ferraro’s, a guest can get whatever they want if they ask for it. Apparently one time a guest looked at the menu, looked back to the waitress and said, “You know what I really feel like?… Tony Roma’s Ribs.” They waitress replied “Very well, sir.” And someone got in their car, drove to Tony Roma’s, picked the dude up a slab of ribs and put it on a nice platter and served it to the gentleman. Charged him a ton for it, I’m sure, but nonetheless…

So, I like Italian food. A lot. In fact my favorite Italian dish is Veal Saltimbocca. And I was determined to have it. Unfortunately, when we got the menus it wasn’t on there. Reminded of the Tony Roma’s story, I told the nice waitress I would like some Veal Saltimbocca. She looked at me a little perplexed. So I explained to her that it was thinly sliced veal, lightly breaded topped with prociutto, mozzerella and marsala sauce, and if she was really feeling generous she could throw a side of angel hair pasta in there….

“Very well sir.”

Nice.

As she left, Betsy warned me about ordering a bottle of 1995 Frescobaldi Chianti… See, at first she told me the restaurant had 180 different kinds of Italian red wines. I was sure they would have my choice Frescobaldi… Well, I didn’t get to order the wine, so I just had their house Chianti. It was still very good.

When we rolled out of there after a five course meal that lasted three hours, we totaled up the bill and figured it was about $450. I bet if we got my wine we could have easily busted $500, but its all good.

I must say, I’ve eaten at a lot of nice restaurants in my day, but I can’t recall any like that. Right on the ocean, unbelievable food and impeccable service. It’s nice to see how the other half lives. Makes you appreciate what you have even more. And gives you something to aspire to as well, I guess.

On a side note, even though I can still taste that incredible meal, its just food. I eat three meals a day and there is no chance I would ever spend that kind of money on a meal. I appreciate the generous gesture by Betsy’s boss immensely, but that foot long sweet onion chicken terriyaki sub I had last night from subway for 1/100th of the price was pretty damn good too.

I’m going to cut it there this week. I’ve got other stories to tell, but they’ll have to wait for another time. My fingers are burning….

One final note… After four years of trying to get him out here, one of my best friends, Joshua has just moved to Maui! Hell yea! Aloha and e komo mai, Joshua!

That’s it for this week… -er month. Hit me back!

Aloha

Michael

Bamboo Forest

Waterfalls, I love ‘um.

Here’s me climbing down a rope ladder to the base of Waihe’e Falls 45′ below…

And here’s the view looking up!

Well, the big news is I launched Earth Trot this morning. This is a project I’ve had on the back burner for nearly a year. I’m very excited to finally have it done and uploaded. The site is basically an online journal containing my photography, downloadable screensavers and of course, these cherished “Aloha Friday” emails. As we are halfway through the year, and I’ve just converted all the old AF’s to pages on the site (well the ones from this year anyway), I’ve realized how much I’ve slacked in sending these to you. What can I say? I’ve been busy. Real busy, actually. But that’s a good thing…

So anyway, when you get a chance check out my Earth Trot site, www.earthtrot.com, send me some feedback, I’d love to hear from you!

Last week one of my really good friends got married in Denver, Colorado. I’ve got to throw a shout out to the newlyweds Eric and Sara Evert. I guess if I was a better friend I would’ve gone to the wedding, but well, I really couldn’t afford to make the trip with all the projects I’ve got going on and the cost of airfare from Maui right now. However, I am planning a trip out that way in October. I promise to hook up with the Everts, Zapatas, LaFonds, Testas and all my good friends out there….

Moving on… We started painting our house a little more… We’ve got only one room left, my office which should be completed this weekend. Should look good. I’ll send some pics next time around…

All of this week’s images were from a hike last weekend up Twin Falls. It’s a nearby hike through a tropical rainforest. The colors on the foilage and flow of water through the rivers are absolutely spectacular right now. Anyway, hope you enjoy, check out the earthtrot website, and holla…..

Aloha,

Michael

I like how the branch hangs in the foreground of this image breaking up the very nice sized waterfall. Maybe its just me, but I think it adds to the beauty of the pic.

This is a picture that’s better viewed in person. The colors are so vivid, greens and reds in this cave up North Maui.

Look at the colors on these trees, incredible!

Dat’s a big freakin’ leaf.

I’ve been meaning to write this email for a long time, but this morning I finally am getting around to doing it. The last few weeks have been hectic. I’ve had to share my office with visitors who have been using it as a bedroom. We’ve had three people out here in the last three weeks. I guess all this talking about how great it is out here has really made people want to come visit. Either that or you really miss us. Doubtful. And since I now have three projects on my plate, maybe this week I should touch on the following topics: It’s Cold out here, It rains night and day, We have terrible problem with rats and roaches, The sewers are overflowing in the streets, You can’t even swim in the ocean without running into a 12-16 foot Tiger Shark, We’re expecting a hurricane, etc. At least for a little while maybe we should promote these things. I’ve gotta get some work done….

I was all set to write this great email about how unreal the Cubbies are playing (this was a few weeks back when they had won 9 of 10 games in a row), but recently they lost two of three to the Blue Jays, got swept by the Yanks, and lost yesterday to the Brewers. We’re going to the South Side this weekend for a battle with the Sox. That should be fun. <– Am I serious? But along the lines of Cubs baseball, I do have to give a HUGE shout out to Anita and Vinny who really made my month. I guess their was some promotion at Wrigley where you could buy tickets and hang out on the field, check out the dugouts, run around the track, whatever at Wrigley. Before she went down I talked to Anita and asked her to grab me some rocks or grass or something and send it out here. Well I guess she was trying to sneak a few rocks when Vinny saw her and asked what she was doing. She told him I had asked for some as a souvenir. Then Vin took her purse, scooped up two huge handfuls of rocks and dirt from the on-deck circle and dumped them in her purse. “If you’re gonna do it, do it right,” he said. Sweet. Thanks Vin, thanks Anita…. YOU GUYS ROCK! So about a week later I’m having somewhat of a bad day when I get this package in the mail. I can’t figure out what it is or who it’s from. When I opened it and saw the infield, postcards and pictures I freaked. That absolutely made my day. Thanks again you two. I’ve now got the rocks in small glass jars with corked lids (the cork is, believe it or not, the actual cork from one of Sammy Sosa’s old bats) and they’re being proudly displayed in my Cubs shrine.

As I listen to all the games live over the internet, I wrote in to the Pat and Ron show on WGN and told them about the gift. Unfortunately they didn’t read the story on the air, but I’m sure they got a kick out of it too.

What else… I signed up for Netflix, finally. But haven’t had very promising results from them. After my first week and a half without a movie I contacted them three times over the internet (they don’t give out their phone number on their site), before I finally found their number on a forum somewhere in a far off nook of the internet. When I told them the problem they shipped me out new movies and finally I received them. We’ll see how it goes. No one else I know has had any problems, so I’m not expecting any more. I’ll give you an update on this when I have more of a feeling on this service…

I’ve been working hard with several new projects over the last few weeks. A couple web design jobs and a branding project. They seem to be coming along pretty good. Hopefully soon I’ll finish them and be ready to take on more work… I need some interns…

Last week I printed off this gorgeous picture of Waimea Bay on canvas 20″x30″. It looks unreal. The only problem was the cost to print it was about $115. Yikes. Elizabeth and I want to print out a bunch of my photography this way for the house, but at these prices, I’m not sure… It does look sweet on canvas though…

Well hell, it’s now getting to be around 8:30 here and I’ve gotta get back to work. Hope everyone is doing well, call or email me when you get a chance, I’d love to catch up….

Aloha,

Michael

Cubs. Note the dirt in the bottles, from exactly where Anita and Vinny are standing in the picture at the back….

Waimea on Oahu during the Eddie Aikau big wave surf contest. Unfortunately I didn’t take this shot. Thanks Seamus for providing this unreal pic.

The moon from my backyard. I don’t know I just liked it…

Twin falls what would these emails be if I didn’t send at least one waterfall pic?

What up rocks?

I got a lot of emails last time asking for more pictures of the house… So here’s a huge barrage of photos of the house, including some before and after pics. As you can see from the images below, we’ve been doing a lot of work trying to make the house a little more desirable. Apparently I look a whole heck of a lot like Bob Vila because Betsy always seems to have new projects for me… helps me understand what my dads been going through for the last 28 years….

Anyway, things are going well, the house is really shaping up, and business is looking pretty good too. I think I’m going to be able to take a short break from housework for the next few weeks as the housewarming party has come and passed. Betsy really wanted to make sure the house looked good for all our guests, so before the party she insisted on: replacing all the lighting in the house, track lighting in the kitchen, hallway and bedroom, new faucets and toilet seats in the bathrooms, carpet cleaned, carpet stretched, painting of living room/dining room/hallways/kitchen, new screen patio door, new door handles and locks, new caulking in the bathroom and kitchen, new blinds in the office and dining room, new outlet sockets, switches and face plates throughout the house, a brick pathway leading from front of house to the lanai, new furniture: couch for living room, dining room table, patio table, coffee table, vase with red bamboo, and tons of miscellaneous little things that are too numerous to list…. (slave driver?)….

The painting was the biggest job. Not the toughest, but the biggest. We decided to paint the living room and hallways a khaki/sage color that really came out nice. It replaced an off-white/yellow nasty color. The kitchen was orange creamsicle and yellow in color, we changed that to a nice deep chianti red… It looks great, but with all the nooks and crannies and deepness of the color, it took me five coats of paint to get it to look right. But now it looks pretty good.

We decided to replace the outlets, switches and mounting plates from their faded yellow colors to a nice clean white. This job was a pain in the ass and is not recommended to try if you don’t have to. I didn’t think we needed to replace the outlets in the rooms we haven’t yet painted as they will have to be taken off when we paint again anyway, but Betsy persisted she needed it done…. So on the day of the housewarming I was sent out for last minute groceries and necessities and when I got back Bets told me the power in the kitchen didn’t work.

What…? “Oh, well I turned off the power to change the outlets and switches in the bathrooms and when I turned it back on it didn’t work.”

“You what?!”

I called my dad. No answer. Called Franky, an electrician… no idea why the power doesn’t work if the circuit breaker is on…. I’m stuck. I turned off the power to the whole house. Let it sit for a while, then turned it on (hey, sometimes it works for computers….). Nothing. Then I go into the bathroom, flip the top switch and the power in the kitchen goes on. Apparently, she mixed up the wires in the switches in the bathroom, so if you wanted to turn on the power in the kitchen it was the top switch in the bathroom. Yea, not gonna fly. It’s two hours before company arrives. You gotta be kidding me.

I basically then took apart the outlet, color coded each wire (they were all black) with different colored sharpies, switched up their configurations and tested the results. I have a notebook filled with the different configurations and effects when those settings were turned on. Fortunately, it only took me about 16 tries to find the right one. Now the bathroom lights are triggered with the top switch and the fan with the bottom switch. The kitchen power goes on automatically with the flip of the circuit breaker. Nice.

So the party was nice, things are going well, I’m relaxing for a little while, and working on a bunch of new projects. Things are good. Haven’t been to the beach in a while, but I’ll get there hopefully sometime this week… Hope all is going well with all of you, drop a line, say hi, holla…

Aloha,

Michael

Haleakala panoramic I stiched together with a bunch of photos (18 I think…)

Kitchen area before applying paint…

Kitchen area after losing that awful creamsicle color….

More kitchen area…

Got me an office…

Kitchen with our local newspaper. Check the headline: “Is Maui Turning Into A Junkyard?” Easy, Dad…

hello.

What up munkey?

I know, I know, it’s been too long. You’ve forgotten how much you enjoyed getting your “weekly” dose of Aloha. Well hell, I’ve been busy. Real busy, actually. But today I have a few minutes to shoot you off an email and let you know how its going out here…

We’ve had some really beautiful days out here lately, 75-85 degrees, crystal clear skies, and tons of whales frolicking in the sea. Bet you wish you were here, too, huh? Now you know why I don’t have much time to write anymore… Naw..

Actually I’ve been busy creating a promotional for Dragyn Studios that will be sent out to many of the larger Hawai’i based businesses on Oahu and Maui. I’ve also been learning a lot about writing copy for the web and print design. Oh, yea and designing a new version of Dragynstudios.com (no, it’s not up there yet, but stay tuned, I’ll let you know when it’s live). Let’s see, what else… oh, yea, met a couple videographers, wanna start offering broadcast video too. So, we’re trying to work on some promo material and see if this will be able to pan out.

Got a trip coming up… Coming back to the Chi for a couple of weeks from the 29th of March through the 11th of April. Cubs opening day is on the 8th (my birthday too, imagine that….) Hoping to catch that game, but tix are way pricey…. If anyone has a couple extras let me know.

What else, what else….

Oooh… the other day Maui’s oldest shopping center caught fire. It was huge, started at a Salvation Army store and spread to a classic old grocery store. Guess who happened to be on site with a camera…. oh, yea…..

Been hiking and exploring as much as possible. My boy Mikey and I found a really cool hike through this bamboo forest. Pretty cool, I took Betsy on it and some of my relatives when they were in town last week. The hike is sick, traveling up a river bed, you come to 2 really nice waterfalls. To get around them there is about a 15′ wall scalable only by a couple of ropes attached to trees overhead. It’s a bit of a challenge, but well worth it. Beyond that, the hike continues up a river bed and ends at a semi-large pool. The water is freezing, but you have to swim through it and climb up another wall, hike through more river bed, climb up through a small cave and exit through an old viaduct before reaching the end – a huge 3 story waterfall, beautiful as can be. Unfortunately I don’t have pictures of this, because my camera isn’t waterproof and I don’t trust putting it in a ziplock bag.

Well, I gotta run. Got some more big news, but that will have to wait… I don’t want to jinx anything just yet….

Hope you are all doing well. Hit me back!

Peace,

Michael

Retail space for Lease… interested?

Me and one of the waterfalls

Betsy scaling the wall

And here’s a couple Dragyn Studios Promotionals.  Let me know your thoughts…

woman

tattooed

ferrari

So where did I leave off? I think the last time I wrote was just after Thanksgiving, when I had written about hiding Betsy’s Christmas present somewhere she would never find it… (the dishwasher). Well, she didn’t find it. It stayed there all the way till the weekend before Christmas when I pulled out the gift and gave it to her. It was a nice Adidas backpack stuffed with all sorts of goodies, mainly camping related (clothes, sleeping bag, etc.) and a rack card for the Lanai Ferry. I woke her up early that day, around 5:00am gave her the bag and told her to get in the car. 20 minutes later we were boarding the Lanai Ferry off to a wonderful island getaway on the secluded isle of Lanai.

Lanai is a trip, only 2800 people on the entire island. No McDonalds, or any fast food places for that matter, hell no chain stores of any kind. Completely secluded except for the small town of Lanai City and the two main hotels on the island. When the ferry dropped us off 45 minutes later, we were met at the port with a lady from Adventures Lanai with whom I had rented a sick Jeep Wrangler. Big old mud bogger tires, roof rack, and the look that it was hungry for some off-roading action. So I obliged. Took that bad boy up the Munro Trail first thing, over rocks and boulders, through rainforest patches half as wide as the Jeep itself. Oh, let me add this too… the Jeep itself had no doors windows or inner concealment whatsoever. And since it had rained recently these mud infested trails were LOTS of fun. When we finished the trail our black jeep was brown and our dry clothes were not. Sweet.

The weekend was a lot of fun. We camped on polihua beach, a secluded destination on the far west side. No one around for as far as either of us could see in any direction. I think the next closest person was probably on Molokai across the ocean about ten miles or so. How cool. The next day we snorkeled at Manele Bay and had one of the best dives we’ve been on yet. It was a great. Though you could easily see Lanai in a day, I would recommend staying the night and relaxing in this unreal peaceful setting.

Moving on… got a lot of ground to cover….

The holidays were a little quiet. Betsy went home for Christmas, as did Mike and most everyone I knew out here. But that’s okay, I got some work done here and worked a little at the restaurant too. A few days after Christmas my boys Chris and Frank came out….

Yea, tag team Chicago crew. Lovin’ it. They came out for a week or so, and we lived it up. Showed them all around the island and enjoyed some of the finest meals ever. Including one night at a luau, and a few nights eating fresh caught Sashimi and Mahi Mahi. MMMMMMMmmmmm… that was good stuff… Unfortunately, this year we have had an incredibly wet rainy season and these guys came right in the thick of it. And as they sat in the back of my pickup on the way to Hana, they learned to deal with the elements first hand. For those of you who haven’t been, Hana is a lovely little village at the end of a 60 mile, 600 hairpin turn road through the rainforest. Lined with waterfalls on each side, it is one of the crown jewels of Maui. Sitting in the back of a pickup during terrential downpours may be another matter… These guys got dumped on. Hardcore. The bed of my truck had more water than a kiddy pool and they were sitting in it. The cab of Chuck the Truck is only a two seater and with Betsy and I occupying those seats, the bed was the only option. Well, we persevered hoping the rain would let up as it usually does, but not today. We made it to Hana after about two hours of downpour and there were no signs of it stopping. We actually met up with another couple from out of town who agreed to give Frank, Chris and Anne a ride back in their car. Brutal, but before they boarded the plane, they all agreed that was their favorite part of the trip. Well, glad you liked, come back again….

It is winter, so the surf has come in on the North and West facing shores. And we’ve had a couple days of unbelievably big surf. That being said, let the record show I was not subjecting myself to the humiliation of attempting to surf waves like this…. pictures below….

So it’s a new year, happy 2005! I’ve been busy putting together a promotional for Dragyn Studios that will probably reach several thousand Hawaii based businesses. So if you’ve been wondering why I haven’t been writing, well, that’s the best excuse I can give. Oh, and I’ve been a little lazy. That’s it for now, I’ll try to be more in touch, but hey that means you gotta give me something to go off of too… holla back at me…..

One final note, on a more serious key… my good friend Sheri’s mom passed away suddenly just after Christmas. She was a wonderful and gracious woman who will be missed deeply by everyone who knew her. Sheri and her mom were very close, and I know this must be very hard on her and her father. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

That’s it for this edition. Tune in next time….

Aloha,
Michael

Boat on shore across the street from my house. Been sitting there a long while…. hmmmmm….. Think it would make it to New Zealand….?

Chris, Frank and Waterfalls…

Big surf at Honolua.

Sunset across the street from my house. nice.