Haunted Sugar Mills

Yesterday I got the chance to explore some places I’d never been. After Jeanie got off work at four, we went on a spontaneous drive out towards Hana to find a new place to hike. We ended up just going to Twin Falls, even though we’ve gone on a couple hikes there already, and found some sweet new trails that led to the hippies’ houses, which are these amazing tents and houses on stilts tucked back behind banana plants and palm trees. There are also old irrigation streams and tunnels, so we followed those for a while and imagined floating down them on tubes.

Then later that night, we went on an adventure with David and Brook to explore some old abandoned buildings around Paia in a ghost plantation town. There is this fantastic mill in the middle of a cane field that must have been left ages ago—not to be a total nerd, but it made me think of Cair Paravel when the kids come back to Narnia and years and years have passed. At first you can’t even tell it’s a building because it’s covered in vines and trees—oh yeah, and because it’s totally pitch black outside. Unfortunately, there was a car already there (“I think they’re doing it,” Brook said like a little kid, which made us laugh), so we took off as fast as we could on muddy dirt roads as someone yelled at us. We continued to drive down a creepy country road through the cane fields—where apparently serial killers like to take their victims—and stopped at a park to lie on the grass and look at stars. Then we went to another abandoned mill and explored it. SO creepy, especially the roof, which was falling in and made loud rattling noises in the wind. Hawaiians are superstitious, and there are certain parts of Maui that they say are haunted…and I believe it. But give me a thrill and a tiny hint of danger, and I’m happy.

We’ve made plans to surf with Brook maybe four times, and every time the weather/waves have been crappy. I don’t know what’ s up with winter here, but it is still crazy windy and rains quite a bit. I can’t wait for summer.