Five shades of blue
By
Tamar Mag Raine

Never in my life have I seen such jewels of color; five shades of blue—navy
blue, with silver shining on top, like jewels on the sea. Then an almost
electric blue, then several shades of turquoise, gleaming in the sun,
always with an enormous expanse of fluffy, thick, white clouds seeming to
hang in reams. The perfect blue sky lightens my mood no end.  Yes, surely,
this is heaven.   

Azure blue -- Maui blue -- one and the same. Last night there was a
heavenly purple and pink sunset -- tonight there were too many clouds to
get that much color. Tomorrow I will try again to take some sunset photos.
I was curious how we were getting gentle sprinkles on our heads when there
were no clouds above us. We asked the guy at the Westin timeshare kiosk; it
turns out that the trade winds blow the magical mist everywhere. 

Our first activity was a luau, in Lahaina called the Feast of Lele. And
boy, they are not kidding when they call it a feast. The elevator at this
place was broken, so they recruited some of the stronger male performers
and waiters to lift me up several sets of stairs. Hmm, looking back, this
was to be a recurring theme. The food was served in small shell bowls, and
we tasted almost everything. I tried the muddy looking stuff, and it was
awful. Later we learned it was called Poi, and it is an acquired taste.
Ugh, never again! Boy, we were sure stuffed by desert! The dancers were
fabulous and there was a fire-eater. I have always wondered at the sanity
of fire eaters. So, we got the same people together to carry me in my
wheelchair out of there, and we were on our way. For some reason our
waiter, adorable in a long sarong, thought Angella was my nurse, and said
he used to be a nurse too. It would not be the last time somebody in Hawaii
pegged us as nurse and patient, even white people there, thought we were
mother and daughter. Finally, Angella gave up trying to explain our
relationship! Whatever they wanted us to be… So, we were rolling our eyes a
lot. 

Speaking of clouds, yesterday we went by bus to Haleakala which is an
ancient volcano. Breathtakingly beautiful, we were actually standing above
the white clouds at 10,000 feet. There was volcanic rock everywhere, many
shades of brown. Blue skies were the perfect backdrop for this scene. On
our way, the bus driver/tour leader said the bus wasn't acting right, and
worried us when he said there was only one bus with a chair lift. But they
have coach buses that do have chair lifts. So, all was well, and another
bus came and took us up the mountain. 

Several days ago, we went on a boat trip to the crescent-shaped piece of
volcanic crater called Molokini, and while others went scuba diving, I
popped on a yellow ring, and jumped into deep water with a very good
looking crew member since Angella can't swim. The water was warm for the
ocean, and I enjoyed the stimulating feel of it, but, after twenty minutes,
my right arm began to tire of holding onto the noodles, so we swam back to
the boat, and three strong young men got me back on the boat. Molokini is
uninhabited and we couldn't go on the island, so lunch was served onboard
ship. There were two women who looked like they might be sisters, who had
some kind of spine problems, and they were using two tiny, tiny scooters to
get around the boat. They geared up too, and were assisted to snorkel. 

Today was a free day, so we went to town to pick up the cash we needed in
order to tip people properly, and eat at places that only take cash,
etcetera. After that, we came back to Ka’anapali beach and strolled along
the path and had an afternoon of shopping as women the world over love to
do. One of the hotels has a mini mall and that is where I bought a
wonderful, unique, silk patchwork cloth blanket. It is symbolic of my image
of Hawaii; many colors of flowers and fish.  Each side has 30 different
patches. At $80.00 it will be my biggest single purchase. The real big
comforter of the same style was way, way over my budget at $335.00. At the
same store, Angella found a peach beach dress on the bargain rack. She
looks adorable in it.  On the way out of the mini mall, I bought a piece of
bling bling – a pink ankle bracelet. 

When we got back to the lovely Westin, we decided to check out their
Tropica Bar and restaurant, and had shish-kabobs and I had a margarita that
was the relaxing note for the day. After that we came to our room and
opened, and ate, half the box of chocolate caramel candy the concierge gave
us. Then I decided we should try out the big beach wheelchair I rented, and
boy, the thing is noisy! We did go to the sand, and we sat and admired the
sky at sunset, with saffron being the color of the sunset tonight. I took
many photos of the sky, the distant hills, and the boats that were cruising
back and forth. After we got back, I wanted dinner, so, we went to the
Westin’s Ono restaurant and I ordered calamari sticks, and Angella ordered
a banana daiquiri.  

Today we had a free schedule until late afternoon, so after breakfast, we
headed out to locate the artist that Angella wanted to see again so she
could buy her fiancée a gift. We did not find her in her stall, so we
headed to Whaler’s village where I pretty much had a fine shopping time. I
found a beautiful silver necklace that was hearts with the curly shell
symbol we have seen all over Maui. Then went to the environmental shop,
where I bought a beautiful copper colored sea turtle, and a wooden carving
of a dolphin.  I have been fixated on finding shells to take home and
photograph or scan in different designs – no kidding, my notebook is full
of pages of my designs. I think what influenced me are the waves, the hula
girls we have seen, various shell designs, the slower pace of life here,
the clouds… the circle of life, the embryo in the womb… Until tonight, I
had been frustrated because I couldn't find very many shells… But tonight,
after seeing Ulalena, which I will get to in a moment, I found baskets of
many different kinds of shells, three baskets for $5.00! 

Now about Ulalena, absolutely spectacular, amazing, wonderful… It is dance,
acrobatics, music, tells the story of how Hawaii was born, the innocence of
the islanders, the awful things that happened when European settlers came
to the islands. This show is definitely indescribable, and if you are here
in Maui, you simply must see it! I was absolutely transported back in time,
totally caught up in it. Five stars!

Impression of the Westin; the bathroom sink in my ADA bathroom could use a
cut out, and the whole thing should be lowered to accommodate people who
use wheelchairs. The roll-in shower is wonderful, and they have a nice
sturdy shower chair, and there are two grab bars in the shower. There are
also great grab bars by the toilet, though for complete independence, I
wish there was one on the right side of the toilet. 

The door to the ADA room should not be so heavy. The way it is now, makes
it very difficult for a person using a wheelchair to get out of the room by
themselves. It is even difficult when my assistant gets me out of the room.
So, I'd love to see a lighter weight door, as well as an easy way to put
the door on hold while we are entering or exiting an ADA room. 

Also lacking is an accessible hot tub and a way for a person in a chair to
get one of those free ten minute massages. I was very surprised that only
one pool had an ADA lift, and the one you do have was broken.  I was
satisfied at the solution Amy came up with, by arranging for me to have
access to the Jacuzzi in the spa. I think that it would be a good thing if
the Westin resort would have a hot tub added to one of the accessible
pools. Also, it would be great if you put an ADA lift in more than one of
your five pools. If you truly do want the Westin to be accessible, you
should rent a wheelchair, and try to get around the resort in it for a
week. Overall, The Westin staff have been wonderful. Amy sent up a box of
cookies dipped in chocolate, and a bottle of champagne upon learning I was
there to celebrate my 50th birthday. 

Another evening, we took a lovely sunset train ride through the old sugar
cane fields to a nice picnic dinner where we were entertained by a local
family with Hawaiian music and hula dancing by the couples’ children. 

Thursday we take the entire day to go on another tour; this will be the
adventure to Hana, which is supposed to be very beautiful: Well, turned out
to be the beautiful trip to hell. First, the van didn't have a chair lift,
so I had to get on my butt to get up the steps. The road to Hana is
extremely rough and bumpy, and I had to hold on to the bar the whole time.
It took over three hours to get there. The other people could  get off at
each planned stop, I only got off twice, so I could use a bathroom. At
lunchtime, I sweltered in the hot bus for an hour while everybody else ate
lunch. I was mad at our driver for not letting us know one of the next
stops would have a better bathroom, instead we struggled to get me inside a
porta-potty. The views were amazing, but I wouldn't recommend this tour to
anybody who has any kind of pain. Although the ride from Hana to the hotel
was smoother, it was an extremely long day, over seven hours. The next most
interesting thing we learned on the trip was that the Spanish had brought
over cactus, and you see many hundreds all in blazing greens and blooming
wildly.  

Well, that about wraps it up.  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[log in to unmask]
Come visit my new store! I now carry tee shirts and other items!
http://www.cafepress.com/TamarMag
visit my Blog at; http://tamarmag-newsletters.blogspot.com/

-----------------------

To change your mail settings or leave the C-PALSY list, go here:

http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?SUBED1=c-palsy