Exhausted from the hike, our plan was to lay in the sun and rest up Saturday. My scheduling however, was rather amiss. Saturday is the big Flea Market in Kahului and even though my calves kept telling me to sit down, we were out the door by 7:00 am. Who can pass up a Hawaiian Flea Market?? It was huge ... with tons of fruits and vegetables, the most amazing flowers I have ever seen, and of course LOTS of yummy food!!!
Patty spied the first prize ... we bought a couple of small, handmade, natural fibre baskets in a Makawao store ... and here is the guy that makes them!! He had very few left, but they were beauties ... and MUCH cheaper than in the stores. He even gave us a discount, I think because he felt bad we had paid more on the store purchases!!
Next up my friend Cyndae, who just left the island as we were arriving, asked me to pick up some of the soap with loofah centers. They had a large supply here and we checked that off our list!! They look good enough to eat!!!!!
There were sooo many yummy goodies ... like pineapple pound cake, Hawaiian toffee, guava cake, cheese bread and coconut candy. Sorry there aren't any pictures ... we ate it all before I could get the camera out!!! Patty loves sea glass and found two vendors selling jewelry they made. These came from one who talked story with Patty about where it came from and how she and her daughter found the glass while her son boogie-boarded. She had several amazing examples of glass with the name Maui on them, as well as an opium bottle!!
Several vendors had flowers that they cut and brought for making arrangements. The most beautiful flowers ever, grow here!! I didn't want to appear rude by taking lots of images and not buying any of the flowers, but I did sneak a quick pic of this gorgeous one. I have no idea what it is ... nor did I know what MOST of the flowers were!! I only know they were spectacular!!
I of course, gravitate towards the photographers and artist pictures. This gentleman ... and I mean he truly was a gentleman ... Phil Soo ... grew up in Borneo. He became an engineer and moved to Hawaii where he began to practice the art of batik ... the original batik!! This art is that of wax and dye on cotton fabric. It takes months to finish one image. We talked for quite some time ... he says "young" people today don't appreciate the arts of old, nor the time it takes to create one. The originals he mounted on fabric covered boards were amazing. I wish I could have purchased one, but real art, after all, is expensive and doesn't fit into my budget this year. NEXT year however, I plan to look him up.
Patty leaned toward the fruits and vegetables. There were so many weird looking varieties, we had to know what they were. She kept trying to hide seeds and pods in her purse for the trip home. Unfortunately, unless specifically marked, you CANNOT take anything with you back to California. She did purchase a papaya and several guava ... one guy making fruit smoothies gave her a passion fruit (called lilikoi here). We snacked on various kinds of jellies and jams, all local made before making our exit.
Back to shopping!!!!! We hit the shops at Wailea for a Kalua Pork sandwich from the Whalers General Store (this particular store has a deli inside). Stomachs full, we made a run on several more stores. There are many many places to buy, but they carry a lot of the same thing. We raced through until we came to a great new swimsuit for Patty!!! No, she won't let me take a picture and post it. It took a lot of talking to convince her to purchase it since it wasn't on sale ... but she looks GREAT in it!!!
In one store, I found these fun metal images, one of which I purchased to remind me of Maui on a daily basis. Taken with my phone, the "sun" in the image is the flash!!!!! Sunset Beach is on the island of Oahu and is the site of most of the big surfing championships in Hawaii.
Dinner was awesome ... Patty has been doing all the cooking of fish and veges ... it's like having my own personal chef!! We spent a couple hours at the pool before packing up boxes of stuff to send home. Not such a relaxing day after all, but make hay while the sun shines!!!!!
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