After about 5 years of going out, my friends Matt and Lora finally decided to tie the knot. Lora's parents live in Maui, which provided an excellent excuse to have the wedding held out there. You don't have to ask me twice to leave the rainy cold Bay Area in late October for the warm and sunny shores of Maui. Unfortunately, time only permitted 2 full days there, but they were utilized fully... ;)
I departed early on Thursday morning (I mean EARLY - 5 am was when I left my house). The adventure began before I took off - I was flying Skyservice for the first time, which is not a real airline, but a company that uses other airlines (like Ghetto Air ;) to fly. In any case, I didn't know where they were, and showed up at the San Francisco Airport terminal of Skyservice with seemingly some time to spare. Nobody. Walked around - still nobody (it's before 7 am mind you). Walked to the gate - no admission. They finally tell me that I'm at the wrong terminal - they now fly out of the *new* international terminal. International? I thought Hawaii was a US state. What did I know?
The new terminal is more than half a mile from the regular terminals - not a walk I can do with luggage in 10 minutes. Fortunately, I hopped on the airport employee shuttle by pleading sufficiently, and get to the plane on time. I'm flying Ghetto Air (the name was close to it). They packed us in like sardines - I was between two large people, and thus had to keep my elbows tucked in the whole flight. There were no magazines in the plane - just a barf bag and emergency instructions - for a different kind of plane from the one we were flying! No oxygen masks to drop down - apparently a luxury feature. The flight attendant's instructions were close to "in case of emergency, pray".
But we did make it, and gaining 3 hours of daylight on the flight, I arrived in Maui before 10 am. This proved to be too early, in fact, as Steven (my ride from the airport) almost overslept, and I had to wait around for a pickup. It's nice to settle in, get breakfast, relax, buy booze for the party planned that evening, and still not be in the afternoon.
Finally, we got back to the condo where Matt and Lora were staying (along with several others), and waited for them to get back from rehearsal. Matt has lived in California for most of his life, and never went surfing, so given the fact that he did not care for a bachelor party, da boyz took him surfing! I'll gloss over the fact that as a 20-year Californian myself, I too had never partaken of the surf on a board.
The surfing was awesome - we had 11' soft foam boards that were slightly more stable than an aircraft carrier, and the waves were great for beginners, which we all were. Our instructor was standing in the shallow water we were surfing, pushing us into the waves so that we didn't have to paddle to catch them (eventually, we did have to learn). Everyone did great, but it's hard to imagine otherwise given the circumstances. Pictures on the way...
Now I am a true Californian - I'm a surfer! Bring on the 2' waves! ;)
After surfing and dinner (found a heavenly smoothie place - if even on Maui, try Jambooka Juice!), friends gathered at the condo for an extended card game of Hierarchy. It's very similar to The Great Dalmudi, but played with playing cards. Luck was, as usual, not with me, and if you know the game, then you know how difficult it is to get out of the cellar, where I was pretty much the whole time. Lots of fun though! We went through an impressive amount of beer in the evening, and I was fairly dead when the game ended at 2 am, having been up for 24 hours straight after a 3-hours of sleep night.
There were 8 of us staying in a 2-bedroom condo, so I was one of the floor-warmers for the night. This would have been fine if Lora's alarm had not gone off at 5:30 am right over my head. Alas, once I wake up, there is no turning back. There is, however, much tossing and turning, which occupied me quite well for the following hour. But the day was starting, and we had to take off for... kayaking!
Friday morning started off with a kayaking adventure on the ocean. We had an odd number of folks, and I volunteered to take the solo kayak (okay, so I like the smaller and more maneuverable solo's, but that doesn't mean I couldn't make the others feel guilty about it :). We finally did something I had wanted to do but never done - kayak snorkel. Yup, just like it sounds - kayak out to a good snorkeling spot, put on gear, and jump on over! Worked out really well other than for one of the kayaks where the gals were not feeling up to handling the sway of the water and headed back to land early. Our guide took us to a lovely spot where we were the only ones in the water. We snorkeled for quite a while, seeing many colorful fish, swimming with no less than 3 turtles, diving through underwater tunnels, and playing snorkel frisbee (yes, I brought my frisbee out there - would you expect any less?). Just as we were getting reading to move on, a huge boat backed into the area we were snorkeling in and thousands of obnoxiously loud snorkelers unloaded. Okay, maybe it was closer to 50, and they were reasonably nice, but the story is not as good that way. We departed just in time to miss the masses. We got to another snorkeling spot, but the boats had beaten us there, and we couldn't even get close without slaloming the people in the water. After traversing around the spot for a while, we did some kayak slalom with rocks near the shore (I did get stuck once), and headed back to shore.
We needed to get back in order to change for the homemade Luau that Lora's parents put together. I have never been to one of these, but apparently the setup is quite an ordeal. Her dad was up at 4 am digging the pit, which was lined with lava rocks, and then a large bonfire was built on top of them to heat up white-hot. When the bonfire burned out, the rocks were lined with banana tree stalks and leaves, the pig (and turkeys and sweet potatoes) was placed on top, covered with more banana leaves, and the entire thing was then covered with dirt. When we arrived at 4 pm, they were not quite ready to dig out the food, but after a bit of mingling, they started the excavation. That's how I really learned about how it was put in - by seeing what came out. Though I did not try the pig, I was assured it was most excellent.
I may have missed out a bit on the pig (not quite kosher), but I certainly didn't miss out on dinner. They tried to have sashimi, but were not sure they would be able to get some. Fortunately, calling around, one of the fishermen/shops on the bay got some Ahi tuna in, which was quickly transported up to the Luau in the hills. Lora's mom was slicing it as the Luau was getting going. It was amazing! I don't think I've ever had sashimi that fresh before - about 4 hours old. With Lora's mom's secret family recipe ginger soy sauce, it was simply to die for.
I ate too much.
WAY TOO MUCH.
But enjoyed every bite of it!
We had big plans upon getting back from the Luau, but we closed the party (after I successfully managed to avoid the karaoke, I felt obligated to help at least clean up). When we got back to the condo, I more or less crashed - others did the same. As Matt and Lora were staying at their hotel that night, I slept for 8 hours in the luxury of a bed. What more is there in life?
Well, for Matt in Lora in particular, there is a wedding, and Saturday was the big day. The ceremony was not until 4:08 pm (don't ask), so we had the morning to ourselves. As were not properly fed the night before, a few of us took off to see Sae, a friend of Steven (cousin of Matt) who lives on Maui (Sae, that is). She and her husband just finished construction of an amazing home in the hills with a view of much of Maui. It was really grand, and very well decorated (she is a designer) - I felt like I was walking through a home decorating magazine and didn't want to touch anything. The lunch she prepared was in line as well - the kitchen being their favorite place, and we managed to eat well despite being stuffed to capacity at the Luau the night before. I think I gained 20 pounds during that trip, but I can't really regret it. Now I have an idea of how cool a house can be, and how on the other side of the spectrum mine really is. Sigh.
We got back to the condo to change and were off to the wedding. When I say change, I mean into appropriate wedding garb. Trousers, a Hawaiian shirt, and sandals. What else could it be? Even Matt, who was wearing a suit for the first time I've ever seen (possibly in his life) was wearing a collarless shirt and no tie with it. But it was a beautiful ceremony. Let me tell you a bit about it.
The wedding was held in the courtyard of the Maui Prince hotel - a lovely place decorated in a Japanese / Hawaiian blend with poi swimming in ponds, waterfalls, rock gardens, bridges, and a very serene feel. The courtyard is enclosed by the hotel, which reverberates sounds very well inside (they probably didn't have to use the loud speaker, but did just in case). Our group arrived a bit early to help set up - Steven was the camcorder man, Lora's cousin Judy was hanging leis on everyone's neck, and Caren arranged the dinner name tags (which almost blew away in the 20mph dusk winds). After a bit of schmoozing, the 60 or so guests took their chairs in the middle of the courtyard, and the ceremony started.
There was a Hawaiian drummer in traditional garb playing very well to announce that Matt and his parents had entered, and as they walked around the pond, and over the bridge. He changed his beat as Lora and her folks came around, led by another traditionally attired Hawaiian blowing a conk shell. They all gathered in front of the priest (who seemed very young for his 33 years).
Matt and Lora lit memorial candles for their departed grandparents.
The priest greeted the gathered.
Adam, Matt's best friend from high school, read Pablo Neruda's "Amor" as their mutual dedication poem.
There was an adoration prayer said in English and a main wedding prayer in Hawaiian and English before the exchange of wedding cups.
This was followed by Matt's and Lora's wedding vows, the Tamakushi offering, and the ring ceremony.
Finally, the parents shared in the wedding cup exchange, and Matt and Lora were pronounced m&w.
To finish it off, Lora's dad sang a beautiful Hawaiian wedding song to wish them luck on their life journey. He sang at the karaoke the night before, so we all knew he had a beautiful voice.
It was an amazing ceremony - very beautiful and serene. The reception after was a tad on the quiet side until people started on the open bar and we headed off to dinner next door.
At dinner, Matt delivered what was likely the longest speech of his life - thanking in detail their parents and many of the others that helped with the ceremony. Matt is a quiet and reserved guy who seldom speaks more than 10 words strung together. The fact that he had such a long monologue is doubly impressive given that Lora is, well, shall we say _not_ quiet and reserved. She didn't interrupt him until nearly the end though - is that a good sign for their marriage? ;)
To keep the streak alive, we closed the post-dinner dancing (last guests at all parties!), but that was not as intentional. The problem was that with 5 of us carpooling, when a few got ready to go, one of the group had to go say their fare-wells, which took a while, and by the time they were done, some other group members were mingling again. I think I said my good-byes to Matt and Lora at least 5 times.
This was the first day that I did not have a chance to get wet, and I was determined to fix that before the night ended. Upon our arrival back at the condo, and a bit of unwinding, three of us went off to the hot tub. Which was by the pool. Which was locked. Steven and I were not to be deterred, and climbed the fence, but Judy (Lora's 17-year-old cousin) who was playing a bit of a rebel before, chickened out. Of course, the hot tub ended up being covered for the night anyway, but at least we went in the pool to swim under the stars. We were determined to enjoy our last night in Maui. After getting back and playing a couple of games of speed, the night came to a close.
Sunday morning was an early one for Steven and myself as we had to pack and head off to see Sae one more time (this time at her office) before arriving at the airport at 10 am for the flight home. I wanted to get my last salty taste of Hawaiian waters, and went for a 7 am swim in the ocean (warm water is just SO nice). After a visit to Sae, we got to the airport, parted ways, and I boarded Ghetto Air once again.
While the flight out was direct non-stop, the flight back had a layover in Kona. The plane waited in Kona for an hour, but our Ghetto Air crew would not let us deplane. Kona is hot, and a plane with the a/c shut off for an hour gets especially so. In order to keep us from boiling over, they opened the emergency escape doors - something I have not seen done before. The breeze was most refreshing, but the open emergency exits on Ghetto Air were a little distressing. However, I should not have feared as we landed safely in San Francisco 5 hours later. It was raining, dark and cold in San Francisco when I left. It was raining, dark and cold in San Francisco when I returned. The whole time in Maui it was sunny and 80. It's called paradise for a reason. In order to help you adjust to SF, Ghetto Air was nice enough to make sure that the a/c built up a lot of condensation on the landing, which rained down upon the passengers in certain seats (mine being one of them) before the rain outside even got to us. How nice of them...
Final lesson learned - the new international terminal at SFO does not get serviced by Supershuttle. I waited there (having called them) for nearly an hour before they arrived - and I was trying to take the first shuttle that arrived. I think it would be easier to take the parking lot shuttle back to the main terminals and catch one from there. Next time. Small price to pay for a few wonderful days in Hawaii and seeing a good friend get married in paradise.