Hello again from Wailea, Hawaii<\/p>\n
Saturday afternoon \u2013 May 22, 2021\u00a0\u00a0 (Fourth post of this travelogue)<\/p>\n
I guess it is time to catch up on our activities at the Grand Wailea.\u00a0 Simply said, this has been a very relaxing week.\u00a0 We have spent a lot of time on the verandah.\u00a0 It is great for people watching and just plain enjoying the beautiful view.<\/p>\n
As I noted previously, our room overlooks the chapel.\u00a0 We have witnessed several wedding parties.\u00a0 Apparently this is a popular wedding destination.\u00a0 Indeed, we are told that one of the SU demonstrators had their wedding here this week.<\/p>\n
We have taken two tours this week.\u00a0\u00a0 Both were paid for by SU\u00a0\u00a0 The first tour was on Tuesday \u00a0to a cacao farm and chocolate factor followed by a stop at a coconut farm to learn more about coconut farming and to do some tasting.\u00a0 The second trip on Thursday was to the Maui\u00a0 Gold pineapple farm.\u00a0 Both tours included great lunches.<\/p>\n
The cacao farm (link)<\/a> was an amazing place.\u00a0 The cacao plant is not native to Hawaii (as is the case for most trees and plants).\u00a0 Indeed, the climate here is not conducive to raising the trees.\u00a0 An individual took up the challenge of finding a way to create an environment that was compatible with the tree using large shelter trees and lots of irrigation. We tasted 9 varieties of their chocolate and the taste of each was amazing.<\/p>\n The coconut farm visit was cut short a bit because we were running late.\u00a0 However, we were able to taste the coconut meat and drink the water from the coconut (very tasty).<\/p>\n There is an interesting contrast between the cocoa and coconut farms.\u00a0 The owner of the coconut farm describes it as a \u201cboutique farm\u201d where the product is not profitable but the history of the process is being preserved. The cocoa farm is a for-profit venture with some significant growth plans.<\/p>\n The Maui Gold pineapple tour was a lot of fun.\u00a0\u00a0 We got to spend quite a bit of time in the pineapple fields and the guide harvested some pineapples from the field for our tasting. The taste of the fresh cut fruit is fantastic. Like the cocoa farm this is a for-profit venture.\u00a0 They do some export, but a significant part of their product is consumed on the Hawaiian islands.\u00a0 They only sell whole pineapples and not canned product.<\/p>\n That is all for this post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello again from Wailea, Hawaii Saturday afternoon \u2013 May 22, 2021\u00a0\u00a0 (Fourth post of this travelogue) I guess it is time to catch up on our activities at the Grand Wailea.\u00a0 Simply said, this has been a very relaxing week.\u00a0 … Continue reading