Maui Day 2

Today's adventure takes us to the Maui Plantation and Iao Valley. We started relatively early today...8:00 AM! After a rushed brekkie, we're off the ship to our first stop, the Maui Plantation. It's a beautiful plantation full of tropical flowers, mango trees, pineapple plants, macadamia nut trees, coffee trees, etc. Our tour guide was very entertaining! She was also cute, she reminded me of my friend, Money. She taught us how to husk a coconut as well as how to break one open. We took loss of pictures through their gardens and took advantage of the food and craft fair that was going on. I got my whole luau outfit there and the hubby got a really cool ring with some Hawaiian tribal deviations on it. For my future reference and for your information, ladies, here is the hair flower etiquette while in Hawai'i. Flower behind your right ear means you're single and ready to mingle. Flower behind your left ear means you're married. Flower on top of your head means that you're looking around. Flower on the bottom middle means, "come follow me, no questions asked!" At least this is all according to our tour guide at the Maui Plantation. After she have us that bit of information, my hubby made me move my flower from the bottom middle to over my left ear! I had just put the flower above the small bun I had made at the base of my head. I had no idea that it actually meant something. After the plantation we went to the Iao Valley. This is where King Kamehameha took over the island of Maui from another king. Apparently King Kamehameha is the one who united all the Hawaiian islands. In this valley was a replica Hawaiian village and the Iao Needle. The Iao Needle is a cinder cone pinnacle that juts straight out of the valley. It's said to represent fertility. Well it was pretty phallic looking, so I can see why it represents fertility! We came back in time to have lunch on the ship. We're resting up right now by watching movies in our state room. We might also go to the hot tub a little later. We're leaving Maui tonight and set sail for Hilo. I'm excited to go to Hilo to show the hubs what I saw when I went on my first trip to Hawai'i. We're doing the Volcanoes National Park tour tomorrow. It'll be nice to see Kiluea again. This is where I learned about the goddess, Pele. She is my favorite Hawaiian god! She can be nice and calm, but when she gets angry, look out! She literally blows her top by making volcanoes erupt. I'm also exited for this tour because they're gonna take us to Big Island Candies. This place has THE best Hawaiian shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate! I like 'em better than the shortbread cookies shaped like a pineapple and dipped in chocolate. This is where a majority of my souvenirs will be purchased! Ok, time for a nap! TTFN!