The Cost of Heaven

So there are a couple of downsides to living in Maui. Don’t get me wrong – for the most part this is the coolest place in the world (having been to at least 4 other places in the world you can trust me when I say that). I figure my blog posts from here on out will be all about how cool this place is, so that’s one reason why I’m doing this.

Number one – the sugar cane factory stink. Holy crap. There’s a big HC&S factory along one of the highways here and most of the time the stink is pouring out of it. It’s a stench that’s impossible to describe. The closest I can come is that it smells like someone ate a pound of sugar and then threw it up. It’s a sweet smell, but at the same time it makes everyone who smells it queesy. Truly something that needs to be experienced to understand. When I first got here I lost a lot of weight. I thought it was all my diet and exercise paying off, but looking back it was probably loss of appetite due to passing the cane factory going to and from work every day. Ick.

Number two is obviously the cost of living here. We knew it would be expensive, but we had no idea. Rent is expensive. Electricity is expensive. Cars are expensive. Food is expensive. But we’ve learned to manage. We found a nice little cottage and we each pitch in $400 a month. A friend from Utah will be moving in for a few months in the fall and so it’ll go down to $300 a month. But we’re lucky. Most people move here on their own and have to get a studio for $700-$800 on average. I’ve put in fluorescent lightbulbs in our place and we’ve put off using our air conditioner until things get unbearably hot in the summer. We take lukewarm showers (and it feels good), and it all adds up to a perfectly reasonable electric bill. We’ve learned to go to Costco and Walmart for most things including food and we don’t buy anything at Safeway unless it’s on sale. I’m a little dude and don’t have a huge caloric intake need to start out with, so it’s not a big problem for me, but Steve has struggled – he likes his food. So first moving in was a huge outlay, but now our expenses have leveled off and I’m feelin good about living here.

After living here a while it seems that Maui puts everyone through a trial by fire when they first get here (thank goodness we weren’t the only ones). It seems lots of people move here on a whim and get beaten down till there’s nothing left. It’s really very humbling. Maybe that’s why everyone is so nice here – there’s an understanding that we’re all struggling and a need to stick together to make it here. We’ve all been through the war and we all have that one thing in common at least. Anyway, more on that later.