This is where we stayed during the 12 days in Maui – Sugar Inn. It’s in a small town up north called Paia.
Sugar Inn is only 3 minutes from the Paia town centre, so we went there a lot for groceries and dining. Our favourite places were Mana foods, a local market that sells cheap, organic foods, and The Fish Market, a restaurant that serves big and fresh fish plates. We ate so much fish in Maui. I must say that my diet there was actually way healthier than it is home. Paia is really a lovely town. People there are down-to-earth and extremely friendly. It’s a great place to stay if you want to experience the local life.
The house is surrounded by trees, and there’s a big sugar cane field behind the house. We lived on the second floor, which has four rooms, a big kitchen/living room, and a L-shape balcony. The whole place is open – there’s no doors at the entrance, which was actually quite nice, as we could see the ocean from the kitchen! We could even hear the sound of the waves at night. Since we were surrounded by nature, there were lots of insects flying around in the house. I never like bugs, but as the days went by, I kind of learned to live with them without hysterical screams (except for the big-and-sneaky cane spiders).
It is a great place to make new friends. At some nights, we would gather on the balcony with the owner, Kat, and some other tenants for some wine and snacks. We would talk about which beach we went to or what we saw when snorkeling. We talked about the must-visit places on the island, and what we planed to do the next day…what a lifestyle! I’m so glad that we didn’t stay in a hotel. What could you do in a hotel after dark?
As much as I hate spiders, I will choose Sugar Inn again if I return. I think I fell in love with the place, especially the dogs.
【Maui】Buddha
If you stay in Sugar Inn, you have to know the dogs that live there: Caramel, Tian Tian, and Buddha. All three dogs have completely different personalities, but are all easy to get along with.
Caramel is the head of the group. She’s always calm and gentle, except when she’s scratching her butt against the ground. Tian Tian is totally the opposite of Caramel. He’s a playful pit bull that always jumps around when you try to approach him. He’s only 2 years old, the youngest teenage boy there. Tian Tian always follows Caramel around the house. Buddha, on the other hand, is sometimes a loner. He’s a Shar-Pei and pit bull mix. We fell most connected to Buddha after spending time with him, because we know that it would take so much efforts and time to earn his trust, as he had been abused for three years before he was adopted by Kat. If you look into Buddha’s eyes, your heart would soften immediately, and you would have the urge to give him anything in the world to make him happy. It was tricky to get close to Buddha at first. Since he’s extremely insecure (poor thing!), we had to interact with him gently. Any sudden movements would make him defensive. During our last few days there, Poan found a way to earn his trust – by bribing him with food. Since then, Buddha would come upstairs and look for some treats, and he would do a few tricks if we asked him to. He was still a bit insecure and got scared sometimes, but he’s actually a very, very sweet dog. There was one time he just came into our room and lie on the floor. He would “cry” if he doesn’t get any treats from us. But when he cries, our hearts soften again. Knowing that he was abused once and might not become normal again, it meant so much to us when we saw his tail wiggling in the air. Just before we left Maui, Buddha let Poan pet him and hug him without any defensive behaviours! It was really an amazing journey spending time with Buddha and getting to know him.
In the end, we fell in love with Buddha. We love him so much that we wanted to bring him back to Vancouver and continue to give him love. But I guess he would be happier in Paia, as he can play in the wild with Caramel and Tian Tian. I believe that we’ll see Buddha again, someday soon!