I took so many pictures in Hawaii that it has taken me weeks to go through them all but I think I’m finally there! When you are taking a ton of pictures it all seems so great to take a million shots on multiple devices but sorting through them isn’t fun at all. In fact, it is kind of depressing because you remember how much you loved Hawaii, if you went to Hawaii. Clearly I am talking about me so I don’t know why I keep saying you. The problem is I have fallen in love!!! I even looked at airfare to Honolulu. Yesterday I made a coconut pineapple drink and was wandering around in my sarong wondering how I ended up somewhere where it never ever rains anymore. It is all very confusing.
Maui was my favorite island and it was the most vegan friendly.
the beach at Pa’ia
We stayed in the surfer hippie town of Pa’ia on the Eastern side. I recommend staying here for sure for a lot of reasons. First, it is where Willie Nelson lives and as an Austinite that is extremely exciting. Second, it is a cute town with lots of vegan eateries and the best health food store in the state. They even have breakfast tacos!
I wasn’t sure if I was going to find enough vegan goodies so I brought a ton of items like nuts, packets of Jason’s peanut butter, Cliff bars, ramen etc on the airplane so I felt pretty silly when I first walked into Mana Foods and saw that it was as well stocked as our own Wheatsville co-op, if not better.
Pa’ia is on the eastern side and close to the airport and the last stop before the road to Hana so it is an ideal place to stay. It turns out you can easily drive everywhere in Maui, it seems like it is about the size of greater Austin but Pa’ia is so central that I would definitely stay there again. The first restaurant we went to was Fresh Mint, an all vegetarian Vietnamese place and it was honestly the best meal of the trip. I got this soy fish hot pot and it was fabulous, it had an amazing thick meaty texture, the flavor was spot on and tropical and I thought everything in Hawaii was going to be better than anything you can get here.
The proprietor of the restaurant was super sweet and told us that this was the only food we would find on the island like that and he was right! I should have eaten there every day but I thought I should try other places too, we also had stuffed tofu which had Maui onions and other stuff inside that now I don’t even remember but it was great! I was really surprised by how much better the produce is in Hawaii then it is at home. I mean, I’ve had Maui onions and Dole pineapples here, but there it is a whole other thing. It is like tasting food for the first time. 
We also tried cafe Mambo across the street, I had Sesame & nori tofu fajitas which sounded pretty awesome but it was really expensive and not nearly as good as Fresh Mint. At least I got a lot of food! It probably could have fed three people. 
We stayed at a house called the Mangolani which had a room for rent and it was really nice because they had tons of fruit trees and we could have whatever we wanted and they had a kitchen. For breakfast I made oatmeal and fresh bananas and it made me really happy. 
the nice thing about staying at someone’s house is they usually have dogs which just makes me feel a lot more at home.
We quickly learned that when it is raining on the east side it is sunny on the west side (and vice versa) so we decided what to do based on the weather a lot of the time. The center of the island is mountains so they trap the clouds which is why you get the varying weather. 
The north western side of the island is mostly resorts. Actually the entire west side is resorts but you can check out their beaches and they have public beach parks about every mile. 
We stopped in Lahaina to see the ancient banyan tree and grab some fantastic tropical shaved ice on the way up 
and then stopped at their health food store on the way back down. Make sure you try some shaved ice, they have all sorts of exotic flavors and some of it is just amazing. It was fun to stop at the farmer’s market health food store and have a picnic on the beach across the street. 
They had acai bowls with fresh fruit that sounded fantastic but I couldn’t pass up the hot bar with its noochy tofu and coconut curry soup. 
We watched the rainbows and sunset and ate delicious food and I started to realize why everyone says Maui is magical.
Another day we drove to the southwest side which I liked a little better than the northwest side. There were lots of beaches with snorkeling. We started in Maluaka Beach Park where we had heard we would have a good chance of seeing green sea turtles.
it is so beautiful under the water in Hawaii. The water is so warm and clear and just full of life. I swam and swam forever and then suddenly I turned my head and I saw a turtle just like this 
I was so excited, I love turtles, in fact turtle was my first word. I have been looking for sea turtles forever, I hadn’t seen them in either Greece or Costa Rica so it was just thrilling to finally swim with one. I saw a lot of turtles on the trip. And lots of beaches that day. South of Maluaka we went to Big Beach and the Ahihi Kinau nature reserve at the end of the coast. Each spot was more beautiful then the last. They had these large man made coral walls along the coast and sometimes you could walk through them and stumble onto little beaches like Secret Cove
All I wanted was to look for more turtle but at some point we had to stop and eat. Joy’s Place was in Kihei, right up the road from these glorius beaches and had probably the healthiest food on the island. Lots of raw items and most of it was vegan. It was a tiny little place and was really expensive (are you noticing a theme), I was really glad that my tempeh wrap was fantastic. 
It was right across from another beach park so we picnicked and watched surfers and I thought about turtles. 
Another day we drove to Haleakala, the inactive volcano that formed Maui. You used to be able to go to the top to see the sunrise and then bike down all the way back to Pa’ia, but I guess that turned into kind of a nightmare with thousands of tourists riding down mountain roads and blocking traffic so they don’t have tours like that any more. We drove right to the top, it was like 50 intense switchbacks.
Most people go for sunrise but a local told us that it was a lot nicer for sunset so we decided to do that. We stopped at a craft fair on the way and went to a succulent farm called Rainbow acres that was just beautiful. 
The altitude changes so drastically one minute your on the beach, then hills, than it is tall trees and mountains, and then after a while there aren’t even trees any more. Not much can survive in the harsh weather. There is a goose called the Nene that lives up there, it is an endangered species and we were really excited to see one, no pic though.
It was cold at the top of the mountain and really fun to be above the clouds, in fact, the altitude made the whole thing a little too much fun and we were running around laughing and freezing. 
On the way back we stopped in a little town Haiku at a place called Veg Out.
It wasn’t open that day but on another day we got to check it out, they had a full vegetarian menu with muffaletta sandwiches and falafel and it was pretty cheap highly recommended.
Another day we drove down to Hana on the famous highway that has about a million stops with waterfalls and hikes and swimming. It was so gorgeous. I have so many many pics.
I saw this sign at the bottom of a little hike.
and a great view of this horizontally growing bamboo and the highway at the top.
We packed food from Mana in Paia but a long the way there were vendors with fresh fruit, smoothies, and the best banana bread you will ever have in your life. When you see a vegan one DO NOT HESITATE. Buy that shit.
Hana was an adorable little town with a swimmin’ beach and a lookin’ beach with dark red sand.
They didn’t have too much in the way of restaurants but on the way in we saw a Thai place in the town before and there was a fantastic farmer’s market too. They do have a general store which had delicious Maui Beer. 
We camped at Wainapapa State Park which was one of the most amazing places I have seen and the next day went to the Oheo Gulch which was equally gorgeous and also had camping. It was just wonderful and Hana had the kind of nightlife that I prefer.
The Maui Brewing Co beers are all vegan btw as well as the Kona, try the coconut, seriously. The drive and the whole south eastern part of the island was my favorite part of my whole trip I think. It was just so ideal.
If you are going to camp at a state park you need to get a permit either on the internet a week in advance or anytime at any state office, there is one on each island. In Maui it is in Wailuku and which is really convenient, kind of at the crossroads by the airport in Kahului which has a couple vegan friendly eateries. We ate one of the many Vietnamese places, A Saigon Cafe. They also had all the big box stores like Kmart and what not there. 
So I hope that helps anyone planning a trip, if you have any questions, I’ll try to answer as best I can. Here is a list of vegan friendly restaurants. Oh also try and get a hybrid car, we only had to add gas once the whole time we were on Maui and as you can see we did a lot of driving! And check out my other posts on the big island and Oahu if you are going there. And I mentioned in the Oahu post Maui Tacos, it is a fast food taco place that is really fantastic and highly recommended. And if you would like to hire me as your vegan I will be happy to assist in exchange for airfare. Also: here’s more photos, I advise that you look at them while listening to Hawaiian rainbow.com
Sweets in Japan are a pretty big deal but vegan ones aren’t always easy to find. Unless you stroll into the tiny Brown Sugar 1st where you will be overwhelmed with things to buy like coconut popcorn and yuzu cookies and soft serve ice cream and cupcakes.
When we found a 
I know it is a fusion restaurant but damnit, hummus does not go in lasagna just because you are serving vegans! They made up for it with the dessert strawberry cobbler with oat streusel and coconut gelato.
We also went to a few other beaches including goat island where I didn’t see one goat. Still, I know where
I have been working of the recipe for awhile and I think I have almost perfected it, will try and post soon. Basically you cook & season the rice and the beans separately then you stir fry them together with more peppers, onions, and celery. In Costa Rica they come with a side on fried plantains (if you are lucky) or eggs or meat. I really want to make some tofu scramble to go with my gallo pinto this weekend because I think it would be really good.
Tico’s love their gallo pinto as much as I do so you can get it at every single restaurant, even Burger King so it is nice to know that you are always going to find a vegan option. Fruit plates can usually be ordered at any time and are often breakfast if you are staying at a place that includes breakfast.
Mixed drinks with tropical fruits are so yummy too. Horchata, which is a rice milk drink was often available as well. The best part is that they are really cheap and fresh. Usually they are around a dollar. The greatest drink in all of Costa Rica, however, is agua de pipa. If you are lucky while you are lounging on the beach a guy with a machete will wander by and open one up for you.
The common lunch in Costa Rica is called a Casado, which actually means husband. I think it stems from what the wife would pack up for her husband when he went off to work. It always involves rice and beans, often a plantain, and instead of meat you can say Casado Vegetariano and you never know what you will get, usually rice and beans and a salad and either a pasta or vegetable dish.
and we took a boat ride on Lake Arenal. It was so beautiful. I rode a horse named Pinto to the top of a mountain where you could see the entire Pacific coast. He was the most adorable horse. We got to see sugar cane growing and learned how the made it into liquor. They also grew coffee, beans, avocado, bananas, and all sorts of other stuff, you would never need to shop if you lived in the tropics.
they even had vegan literature on their menu! It was a really laid back place but do to the organicness it was rather expensive so I only went once. Maybe the greatest part was the fact that they have an air conditioned chill room where you can hang out on pillows and read magazines and books. It was really nice. I wish I would have noticed it my first day there when I was feeling sickly.
Lazy Smurf's Guide 
