Sugar Factory

Well we finally did something yesterday I have wanted to do since we arrived. There is only one sugar factory left on the island, and across the road from it is a sugar museum. It is small, but it gives the history of sugar production on the island since inception.

Here at Haggai, we curse (figure of speech) the sugar cane growers because when they burn the cane in the fields, which they do just before harvest, some of the ash, which we call "Maui snow", floats all the way over here, about 10 miles away. It is very frustrating for the ladies to vacum a lanai (balconey) only to return 10 minutes later and see a bunch of black ash. And imagine the poor guy who does the pool.

In any event, sugar cane production dates back to the 1800's and anyone who thinks they work in poor conditions today should see the situation in those days. The museum also shows a 10 minute video of production today at the factory which is very mechanized. Most of the refining/packaging/etc however is done on the mainland.

We went "upcountry" this morning to a church we had visited once before. It is about 1500' above sea level and the change in temperature was quite noticeable. The pastor there is a communications specialist in his daytime job, and he is doing an Advent series, on "Rediscover Christmas". Today's topic was "How Santa Clawed His Way Into Christmas", and besides being quite well done, he put some humour in it!

Tomorrow is our last day of work, Tuesday we are going whale watching (are you happy now Steph?), and we leave for home just before midnight on Wednesday. So probably one more entry on the blog.