The adventuresome sojourners who find their way to Huelo usually come without a mission and without agendas, guide books or maps of what to see, what to do and where to go in their few precious days on Maui. Visitors here tend to be interested in drinking in the intoxicating views, bathing in the perfume of the salt-filled morning air, inhaling the tropical fusion of stars, glimpsing the ballet of the wind in the bamboo and focusing on the patter of rain on a tin roof.

HISTORICAL HUELO

   The only reason Huelo even has a Hawaii Visitor's Bureau marker (albeit one faded to a dull pink) is the historical 1853 Kaulanapueo Church, which sits in the center of a putting-green perfect lawn, bordered with hog wire fence and is accessed through a squeaky, metal turnstyle.

   Reminiscent of New England architecture, this coral and cement church topped with a plantation green steeple and a cloudy gray tin roof is still in use, although the services are just once or twice a month. It still has the same austere stark interior of 1853 - straight-backed benches, a no-nonsense platform for the minister and no distractions on the walls to tempt you from paying attention to the sermon.

   Next to the church is a small grave yard, the personal history of this village in concrete and stone. The graves, facing the setting sun and bleached white over the decades, are the community's garden of memories, each well-tended and visited often.

   The living historian of Huelo is John Kahiamo`e, who loves to proudly exclaim "I'm 86 years young," then he flashes his full-face smile, which has charmed visitors, soothed relatives and sealed many a deal in eight decades.

   "My grandmother was the deacon of this church and she lived to be 103 or 105, I forgot which," said the Hawaiian-Chinese in front of the land he has lived on for 86 years. "She told me the story of this church, now all the old guys have died off and I'm the only spark plug around to tell these old stories. When the church was built there were plenty of people who lived in Huelo, thousands, so many that they all lined up from the ocean to where the church is, shoulder to shoulder, and passed sand bags up from the sea to the land here to build the church."

   When Kahiamo`e was born in 1911 in Keanae, Huelo still had a large population.

   "Three days old, I was hanai`ed (adopted) by the Kahiamo`es here in Huelo," he said with a blush of pride on his face. "I've lived here all my life, I have seen a lot of things here, a lot of changes too. This still is the best place on Maui, only now people are starting to discover that."

   Huelo has always showcased Mother Nature at her most melodramatic intense contrasts - cloudless, blue skies and unwavering sunshine one moment followed by dark ocean squalls and tropical downpour the next. The wind can stampede across the peninsula like a pack of wild horses and stir the ocean into avalanches of water flung high into the breeze.

HUELO ACTIVITIES

   Although remote, Huelo is not isolated. Actually there are a plethora of activities including forays into the former plantation village of Paia, about a 15 minute drive from Huelo. A tangled spaghetti of electrical, phone, and cable wires, which hang above the two-street town, symbolize the town's ability to adapt to the times - it may look messy but it works.

   Here trendy restaurants, eclectic boutiques, high tech windsurf shops stand next door to the ma and pa grocery store, fish market, dry cleaners and shops which have been serving customers in Paia for generations.

   When the plantation closed, instead of just dying, Paia added another wire to its tired phone poles and incorporated the new with the old. Macrobiotic restaurants, shops featuring goods from India and an artists co-op which served the hippies in the 70's were replaced by regional cuisine, Bali products and galleries featuring renowned international artists.

   Just down the Hana Highway from Paia, majestic waves roll into Ho`okipa Park, site of numerous ocean activities from scuba diving to board surfing. Ho`okipa is known around the globe for its perfect conditions for windsurfers - it's the Mecca of windsurfing. Top windsurfers from around the globe take pilgrimages to Ho`okipa to pit themselves against the challenging winds and steamrolling surf.

   Closer to Huelo, about a mile down the Hana Highway is one of Maui's most accessible waterfalls and a natural swimming hole called Twin Falls.

   In Huelo there are a myriad of hikes - from a stroll through an enchanted bamboo forest to a heart-stopping trek along a steep cliff trail down to the ocean.

   If the flora and fauna in Huelo aren't enough, about seven miles down the Hana Highway is the Garden of Eden (no kidding, its real name) an arboretum and botanical garden, carefully landscaped on 26 acres of nature trails, scenic views and picnic areas.

   During the winter months, mammoth leviathans, the humpback whales, cavort in the water just off Huelo. Local residents report watching a mother giving birth to a calf last year.

   Despite all the activities, most visitors to Huelo find themselves watching the ocean waves seethe and rumble among the rock gardens along the shore, staring at the ever-changing sky and listening to the melodious chattering of the residential feathered population.