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Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

12 jun 2025
2 min de lectura

Actualizado: 4 may

It was J.R.R. Tolkien who said such wise words, and to describe who we are and where we've been, they fit just right. 

I should start by saying that the idea to move to Spain was discussed with my son Val, and me while we lived in Hawai’i, a few months before the pandemic started. He had received Spanish citizenship from his dad when he was a baby, and we just needed to apply for his passport. - So I thought, I was dead wrong  (Spanish bureaucratic system). Our dream didn’t come true until much later. 

But before I jump to when our Valencia plans started to become a reality, I want to talk about Maui. Yes, you are probably wondering who in their right mind would leave Hawai’i! I know, I get that all the time.


Everything you have heard about those impressive islands in the Pacific is true, and to us, they meant so much more than the weather and the beaches. After leaving Guatemala, we arrived on Maui at the end of 2016, and it was through the love, kindness, and aloha of the people that we stayed. Locals used to say that if it’s within your destiny to live in Hawai’i, the islands would embrace you; otherwise, they would spit you out. Luckily for us, it was in our stars to build a home on Maui and to experience how much Ohana means to them. Lilo and Stitch were right; nobody gets left behind. I initially wanted to stay in Hawai’i forever because its people are so beautiful, and it is probably due to the Hawaiians' core beliefs, but also related to a highly multicultural mix. The highlight of my week was when we would go to the Buddhist temple on Sundays (Hongwanji Mission), and it hurts me deeply that it all burned down during the Maui fires. 


The things we experienced in the land of aloha! I was ecstatic that my career was taking off, and I became an expert on the unique aloha-style marketing while working for the Honua Kai Resort and Spa (before it became Outrigger). Val found his first job as a pastry chef at the Grand Wailea, but took a break during the pandemic to work at Maui Bees (a bee farm) in Kula. He LOVED it more than any other job, and little did we know that our dream to work with bees would become our life project in the Community of Valencia. I had already fallen in love with them since 2010 while working for the environment, read how.

We will continue to share with you more about our family, because we hope that by learning about our personal experiences, you will understand our business and why it would be wonderful to work with us. 

We have wandered in different places, but we have always known where we are and why. The main reason has always been our family’s well-being, and after all this time, we have finally found our permanent home in Alicante.


 
 
 
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