Pure Hawaii: Hilo

Hilo is not your typical tourist town. It has some souvenir shops and a handful of restaurants, but nothing overly "touristy or kitschy" - compared to Kailua-Kona or Lahaina. It's a much more "authentic" Hawaiian town, a little run-down, with some people living on the streets, but somehow with its own flair.

Its historic buildings (mostly from beginning of the 20th century) still show the wealth of the city, when sugar milling was an important industry. The Palace Theater or the Koehnen Building, where the Mokupapapa Discovery Center is located now, are good examples. This center (pics below) interprets the natural science, culture and history of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and surrounding marine environment, features a 3,500 gallon saltwater aquarium and interesting interactive exhibits, many of them about the contamination of the ocean and its dangers for fish and other creatures.


Hilo is the capital of the Big Island with about 45,000 people. Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, and Portuguese were recruited as contract workers on sugarcane plantations in the early days, and, many stayed in Hilo, and are nowadays responsible for a colorful cultural diversity and cuisine. The city's bayfront was twice destroyed by tsunamis and the city is in constant danger by the volcanos nearby. Situated on the rainy side of the island makes the Hilo district tropical and lush, with (rain)forests and waterfalls. Hilo is also considered the Orchid Capital of the world thanks to the climate. Lots of nurseries are therefore to be found in the town's outskirts.

Hilo Farmers Market is probably the best thing in Hilo downtown, especially colorful on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We went there and were surprised: half is artwork and handicraft, half is food, partly gourmet food (like special vinegars, honey, goat cheese, etc.) but, mostly, farmers from the countryside are selling their produce. And, for what a price!!! Couldn't trust our eyes to get three strawberry papaya for $ 2, about 10 bananas for $ 2,50, a banana bread for $ 2,50, a sack full of rolls for $ 3 and goat cheese for $ 6! Wish we would have had an apartment still to cook with all the different roots and veggies they were offering. And the variety of Avocados, considering the two (Hass and a brown variety) we are getting at home! We also tried some new (Hawaiian) lunch items (pic): "mochi" (sticky rice) or rice wrapped in taro leaves.

Spent some time there before we headed to closeby Coconut Island and Queen Liliuokalani Park - a nice public Japanese garden, and went to pay homage to the statue of King Kamehameha the Great again. Hilo doesn't feature as many huge hotel/resort complexes as other Hawaiian cities, isn't plastered with beaches and touristic offerings, but an "original" down-to-earth town where Hawaiians live.

In the evening, after our visit to the Botanical Garden (worth a separate blog post to follow), we stopped by at Honolii Beach Park to watch the surfers. High waves, but apparently not really the right ones for experienced surfers. Had a wonderful "market dinner" in the room (pic) with oranges and tangerines from our Inn's garden, before we went to work and watched the San Antonio Rodeo again.