Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Continuing straight brings you to the diminutive bluffs overlooking the batik blues of
Onomea Bay. Hawaiian monk seals sighted here.
Eating & Drinking
What's Shakin'
HEALTH FOOD, TAKEOUT $
(
964-3080; smoothies $6; 10am-5pm)
If you are doing the Pepeʻekeo 4-Mile
Scenic Drive, either begin or end it here, near its northern terminus. While this charming
yellow cottage looks innocuous enough, it sits on 23 acres of organic farmland, and
pumps out fantastic homemade food, along with killer smoothies. The fish wraps are to
die for, the help priceless.
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Hilo
POP 41,000
Hilo is the beating heart of the Big Island. Hidden beneath its daily drizzle lies the most
fertile soil, a world dedicated to all that is unique, natural, holistic, organic, local, person-
al and artistic. The result is the social version of a botanical garden, where the endless
color, variety and downright quirkiness of all forms never ceases to amaze. No single
word captures this special phenomenon, which applies to people, products and establish-
ments alike: 'Hiloism' will do.
Perhaps this ongoing celebration of life's boundless creativity has something to do
with the local demographics. Like other former sugar towns in Hawaii, Hilo is a diverse
mix of Native Hawaiians, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Portuguese, Puerto Ric-
ans and Caucasians, many of them descended from plantation workers. Or perhaps it also
has to do with living on the edge. Knocked down by two tsunamis, threatened with ex-
tinction by Mauna Loa lava flows (most recently in 1984), and subject to the highest an-
nual rainfall in the USA, Hilo knows more than most that life is a gift from the gods and
you can see it in the vivacious attitude of the locals.
