Hilo Food + Waterfalls (Akaka Falls + Rainbow Falls) | Big Island Day 4

This is the thing I've been most excited for. Narrow and scary and there's rocks everywhere and you have to climb over things. Aloha from Hilo, Hawaii. We're going to be spending the next couple days exploring the eastern and the southern part of the island. We're going to eat some good food, we're going to check out some nature, and we're going to hit the town. But our first stop of the day is Akaka Falls. So you can pay $5 to park your car in the parking lot or you can park just outside and walk in for $1 per person. And then it's just a quick paved walkway to the waterfall. So we got on the paved part and there's a sign, you can go left straight to the falls, you can go right, which it says the suggested circle route. So, I don't know, it said suggested so it intrigued us. We'll take the scenic route. We're trying that way and it's just so, so lush and beautiful here. Yeah, it's crazy. In Kona they get about 25 inches of rainfall a year and on this side they get 125 inches. So it gives you a complete different perspective of the biodiversity of the island. Yeah, this is just such a lush and rainforesty part of the island. We're loving it so far. We made it! So this waterfall is 442 feet tall and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's a tad milk chocolatey today, but still really beautiful. One interesting thing we learned about it from the sign over there is there's a certain type of fish that is, I guess, laid at the top and then it flows down to the ocean, which is two and a half miles away. And then when it gets signal to come back, as in fresh water coming down, it swims back up to the bottom of the waterfall and then it has suction cups on its chest and it uses its fins to climb back up the... How tall? 400 something feet? 442 foot waterfall. It goes back up the waterfall. That's crazy. A fish can climb the waterfall. So on the way back from Akaka Falls State Park, I saw a sign that said scenic route and you have to take that every time you see that. So it's a long winding road. It's like lush overgrowth over the road and some ocean shots as you go. But we decided to stop at this little trail. We saw a bunch of cars parked and got to take it. Yeah, I kind of get Road to Hana vibes from this little scenic route. It's a lot of very just like lush forest, not a ton of views, but we saw people pulled over and we saw a beautiful ocean view. So we're going to check it out. It's called Onomea Bay. We'll put a pin to where it is below. These unexpected finds are the best. We just a short walk down here. The little rock beaches and the waves are crashing in. It's awesome. There are these cool trees that have stuff hanging. I don't know the official name of them, but they're beautiful. There's kind of this like rock peninsula you can go out on, but don't because the waves could get you. But you can stand in one part where it's safe and just watch the waves hit them. And there's kind of a blowhole too and waves are kind of coming up through that. It's really neat. This is the best part about Hawaii is just finding things that you weren't planning to find. Out of all of the delicious things we are eating on this trip, this is the thing I've been most excited for. The largest, I guess this is a dragon fruit bowl, but an acai type bowl I've ever seen in my entire life. So we're at a spot called Makani's Magic Pineapple Shack. I forgot the name for a second. But I saw this place years ago when we had thought we were coming to the Big Island a couple years back, but we didn't. And ever since then, I've been dying to come here. This is really cute, kind of like tiki bar vibe on the inside. And they have tons of different bowls to choose from. So we got the dragon fruit bowl and it's falling apart right now. It's melting. So I better eat it fast. But it's dragon fruit. There's coconut, granola, other fruits. And we paid extra to get the pineapple bowl just because it looked really cool. So that's okay. It looks awesome. I'm glad we paid extra for it. But you don't have to get the pineapple bowl. We are sharing it because it's so massive. And I better eat it before it all falls apart. We don't get to enjoy it. Mmm. So, so good. We haven't had a dragon fruit or a pitaya, I think is what it's typically called, bowl on this trip yet. So delicious. It's pretty warm and humid out. So it's the best. Oops. It is just the best treat. Oh, this is so good. And it's so beautiful. I had a casualty. I knew wearing a white shirt was not a smart idea eating this colorful bowl. And in typical Catherine fashion, I spilled on myself. But nothing a little water bottle can't fix. Another meal, another stain. If anyone out there is feeling generous and wants to get her a bib, please send it. Please send help. I need a permanent bib that I just wear. Or maybe I should never own a white shirt. So we're just wandering around the town of Hilo, which we learned is the oldest city in the Hawaiian archipelago. And I'm really loving Hilo so far. So we spent some time in Kona and now we're in Hilo. And it just feels more local, like old Hawaiian feel. There's a lot of really old buildings, colorful buildings, boutiques. It just has a much more authentic feeling to me. So I'm really enjoying it so far. One of the big must-see things that we heard we needed to do here in Hilo is check out the Hilo Farmer's Market. They say that Wednesdays and Saturdays are the best days for the market. It's when there are more vendors at the market. And today is Wednesday. We intentionally planned our day in Hilo to be Wednesday so we could go check it out. Hopefully eat some yummy things. I don't know. Our first purchase at the Farmer's Market. We got a big old bag of fruit. So we got some rambutans, which a woman at the grocery store yesterday told us we needed to try while we were here. And then we got these little guys. Longans or longans. Something like that. So the woman showed me how to eat it, so I did try it. It was very good. But Adam has not tried it yet. Yeah, I'm excited. And neither of us have tried one of these furry little guys. I wanted to try something different I've never tried before. Yeah, the woman at the grocery store said that they have a lot of really good tropical fruits here that we should try. So, branching out. I believe you just... There you go. Oh, that's like a thin skin. Yeah, that was super easy to undo. And it's very hairy looking. They both have like a white center. Yeah. Apologize if I'm doing this incorrectly. So the other one had a seed in the middle. This one doesn't look like it does. No, it kind of looks like it. I don't know. It's a little bit... Looks like there's something in there. Gonna give it a shot down the hatch? Mm-hmm. That's a seed. I think I went... I took too big of a bite. How's it taste? It's good. It's not super strong. Oh, you went all in on it. Maybe that's how you're supposed to do it. I really don't know. Sorry, guys. This is unique to us. It's good, though. It's like... It's not super sweet. It's just juicy. It's juicy and like... In my teeth. Like a stiffer jello. I don't know. It's kind of like a really firm grape on the inside. It has the same kind of texture as the inside of a grape. It's very clear and juicy. It's like a gelatinous texture. I don't know. It's good. I like it. I feel like people just get a big bag of these and just snack on them. Yeah. This whole bag, by the way, was $3, which is awesome. She made it look so much nicer when she did it. Yeah. So this one looks like it's really similar, but not furry on the outside. It has real thin skin. I already had it, so it's all you. Careful of the seed. This one's juicier than the other one. Yeah. It's kind of just sweet and juicy. I really liked it. I want to take them home and put them in the fridge. Yeah. We'll take these bad boys. It'll be even better cold, I think. Eat them. Snack on them later. Lots of fruit now. So they have a couple different areas of the market. They have the main area that has a lot of the produce. They have an area that has more clothing items, paintings, things of that nature. Yeah. They also have a very small indoor food market. It has maybe like three stalls. Yeah. But in the outdoor produce area, I found some tamales. Getting my first whiff of that. Dang it. Some Peruvian-style tamales. And there's this green sauce on top that I think she said is just a ton of garlic and parsley. And it smells so good. I love garlic. I'm one of those people that if it says four cloves of garlic, I put in 20. So this smells right up my alley. Man, this looks really good. It does look good. I got the chicken one. Yeah. Mmm. That's really tasty. I'm really having a hard time getting this to stick on the fork. Mmm. Yeah, that sauce is good. That sauce is so... The sauce is boss. I got what's called poke balls. So it looks like it's like a ball of rice. I want to say it's like a wonton, fried wonton on the outside. And then this is aji tuna with it looks like the furikake and some kind of sauce. So let's crack her open. It does look pretty good. Excellent. Beautiful. So walking around the farmer's market, we found this other area that has three food trucks or stalls just under these trays. They have picnic stands. And I saw one, caught my eye. We got some pork belly. Bing, bang, boom. Okay, so it came like a big, in a big tub here with a bunch of rice on the bottom. Looks like some, these might be, they look like they'd be pickled, pickled veggies here. And then it looks like they fried, it is fried, fried pork belly. So let's get a little bit of everything in there. Some rice, some veggies, and the pork belly. Oh, it's super crunchy. I heard a crunch. Super crunchy. It's delicious. Our final stop in Hilo is Two Ladies Kitchen. It's this small confectionery that we literally walked right past and we had to turn around and come back to it. But we have heard that they have really good mochi. So we got this cute little box. They even put a little bow on it for us with a few different options to try out. Yeah, we got four strawberry mochi. What was this one? Oh, sweet potato. Yes. And then two of these butter mochi. They look like bread, but. They look really good. Can't open this. It's a small little place on the inside. You just order at the counter and then they go back and they put it all together for you. They have a ton of options. It was really hard to pick. You can see them in the back making it and everything. Okay. Here we go. I've unraveled. Alright, I'm going to try the strawberry one first. They're not cold. They're like room temp. It's huge. They are heavy. It's like a weight. Alright, so we actually have had strawberry mochi at the Richmond Night Market, which is right by Vancouver, British Columbia. Yep. Highly recommend going to that market if you're ever in the area. I think it's from May to October, so it's not in season right now, but there are so many delicious foods to try out. I think we tried nine places when we went, so. Yeah, it's crazy busy, so be prepared to like battle through. Yeah, a lot of people, a lot of good food. Yeah. Kind of expensive, but delicious. Worth it. This is so soft. Oh my gosh. That was way too big of a bite. Mmm. It's so soft. It melts in your mouth. Yeah, I'm not a mochi expert, but. This is really good. The strawberry is so juicy, so when I bit in, it was really soft, and then it was just strawberry juice, and there's the red bean paste too, right? Yeah, it's the mochi on the outside, the red bean paste, and the strawberry in the middle. That is really good. Don't take as big of a bite as me. It got like stuck in my mouth. This guy right here is the. Sweet potato. Sweet potato one. It's heavy as well. Much smaller. Has another name with it, but. Yeah? Mmm. You can definitely taste the potato. That's potatoey in the middle. That's really good. I'm digging this. Can you have that one? I can't have this one, but you can. It looks like a blondie brownie. Yeah, here's the butter mochi. If you didn't know it was mochi, it just looks like bread. I think it is though. I don't know. We'll Google. We'll Google later. We didn't prepare. It's like a chewy bread. Chewy butter bread. Eh, whatever. I'll have a bite. It has like that same mochi flavor, right? Whoa. Kind of tastes like a blondie brownie, the blonde version of brownies, but it's very like soft and pillowy and kind of chewy. It's just like the mochi on the outside of the strawberry one. This is really good. Our next stop is a spot very close to the town of Hilo. I think it was about a 10 minute drive or so called Kaumana Caves. In 1881, there was lava flow from Mauna Loa, which formed this lava tube that you can now walk in, which is pretty cool. Yeah, it's free to enter, free to park. There's a tiny parking lot across the road. Just walk across and it's about 20 miles long. I don't think you can go all the way, so we're just going to go a little bit, but it says there's no paved way and there's no light, so you might want to bring a flashlight. Yeah, they say enter at your own risk, but it's totally legal. We really wanted to go to this lava tube at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park tomorrow, but unfortunately, you cannot access it anymore. So we found this spot, so we're going to go check it out. We've done one lava tube before at Mount St. Helens and it was really neat, but yeah, very dark, so bring a flashlight. So when you go down the stairs, we went to the cave that's on the left first. It's definitely a small one compared to what I think the one on the right is, which we'll check out next, but it's very dark in here. It's hard to see. It's hard to film because we can't see anything on the camera and it is pretty rocky and lava-y on the ground, so definitely wear some good shoes so you don't trip and fall. This one's definitely bigger. That's what she said. So we're in the second tube and once you get through the main entrance, the larger area, it gets so narrow. You have to crawl through here, which we're probably not going to do because we're not really wearing the right shoes. We don't have true flashlights with us because we weren't expecting to do this, but it looks really cool and scary. Cool. I'm good. I'm not a big cave person. I don't like the claustrophobia. I don't like when it gets super tight like this and this isn't even probably tight for most caves, but they're not for me. I really wish it was easier to film in here so we could show you what this looks like because it's unreal. It's narrow and scary and there's rocks everywhere and you have to climb over things and there's smooth-looking lava on the walls. It's really, really cool. So if you're in Hilo, come check this out. We've only been here probably 30 minutes or less and we're going to head out, but it's a quick stop, free, and if you're claustrophobic, maybe don't come here. I don't think you'd like it, but if you're not claustrophobic and you want something a little adventurous, this is pretty awesome. And just around the corner from the caves is Rainbow Falls. This is a much smaller waterfall than the one we went to earlier. I believe it's only 40 feet tall, but don't quote me on that. I'm not sure if I read that correctly, but so while it's shorter, it's wider looking from what I've seen online and it's just a nice quick little stop if you're in the area. They have a couple different viewpoints. It's park your car, walk on out. We like those. We here, it's called Rainbow Falls because if you come at a certain time of day, the mist from the waterfall and then the sun shining through the mist creates a rainbow, but I think we're a little late today. I think we're too late for the rainbow, but that's okay. Next time. It does look a little chocolate milky like the one from earlier, but that's okay. We don't discriminate on waterfalls. I love chocolate milk, so I don't know. I lied earlier. It's 80 feet tall. I was halfway there. So I was researching about Hilo last night and I read about Banyan Drive and in the 20s, 30s and 40s, lots of famous actors, celebrities, politicians, things like that came to Hilo and they planted a banyan tree to add to the city, I guess. And the one I wanted to see the most was George Herman Babe Ruth. So we're walking in the footsteps of the babe. I thought that was so cool. That's what I wanted to do. Only the greatest ever, the great Bambino, the Sultan of Swat. Some other notable people that have planted trees are Amelia Earhart and FDR and apparently this is known as the Hilo Walk of Fame. Another huge one I had no idea about, my man Bobby Jones, most famous amateur golfer and the guy who helped start Augusta National. I didn't know that was here. That's cool. And that is the end of our day here in Hilo. We had a lot of fun eating some delicious foods, exploring town, going to some waterfalls. It was probably one of my favorite days of the trip so far. It was just really diverse, lots of different things and jam-packed, which is how we like it. And we're back at our Airbnb now. We're just going to chill, relax, make some dinner and get ready for another big day tomorrow. Our Airbnb is super cool. It's a 1930s plantation style home. We'll link it below so you can check it out. It's old and quirky. It has all these little quirks to it. I just discovered another thing about the windows. I don't know. It's just got its cool little charms to it. There's a lot of character. Yeah. So we're going to gear up tonight and get ready tomorrow to go to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Woo! We'll see you then. Don't go chasing waterfalls. I tried really hard but I had to do it. I can't stop sinking in. I think it's more of a wider rushing flow. Oh, I don't like that word. Heavy flow. It's hard to not bite the stomach. That was on the way when we were shopping. Decided to take their... Smooth like baby's bottom.