Beer and Petroglyphs on the Big Island of Hawaii
I am currently in the great state of Hawaii, specifically the Big Island for a short trip. Since the island of Hawaii is, well, big, me and my mom - who I was travelling with – decided to stay on the western side of the island, given our limited amount of time. So no seeing volcanoes, waterfalls, or anything else based on the eastern side of the island. Instead we drove up and down the coast, visiting the three other national parks on the island (my favorite was Pu’uhanua O Honaunau, even if I got sunburned on the unintentional hike we took) along with other cultural and historic sites. Here are the three best, and, honestly, most random things on this short trip.
I pride myself on looking up breweries to visit any where I go, from Italy to Peru. I love beer and wine and think it’s a great way to get to know a place. And yet I had never heard of Ola Brew and Cider until the concierge suggested it. And I loved it.
Just getting there was an adventure. First off, you definitely have to drive – it’s close to a lot of other things but the only way to get there is pretty circuitous. The bar is pretty small, and they don’t have a kitchen yet so there was a sort of food truck in the parking lot (not a bougie city food truck, but a couple local guys cooking under a tent). The menu is only written on the chalk board behind the bar. I obviously don’t know for sure, but it felt local. It was chill, and of course the beer itself was great.
Puako Petroglyphs Archaeological Site
I honestly had no idea what to expect when I suggested this site to my mom. It’s one of the greatest concentrations of petroglyphs on the island, and no one is entirely sure what their purpose was. It also warned that it would be extremely hot, and water and sunscreen were absolutely necessary.
When we got there, there was a largely flat, albeit narrow trail, winding through the oddest copse of trees I’ve been too. Most of the trees were dead, and the entire area was almost silent. There were some birds but other than that all I could hear was the ocean. It wasn’t creepy, but it felt like a setting my mind conjured for fairy tales.
The trail was less than a mile, and then you hit the petroglyphs.
Most were clearly human shaped, probably male, carved into smooth lava rock. Oddly, all of them were carved so their heads were in the direction of an inland mountain, and the greatest concentration of carvings were on the part of the lava closest to the mountain. My personal and totally baseless theory is that they were carved by people upon the completion of the journey to the spot, or some ritual that took place nearby.
Now, for the record, I hate coffee. I don’t drink it and am happy being a confirmed tea drinker. So why a coffee farm? Well, my mom really wanted to go to a coffee farm – we were in Kona after all – and I figured it would be interesting if nothing else.
It’s hard to call this a tour because there was just us and the woman who worked there explaining all about their operation. And I mean everything. All the steps to just get green coffee (the stuff before its roasted), the coffee trees, and all the machinery they use. But it was more than just that – she explained why they use certain machines for different steps, the Department of Agriculture certification process, and about a bore beetle that is decimating the Kona coffee crop. It was the most straightforward, honest, and just real tour I’ve probably ever been on.
So if you ever find yourself on the Big Island, do the top stuff, sure, but maybe add one of these or some other unexpected thing to your trip. It might end up being the most fun thing you do.
