Freebies

The word, “freebies”, has a cheap sort of connotation. We didn’t think of it quite that way. Rather it was more like experiencing a taste of what the area had to offer. We started of the day with a very informative guided walk through the Rain Forest. For just over an hour, our guide, J J was a pleasant mixture of gabby and chatty and seemed to know a lot about more than just the native flora. The Nialahue Center continues to reclaim several acres from the onslaught of invasive species being introduced and in turn gives visitors a glimpse of what Paradise was like before we began introducing our “ornamentals”. Every third Thursday a group of volunteers wanders through their little parcel of heaven to rip out what doesn’t belong. Then it was off to the Volcano Winery to sample six of the local varieties which included a Macadamia Honey wine which was tasty enough to convince us that we just had to have a couple bottles along with a couple more of their Symphony Mele ( which means Merry in Hawaiian). The sampling gave us quite a buzz on an empty stomach so the next stop was to the Hilo Coffee Mill where they treated us to samples of three different roasts along with a very informative narration about the growth, harvest and care of the “cherries” from tree to the grind. We watched as a freshly roasted batch of beans came out of the oven into the cooling pan. What an aroma filled the place. Our hostess felt the smell was similar to a burnt batch of cookies and I could almost understand why. The beans are at just over 400 degrees when they are dumped onto a room temperature stainless steel tray and stirred ( not shaken ) for five minutes. The snap and crackle could be heard way across the room. Having learned much about our morning brew, we then headed off to the Pana’ewa Rain Forest Zoo. Sadly, the zoo and it’s exhibits had seen better days so we didn’t stay long. I’m glad we didn’t pay to be this disappointed. The bright spot of the place was a mature Peacock which we spotted as we were leaving.