|
Hilo
|
|
|
Although it's the Big Island's capital, and largest town, just 45,000 people live in
HILO
, which remains endearing and unpressured. Mass tourism has never taken off here; basically it rains too much. However, the rain falls mostly at night, and America's wettest city blazes with tropical blooms, set against a backdrop of rainbows.
Hilo has always been at the mercy of fire and water. Cataclysmic
tsunami
killed 96 people in April 1946, and a further 61 in May 1960. Countless lava flows have also threatened to engulf it; in 1881 Princess Ruth summoned up all her spiritual power to halt one on the edge of town, while in 1984 another flow stopped just eight miles short. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
|
United States,
|