Volcano, Big Island (Hawai'i Island), February 19, 2022

There is a rich cowboy culture on the Big Island.  With the exception of Kona, whose coastline is dotted with resorts, the Big Island is agriculture and a big part of that is the ranching industry.  The largest privately owned ranch in the United States is the Parker Ranch on this island.  It is not the only one, and together all those ranches provide beef to all the Hawai'ian Islands and can still profitably sell beef overseas, primarily to the continental U.S and Canada.  Captain George Vancouver gave King Kamehameha I eight cattle in 1794.  From those eight, fifty years later, herds of wild cattle had become a scourge.  King  Kamehameha III had three vaqueros from Mexico come to the Big Island to control and monetize the herds.  When these vaqueros, and subsequent ones that followed, said they were "español" it was hawai'ianized to "paniolo".  The paniolos in Hawai'i have developed their own culture around their cowboy traditions.  Sandy and I immersed ourselves in some of that Paniolo Culture today by attending the Pan'ewa Stampede Rodeo.  This rodeo has all the standard events that you would expect on the mainland with a couple of extra events that just the paniolos invented, the Po'o Wai U and the Hula Hula Bull Bowl (required audience participation).  We enjoyed ourselves watching the participants, watching the attendees and eating some rodeo food.

This is the Hula Hula Bull Bowl, Note the contestant already lying on his back (pushed out of the pen by the bull).

This is the Po'o Wai U.  To simulate the vaquero's work in the rainforest.

My favorite, the double mugging.  In this case it looks like the cowboys were mugged.