The state of Hawaii is composed by several islands. Honolulu, the capital city of the state, is located at Oahu island. In 2014, I traveled with my family to Honolulu. We stayed at the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach. This is a beautiful hotel that is very well located. It is in Waikiki Beach, the most important beach of the city. In Honolulu it is possible to visit important sites such as the memorial to the Pearl Harbor attacks during the Second World War.
One day, we hired a tour though the biggest island of the state, the Island of Hawaii. We woke up very early in the morning and took the first flight from Honolulu to the city of Kona. We booked the flight and the tour separately. We just gave instructions to the tour operator to pick us up at the airport. It was much cheaper that way. When we arrived at Kona, the tour guide was waiting for us. It was not a private tour, so we were just in one of the several pick-up spots in the island.
After picking up several other people, the tour started. We first visited a candy factory and a beach with back sand. The factory was interesting, we got to see the process of production and we tasted some of the typical candies of the area. The beach was also very interesting. Due to the high volcanic activity in the area, the sand is black. There were also several turtles in the beach. This island is very special because it has several types of environments in it. There is a very big dessert with some volcanic craters. There is smoke coming out from some of the craters.
The tour also made a stop at one of the volcanic research centers. It was interesting to learn about the volcanic activity in the island. During lunch, we stop at a local restaurant where we ate a basic plate with rice, meat, and salad. Interesting was to taste the guava juice. They sell it in cans, and it have a particular flavor different from the guava juice that we usually drink in Colombia.
Another highlight of the tour was a stop at one of the rain forests of the island. Very big trees, a waterfall, and some very particular tunnels. Hidden in the woods, these tunnels were formed a lot of years ago due to lava flowing from the volcanos to the surface after a big explosion. Walking through those tunnels is very adventurous. At night, the bus tour took as again to the airport. We took the last flight back to Honolulu. It was a wonderful day trip.