O'ahu - Very impressive at second sight

When I first arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii, I must admit I was shocked. Coming from Mexico, I was used to the sight of impoverished regions/neighborhoods where people lived in rather poor conditions. However, I had not expected to be confronted with the same picture in O’ahu. In my naïve imagination Hawaii consisted of beautiful palm beaches, turquoise waves with handsome surfers on top and an impressive volcanic scenery only.

Due to the fact that Hawaii is an island state there’s hardly any industry and most products have to be imported from the mainland or abroad. Hawaiians heavily rely on tourism and living expenses are high. This does not imply though that the majority of people can afford this lifestyle and is well off. Quite the contrary! When I was riding the bus to my accommodation in Waianae at the west coast, I had the impression that the majority of locals on O’ahu is elderly and in poor health condition (unfortunately a fact which is true for a lot of US states because of the expensive health care system). Moreover, I saw a lot of poorly constructed shacks and shanties along the main roads, parks and beach stretches where the homeless people live. This has become a serious problem for O’ahu as it has a negative effect on tourism. Rumor has it that other US states provided their homeless people with one-way tickets to Hawaii to get rid of them. This is what some of the locals told me, however, conducting some research online I could not find any proof of that. What I did find out is that there are so-called “relocation programs” which aim at solving the problem of homeless people in cities like NYC or San Francisco by handing out free bus tickets and sending them across the country back to places where they have some relatives or family.

Anyways, there is also the other side of the coin, and O’ahu offers a fantastic scenery with a very diverse countryside, great hiking trails and beautiful beaches. I discovered that I’m not really a beach person though. You will shake your head in disbelief but I went into the water only once during my entire stay on the island. 

Contrary to my host’s assertion, O’ahu is not really explorable by public transport. Nevertheless, I was able to see most of it because again I was very fortunate and blessed with great acquaintances. It is absolutely incredible but on my entire travels I’ve experienced that it always falls into place. At my accommodation in Waianae there was also another elderly couple from Hamburg who adopted me for the time being. They had hired a car and they took me with them on excursions around the island. They even gave me rides and picked me up at places that were hard to reach otherwise. It was with them that I spent the Christmas holidays and when it was time for me to leave, Michael accompanied me to the bus stop to make sure that I was on my way safe and sound.

I went hiking a lot, climbing five mountains in seven days. I desperately tried to get to the Haiku Stairs, better known by the name of “Stairway to Heaven”, but this is the only activity I failed in. No, actually, I don’t want to call it a failure. The Haiku Stairs are probably O’ahu’s most famous attraction. It is a steep hiking trail which is actually closed to the public making it all the more exciting to climb it illegally. I didn’t do that because apparently there are security guards, frequent police presence and a huge fine imposed for the violation of the law. I don’t have spare money for that ;-)

However, there is an alternative trail, the Moanalua Trail, which leads up the same mountain from the other side and from which you are supposed to reach the stairs at the top. This is what I attempted. Even though I consider myself to be in good shape it was a very rough hike. It was extremely muddy and slippery. For the most part, the trail led over the ridge with steep slopes on either side. There were multiple sections where you had to use a rope to climb up (and down on your way back). The views and the scenery were amazing on my way up. Unfortunately, I had started this hike too late. The ascend took longer than expected, about 4 hours, and by the time I had made it almost to the top, it was already 3:15 pm. Clouds and fog had started to block my view, creating a mysterious atmosphere, and I knew that I still had to make it down the slippery steep trail before sunset at 6 pm. Being very exhausted and tired, I slipped and fell a couple of times, and that was when I made the mature decision to turn around and start descending. I must have been very close to the Stairway to Heaven, but I didn’t make it. Viewing it positively, I’m obviously not ready to go to heaven yet.