Some vacationers soak up sun on beaches with white or black sand. Not far away, divers suit up for a deep dive to get up close and personal with a variety of denizens of the deep. Other people check out a surreal moonscape of hardened pitch-black lava, then hike through a lush tropical rainforest.  …

Just as the queasiness in my stomach from the continuous onslaught of curves and cutbacks along the narrow uphill road began to subside, we rounded yet another 180-degree bend. The first waterfall with whipped-cream waters dripping down deep-creviced cleavages appeared by the roadside, its beauty washing away all my remaining reservations. It was the first…