I have had the great good fortune of meeting a couple of American teachers at PICS H.S. who are on Pohnpei as part of the “World Teach” program. A.J. is both an English teacher and the Field Director for the other 7 or 8 teachers on the Island; Kathryn is a teacher in the math department. Both are finishing up their year here and will leave in late June. In the meantime, however, they have volunteered to take me to some places of interest on the Island before they leave. They are both from the Buffalo area and graduated from Geneseo. This is A.J.’s second tour on Pohnpei. He is committed to doing development work worldwide and has applied for a director’s job in some sort of health-related global initiative in Myanmar (Burma). Kathryn is heading back to Buffalo for graduate work in mathematics at UB.
Today’s hike was to Pahntakai Waterfall in the province of U. As in the past, once you turn off the main road you are entering someone’s private property and need to pay a fee ($3/person) to continue. After about a mile’s drive, we left the vehicle and hiked for maybe another 20 minutes to the waterfall. The hike was fairly level with some minor ups and downs. The only challenge was the wet, sometimes muddy foot path with some pretty steep drop-offs on one side. The pictures show the waterfall. Also of interest were the large caves embedded in a steep concave wall over which the waterfall cascaded. When they were there previously, A.J. and Kathryn were told that it is customary to lay a palm frond onto a pile to honor the setting—or something. So, we did.
This was a nice hike with good company. Not only do these two have a year’s worth of knowledge about Pohnpei, they also shared some valuable insights into PICS High School. I’m hoping for a couple of more outings before they leave next month.
Today’s hike was to Pahntakai Waterfall in the province of U. As in the past, once you turn off the main road you are entering someone’s private property and need to pay a fee ($3/person) to continue. After about a mile’s drive, we left the vehicle and hiked for maybe another 20 minutes to the waterfall. The hike was fairly level with some minor ups and downs. The only challenge was the wet, sometimes muddy foot path with some pretty steep drop-offs on one side. The pictures show the waterfall. Also of interest were the large caves embedded in a steep concave wall over which the waterfall cascaded. When they were there previously, A.J. and Kathryn were told that it is customary to lay a palm frond onto a pile to honor the setting—or something. So, we did.
This was a nice hike with good company. Not only do these two have a year’s worth of knowledge about Pohnpei, they also shared some valuable insights into PICS High School. I’m hoping for a couple of more outings before they leave next month.
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