‘Round Kolonia Town

From Lin:

Much of what we see as we walk about in Kolonia Town can’t adequately be put into words.   The pictures do a much better job.

That being said, I will let the picture do most of the talking, but I can’t resist a few comments about a few of my favorite things.

First…the dogs.  I am a dog person.  Leaving Digger for a year has been really hard for Roger and me.  Dogs in Pohnpei are not pets.  They wander freely everywhere, and they have little interest in people.  Most of the female dogs show evidence of the last bunch of puppies, and male dogs all seem ready to pounce.  There seems to be no such thing as neutering here.  The dogs are thin and unhealthy looking…I wish I could help every one of them.

Then there are the pigs.  We went for a walk last Sunday down a street we hadn’t been on before.  We heard pigs grunting (I think it was feeding time) right there in town in a pen in someone’s side yard (along with the abandoned cars).  No zoning in Kolonia.

Posted on a bulletin board outside a grocery store.  Hope the pig didn't see it....

I can’t leave out the chickens and roosters.  These guys are free ranging just about everywhere, and some of them are really quite colorful.  And, of course, we hear the roosters crowing all day long.

From Roger:

Lin notices the critters; I will note the buildings, street scenes, and occasional oddities.  As Lin said, zoning is not a concept that has caught on here.  There is little distinction between commercial and residential, between wealthy and less so. 

There are two main streets in Kolonia Town, Kapwar E Sou and Kaselehlie.  Most of the larger hotels and businesses are on or just off these two.  At one end of Kaselehlie is the Spanish Wall; at the other end the Pohnpei State Offices.  At the south end of Kapwar E Sou is Ace Hardware and the U.S. Embassy; at the other end the causeway to the airport.

Kaselehlie Street

Fish for sale near the water on Kapwar E Sou

Pohnpei State government offices

Our street - Daini Sreet - with our apartment on the right and Daini Baseball Field on the left.

Containers (from Container Ships) are all over the place and have been repurposed into all sorts of buildings.  Often times they form the basis for the many small Mom and Pop grocery/convenience stores.

And then there are the few oddities I find amusing, from the “Paradise Car Wash” located at the church next to our apartment to the island’s love for Spam—not the internet type, but the real thing!