What follows is a picture essay of a day trip we took this past weekend. The wife of one our Peace Corps Response colleagues landed on Pohnpei for the holidays. Since she is not a Peace Corps volunteer, she could rent a car. And, with a car, we had the luxury of touring the entire island at our leisure, stopping and starting where we wished and exploring areas we had not yet had the opportunity to see.
Our first stop was Liduduhniap Falls. It is relatively close to Kolonia Town, but is located up an isolated road that ventures relatively far into the island’s mountainous interior. It was of particular interest to us because another Peace Corps Response Volunteer, working with the Tourist Bureau, had won and administered a grant to improve accessibility to the falls. Completed just a few months ago, the grant financed the construction of a new path to the falls and a new nahs (shelter) at its base. We were impressed.
Along the road to the falls:
Our first stop was Liduduhniap Falls. It is relatively close to Kolonia Town, but is located up an isolated road that ventures relatively far into the island’s mountainous interior. It was of particular interest to us because another Peace Corps Response Volunteer, working with the Tourist Bureau, had won and administered a grant to improve accessibility to the falls. Completed just a few months ago, the grant financed the construction of a new path to the falls and a new nahs (shelter) at its base. We were impressed.
Along the road to the falls:
At the falls:
From the falls we headed clockwise around the island, with the ocean on our left and the mountains to our right. Lin and I have taken this route many times, visiting all the schools around the island. It was fun, however, to show the island to a new visitor.
On the left, coastline:
On the left, coastline:
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| Much of the island is surrounded by mangrove swamp. |
On the right, mountains:
We ate lunch at what remains of the Pacific Agricultural and Technical School, a vocational school run by the Jesuits from the 1960s to the mid-1990s. Unfortunately, the school was closed not long after its chief advocate and fund-raiser died. Some of the campus continues to be used for programs such as Peace Corps' training of new recruits, but most of it is abandoned. Our colleague John actually taught here for several months when he was a Peace Corps volunteer in 1970. Sad to see such an imposing complex deteriorate. There are many such examples around the island—not sure why.
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| The main classroom building at PATS |
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| The chapel As suggested by the pictures, the route around the island is a relatively good two-lane blacktop road with numerous small one-laners leading short distances to the coast or into the interior. These rarely go more than a mile or two before running into the ocean or up against inaccessible high elevations. Unfortunately, the shoulders of all roads end up being the final resting place for numerous cars, driven until they pull over and die. By our standards, many of the homes suggest pretty severe poverty. That said, the climate is so warm and the communities so family-based, the need for the warm secure structures we are used to is far less pronounced. |
Lots of churches:
And Lin would not let any of us forget the flowers:
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| Breadfruit |
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Micronesia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Micronesia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez