Kosrae's beauty

I have to say today was Kosrae at it’s best. The morning started off B.E.A.U.tiful. No humidity, hot sun, blue skies, it was an awesome sight to wake up to. We went to work as usual and it started raining. When we finished work, we came outside to a nice breeze with no rain. We had plans to see Kosrae’s mangrove and then head to the happy hour over at the next hotel to join the other couple and locals for a few drinks. Then while at work, we were invited to the governor’s place to have dinner. We opted to miss the happy hour and still embark on the mangrove.

The mangrove is essentially the habitat Kosrae resides in and environment it thrives in.We were picked up by a local and his daughter to begin our journey. They were extremely nice and were great tour guides. He told many tales and legends of the island and his knowledge of the land cannot be captured by any picture or blog. That boat you see is hand carved and crafted. He took us into hidden river beds and bends that were so uniquely scenic. They say a picture says a thousand words, but no picture can do this sight any justice. So I decided to video record it instead. I can’t post videos on here and since bandwidth is an issue, I will show you all when I get home.

The clouds were rolling in but the sights were so breathtaking, I didn’t even care. As we proceeded out of the marina, I noticed something interesting: the water was shallow, regardless of how further out we went. There were times when we were barely floating above the bed of sand that our boat captain had to pull up the motor and use an oar to row is through the area. Luckily, I had my head on a swivel and captured this picture you see on the right. It’s so majestic to see the clouds through the jungle terrain that is close to you. It’s so mysterious and can’t help but feel like it evokes my imagination to think of the possibilities beyond my visibility. Perhaps this island of the sleeping lady is now awake and is covering up what she is doing. Or better yet it’s an alien invasion like in that memorable scene from “ID4.” Or even cooler would be if the smoke came from a dragon like in “How to train a dragon” (go nightfury!). At any rate, too cool.

I am doing a lot of things on this trip that I would never do at home. I’m not the first person to volunteer to eat fish yet the sashimi here is so amazing. Last night, I had dinner and the waiter had informed me he, literally, just caught the sashimi I was eating right before he began his shift. To describe it: best sashimi ever. This picture is a young coconut. I’m not a big coconut fan but the juice from this one was so sweet and didn’t taste like a gross coconut. This was a good coconut. I want more of this good coconut.

One of the tales our tour guide told us included one of this flower. We were at the mouth of a river bed that had dried out (we were in low tide). He said about 19 years ago, there was a Kosraean man who had asked his girlfriend to be his wife and move with him into the Kosraean Mountains. She said she would after she helped her family take care of an ill family member. The man went first to the mountain to settle in and found this unique flower. If you look closely, the flower is only half a one. Intrigued, he picked the flower to show his future bride who loved studying flowers. Tragically his fiancé had died because the tide had come in and drowned the entire village. Where her family house used to be, the very same plant was found by the man. He took his half of the flower, her half of the flower, joined them and spawned one flower that shows the union they were supposed to share. Also in the picture you see the plant’s fruits. Kosraean’s squeezed the extract into their eyes to see clearly. It is also said that the plant provides relief to those with trouble breathing. Our guide ends the story by saying the girl in the story was caring for her family member who had dyspnea.

Our trip ended when it started to rain. The entire mangrove was only 90 minutes or so but the climate change was so sudden. We went back to the hotel to change and got ready to attend the governor’s dinner. I wasn’t going to bring anything formal but luckily someone helped me pack and said I should bring jeans and a nice shirt (thank you to that person ;D).

The governor’s dinner was so cool. We, along with the team from Salinas, were honored guest to the governor, state assemblymen, and the other legislative officials. They had speeches and traditional food lined up for us. As you can see from my plate, it was a very traditional dinner. Also presented at the dinner, we received plaques! Mike and Lori both received one and even I got one. So cool, totally going up on the wall and bypassing the fridge. The other team’s leader gave a very heartwarming speech. I have it on video and my summary would not suffice or even reflect her emotion, passion or genuine care for her native Kosraean people (she works as an RN in Salinas). Shout outs to Betsy, James, Ryan, Nick, Sue, Nancy, and Melanie. Great job and congratulations on fulfilling your dream!

After the dinner, we actually made it out to the happy hour at the other hotel. Problem was there was no happy hour. That’s ok, we still had a good time. We ran into the people we saw yesterday and met a few new faces. The attorney general also came out to party with the locals. His English was perfect. So perfect, we had to ask where his education was. Turns out, he’s not even Kosraean. He’s from Oakland, California. Talk about a dub tee eff. He was a very bright, down to earth person who wanted to make a difference to Micronesia and was offered a position on Kosrae though he is from Chuuk (the third island we are going to visit). I wish we found out about this place sooner because the company totally made the place more awesome than our current hotel (though our hotel has VERY FEW bugs which is all the features I need to hear when picking a hotel). The place is called Bully’s and the owner is from Tennessee. His wife is Italian and they actually serve Italian food (tomorrow’s special is lasagna, fried eggplant and Italian soda if you were curious). No picture here because I left my camera in the car as it was getting late at night.

This is a purse. Shame on of all you who want those LV, Coach, Gucci bags or what not.

Tomorrow, we head out Pohnpei. This is the island where we sleep in those treehouse/bungalows. If you’re still unsure, please visit our hotel’s website www.thevillagehotel.com . That being said, I may or may not be able to blog. They do have wifi though so maybe I will be OK. Til the next update…