Guammy McGuamerton: November 2008

We went to Pohnpei. It was relaxing. Peaceful too. Its a small island. The people are pretty nice and welcoming. Its very lush. And clean too. There are a number of hotels and tourists but in some of the rural areas white people are not seen too often as evidenced by some of the blank stares we received. We stayed at a bungalow style resort which exceeded our expectations. The food was fantastic and cheep and the hilltop location provided a great locale to just sit and read all day while having a nice breeze and overview of the island and its outer reefs. We mostly ate and hiked and snorkeled and lounged around, but also got to talk and listen to peoples views on everything from Obama to Betel Nut.

Highlights from this trip include but are not limited to:

Swimming with Manta Rays:
Their mouths are quite large, they could for sure swallow you whole, good thing they only eat brine and plankton. We were really lucky to snorkel with them, there were about 8 or 9 rays with about an 8-10 foot wingspan. They were pretty friendly and didn't seem to mind us being there. Along with the rays were a huge school of fish (thousands maybe) that have a symbiotic relationship with the manta rays by feeding on the little particles on their skin. Unfortunately the fish attract the sharks, but we were told time and again that the sharks on Pohnpei are all vegetarians. Ha. Yeah, well, they didn't eat us at least, but we were really close to them and it was a bit nerve racking since they were right up on the surface with us with their dorsal fins sticking out of the water all jaws like. We were there with this couple from Guam who are both in the Navy. He was a Seal and pretty aquatic and swimming all over the place so we were convinced that the sharks would go for him first since he was all free diving below them and acting like Steve Erwin. It was fun and worth it though because it was so memorable to be so close to such big creatures and to feel like we were just silent observers while nature does its thing.

Trying to take an Toyota Echo off roading:
We rented a car with the intention of finding a waterfall that was listed in our ten year old lonely planet. It wasn't there, but we did manage to get our car stuck in the mud and narrowly escaped being hacked to pieces by the kids in the jungle wielding machetes. Actually they were really shy and were just surprised to see two whiteys stroll upon them while they were collecting their fire wood. We never made it to the waterfall but it was a good hike if only to get lost in the woods for a bit.

Betel Nut and Sakau Root:

Pretty much everyone in the islands, man and woman alike, chew on betel nut, it's a cross between chewing tobacco and smoking. Its an addictive nut that turns your teeth red. Awesome. The guys on my soccer team even chew it while playing. Most islanders get hooked on betel nut as opposed to smoking because its cheaper(cigarettes don't grow on trees after all) and you can see people trading cigarettes in exchange for all sorts of things since they need the tobacco to chew the nut as well. The typical way of digesting betel nut is to crack the seed in two, pour half a cigarette of tobacco into the middle, add a little dry coral lime powder then wrap it all up in a pepper leaf and suck on it for a few hours. The entire process involves a lot of spitting and chewing. You know you've succeeded when your teeth turn red and are constantly spitting all over the place. Good times. Many of the islanders are open about how they are upset that they are addicted and wish they never started chewing it. Which prompted Vic and I to patent the betel nut patch to help ween would be islanders off their indigenous narcotic. It didn't take off. From what I gather its a love hate relationship for some but also quite popular to say that you wished you weren't addicted while not really ever wanting or intending to quit. Its almost a rite of passage and in chewing it you are saying to the world that you are local and grew up on the islands and it seems like those that chew it are proud of it and belong to some sort of self appointed social class that mainlanders can't belong to or understand. Just my perceptions, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not. Smells like Iocaine powder, I'd bet my life on it.

Conversely, one of their more interesting and unique customs is the Sakau Root. It is grown by every boy on Pohnpei and nurtured for years until it matures. Like a fine wine, the longer it ages the better and more potent it becomes. All young boys grow this root if they ever want to get married. When a boy asks for a girls hand in marriage, he presents his best Sakau Root to the girls father, if he accepts it then the marriage is on. To drink Sakau, you grind the root into a pulp like state, then squeeze out any moisture with hibiscus bark and then mix it with either juice or water. Drink it and your body turns numb. It has the consistency of drinking mud and has the same effects as smoking pot, I'm told. Its similar to drinks found on Hawaii and Fiji. On the plus side, most people in the islands are pretty relaxed due to consuming Sakau and when they are out and about they are calm and quiet due to the roots effects as opposed to being loud and rowdy like they they might be if they went to bars that serve alcohol.

Nan Madol:

Once referred to as the Venice of the Pacific. Now its reduced to about a million basalt stones jumbled in every which way imaginable. Some structures are still visible, but its mostly all destroyed and in ruins. Nan Madol was once a city built on water and even today its pretty amazing to look at and wonder how they could possible construct it without modern tools and equipment. Many theories exist ranging from hundreds of boats and thousands of slave laborers to black magic and levitation techniques (see coral castle). No one is really sure how they made this city in the middle of the Pacific but its quite impressive to this day. Much like Stonehenge, Easter Island and the Pyramids, the structures at Nan Madol make it clear that a very intelligent and prosperous society once existed here possessing lots of spare time and energy so as to complete such a vast project. At first I had no interest in spending one minute looking at a bunch of jumbled stones on our trip to Pohnpei, but our guides were really informative and it turned out to be pretty cool to kayak through the ruins.