Yesterday
Janae, Neyla and I headed off for a 6-day adventure to a small and isolated
island in Micronesia called Kosrae.
The island is not at all like Majuro. It is not a series of tiny flat islands, but a mountainous
island with beautiful dense rainforests.
The island was such that there was no room for an airport, so a small
reef island was built off the northeast coast to accommodate an international
airport. Believe it or not, this
airport was even smaller than the Majuro airport. There was a tiny 8x10 room where customs checked you in and
then the baggage claim room was about the size of a large hotel room. When you left these tiny rooms and
opened the doors you felt like you were in the show Lost or in the movie
Jurassic Park. There seemed to be
little or no modern development and the jagged mountains and cliffs were draped
in bright green jungle trees and plants.
I had never seen anything like it.
Our
hosts who own the pristine and natural Pacific Treelodge Resort greeted us at
the airport and drove us on the small canopied road around a few tiny villages
and dwellings to the east side of the island to our home for the next 6
days. The Lodge was built into an
amazing mangrove just across the tiny road from a magnificent bay. Our room was nice and clean and tropical,
but the best part of this Micronesian gem of a lodge was the restaurant. There was a narrow bridge that was
built through the mangrove rainforest and on it was a small sign labeled,
“restaurant.” As we walked through
the mangrove across this bridge you were transported to a swampy mangrove with
beautiful trees and plants and after about 100 yards of the bridge was a
beautiful canal whose depth fluctuated by the rising and sinking tides. The restaurant was built as a sort of
massive pier above the mangrove and canal and with an incredible view of two
lush mountain peaks. It was
undoubtedly one of the best views I had ever seen.
After
we had lunch at this beautiful place, we ventured for a walk to Lelu
Village. Lelu village was one of
the 5 small villages on Kosrae.
The people there were warm and welcoming and offered to help us find our
way. The green natural beauty of
the village was a breath of fresh air from over-crowded Majuro. Along our walk we saw several local
fishermen with nets and spears, Peace Corps volunteers jogging, local women
cutting down the tiny native bananas and the “Sleeping Lady of Majuro.” This “woman” can be seen in the
mountains of the island. The
horizon of the mountains of the island appeared as if there was a gigantic
woman lying down on her back. The
ancient legend of the island says that originally the gods had put a man there,
but that only a woman could birth a nation of people. So, the gods put a woman to watch over the island.
A
gracious couple, Mark and Maria, owns our lovely Lodge. Maria is Italian by origin, but came
here 6 years ago as a diving tourist and decided to stay. She is incredibly kind and warm and
invited Neyla to an Easter Egg Hunt last night and then invited our whole
family to an Easter Saturday dinner.
It was delicious and a fantastic way to spend our first night in
Kosrae. The Kosraen staff at the lodge
are also incredibly kind. They offered
to watch Neyla while Janae and I ate and played with her, read to her and
allowed us to have a meal to ourselves.
The Micronesian people love babies and will always offer to watch your
baby, and as much as we love Neyla it’s nice to have a 10 minute break during a
meal every so often.
Today
is Easter Sunday here and we are having a nice quiet day. As it is in the Marshall Islands,
Sundays are truly days for rest where nothing is open. Our first 24 hours in Kosrae has been
magnificent and we are excited for the rest of our week.
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