Federated States of Micronesia Travel Page by jorgejuansanchez

YAP is the most traditional island in Micronesia. Women walk half naked in the streets and enter the supermarkets, and all men, scarcely dressed with loincloths, carry always with them a straw bag containing hundreds of betel nuts that they masticate and spit everywhere, every time. In Colonia, capital of Yap, I saw stone money in a bank in the street. With those stones of aragonite (calcium carbonate) snatched from the Rock Islands of Palau, locals can buy possessions or pay as dowry to get married. Today they have been devaluated owing to an Irish adventurer of the XIX century, David Dean O’Keefe, who extracted larges quantities of them and became rich; he even bought an island (named O’Keefe!) in front of Colonia and got married to a native girl. I tried to visit a small island called Rummung, but the chief did not allow me to enter, and even refused my matrioshka, for being a foreigner from another “island”. For them, everybody lives in an island. One week later I flew to Pohnpei.

CHUUK is a paradise for divers because of the many Japanese warships sunk during the WWII in its lagoon, the greatest of the world. Looking for a convenient bower where to spend the night I met some foreigners who invited me to share their dormitory. They were Peace Corps, or very nice Americans who teach English to the natives. But after two days I got bored in Chuuk; diving and snorkelling was indifferent to me. I heard that in the other side of the lagoon there was an island called Tol where the natives play the flute with the nose, but my economy situation had reached the top bottom level, and to eat I had to climb the trees to catch coconuts. Furthermore, I was in typhoon season, it rained every day and the mud made me walk with difficulty. Without realizing it, my mind started to machinate: “Rain rain, mud mud, hungry hungry, rain rain, mud mud, hungry hungry, food inside the airplane! food inside the airplane!” And then I walked to the airport to take the next plane to Pohnpei.

POHNPEI is the oddest island in Micronesia. It has the enigmatic ruins of Nan Madol, erected with blocks of basalt weighing up to 50 tons. Nobody can explain yet how they were cut from the quarry, transported for kilometres and erected in a perfect way forming 92 islets. The nature in Pohnpei is fabulous; you do not feel in a small island but in the centre of a continent because of the high mountains and the powerful rivers. Indeed, if King Kong would exist in Pohnpei he would feel at home. There are five kingdoms in Pohnpei: Kiti, Sokehs, Net, U, and Madolenihmw, and their kings have power in politics. I hitchhiked to surround the island when the President of the country picked me up! He was going to the funeral of the Queen of Kiti and invited me. I willingly accepted. The King was sad, dejected. I gave him a matrioshka as my condolences and he, in correspondence, offered me a head of dog for lunch, but I gently declined and ate an omelette instead. Some weeks later I flew to Kosrae.

KOSRAE. I landed one Friday in Kosrae and tried to visit the island when I was severely admonished. In Kosrae, Friday is a Green Day and everyone, even foreigners, have to do any ecological work such as planting, cleaning the beach, etc. I agreed and entered a garden with some natives. When they observed me climbing up the trees and collecting tangerines with enthusiasm, they were satisfied and let me alone. Luckily they did not catch me eating the tangerines and hiding the best and juicier in my bag for the dinner. Afterwards I was invited by the community of Utwe to the rite of Sakau, also called Kava in Melanesia. It consists in a narcotic drink obtained from the root of the pepper and served in a coconut cup. When you are given the cup you have to drink only a little and pass it over to another member. First time I did as the Georgian “tamada”, who before drinking says a gracious toast, but noticing that it was not appreciated I did not repeat it. Some days later I flew to Majuro.

This is a stone money bank in the street!