Life in the Tropics
I’ve settled into a comfortable routine here on Kosrae. On Mondays, I go to town to stock up on provisions. The other days of the week, I do volunteer work. Since there’s no public transit and I don’t own a car (yet), I get around by hitch-hiking. Here’s an 11-minute music video that’ll show you what my commute looks like, as seen from the back of a pickup truck.
Along the way, I pass lots of little houses scattered through the forests of breadfruit, coconut and banana trees. Here are two of the prettier houses.
I also spend time in the mangrove swamps looking for ancient ruins. What does a mangrove swamp look like? Click on the video below and imagine yourself sitting in the bow of a small motor boat.
The mangroves are full of lively critters. In addition to the birds and fish, there are long black monitor lizards with yellow spots and orange mangrove crabs with sharp pinchers. The lizards are the predators. The crabs are their prey.
Watching lizards chase and chew crabs doesn’t bother me, but there are some animals that I don’t like to see die. Last week, a 5-meter Beaked Whale swam into the shallows between the reef and the shore. When the tide went out, people tried to push the whale back out to sea, but he wouldn’t go. He thrashed around in the shallows for about an hour and then died abruptly. All was not lost. He made many good meals for the local villagers.
Although turtle season ended on June 1st, it wasn’t unusual during May to hitch a ride in a pickup truck and share the truck bed with a turtle or two. The larger one shown here snapped at my toes. This was one time when I wished I was wearing shoes instead of flip-flops.
Kosrae is a very sociable place. There are lots of parties. This month, I was invited to two Filipino birthday celebrations. In the photo above, that’s a whole roast pig in the foreground.
There are no movie theaters, bowling alleys, golf courses or shopping malls on Kosrae. So people entertain themselves the old-fashioned way by playing cards and other games. I couldn’t find a chess set, so I made my own out of recycled beer cans.
Scuba diving and snorkeling are favorite activities, too. This past Wednesday was my birthday. Here I am with friends at Bully’s Restaurant about to blow out the candles on my pumpkin pie.
Kosrae continues to be a peaceful, safe and healthy place to live. There are worthwhile projects to do and good people to work with. I can download all the books and movies I need. The warm tropical weather and the beach life suits me well. I’m still not tired of fish, coconuts, tangerines and bananas. It’s starting to look like I’m going to be here for a while.
The chess set looks like something out of Swiss Family Robinson. But where is the photo of the turtles?
Nick, I am Sarah and Tim’s friend whom you’ve met at their house. I think the life you’re living is one we would all aspire to: peaceful, calm, not fraught with the distractions of the constant news cycle, the endless disturbing disruptions we live with here that leave one’s psyche in turmoil, especially now. It’s good to see your travels halted, albeit unexpectedly, on such a beautiful, welcoming, and self-reliant island. May you put down solid roots that sustain you throughout your life, as I know they will.
Nick,
Great videos. Looks like a great place to be during these tough times. The scenery is in stark contrast to the barricades and boarded up storefronts here in Minneapolis. Just think – when you got “stranded” there we could have been stranded in New Zealand. Timing is everything!
Jim
Looks like Far North Queensland….except the potholes look like San Diego!
Is the music local?? Pretty cool! Thanks so much for sharing.
Yes, the music is very definitely local.
Hi Nick, You’re really in the place of paradise that you have been in Kosrae the lovely island.
The most interesting part of the chess set… the very simple decorative edging on the cardboard chess board… Anybody else would have cut a straight line and been done with it. Nice work!!!
Again, I reiterate what your other comments state — You are in paradise! here on earth. What we are experiencing every day can only be called “mental abuse.” No one knows the answers to anything and then on the flipside, the “experts” know the answers and can’t agree with each other. Rome is burning and the politicians are fiddling. You have been so blessed to land on that Island at just the perfect time, for “such a time as this.” Out here at our little, paradise on earth also, things are quiet, well, not “quiet”, but uneventful. Haven’t heard of anyone having Covid. Big Rapids is losing our JCP store but will be getting (if all bureaucracy paperwork goes through), a Marshall’s. 🙂 Stay well. Stay happy. Stay away!!!