Displaced Beachbums

Kolonia has a population of about 3,200 very friendly people. The taxi dropped us off on “main” street where we were told there would be handicrafts for sale. Well, people sell things out of their homes which was a little strange for me. I’m not a fan of the “drop-in” (when people stop by without calling first) so I wasn’t so keen on walking up to their houses! The streets were safe to walk and lots of people were milling around. Dogs were everywhere ~ each home had to have at least one or two hanging out. They looked happy enough but had I known, I would have brought doggie bisquits and frontline to share with them.

One thing that struck both FM and I was the sheer poverty of a lot of the people. They live in very small, slapped together homes with dirt floors. But people seemed happy and the children were so adorable, it made me think about people who have everything at their fingertips and still complain.

We visited the pepper farm which boasts the “best pepper in the world” and after tasting it at the Village restaurant, I have to agree. We bought a bunch for our pepper grinder and we’ll save it for visitors 🙂

We also stopped at “The Carving Spot” and met Paul, a master carver. If you give him enough time, he can custom carve a piece for you but since we were leaving the next day, we bought a beautiful woodcarved turtle to add to our growing turtle collection.

FG wants to start collecting things to send to the children of Pohnpei and Kosrae. She especially wants to donate sports equipment. Of course, we will encourage her and hopefully, we’ll find an organization to work with that already helps out there. Personally, if I had all the money in the world, I’d send a team of vets in to spay and neuter all the dogs and give them a good checkup.

Next, we’re off to the island of Kosrae which is also part of the Federated States of Micronesia, is even more remote than Pohnpei and is as close to the equator (about 5 degrees latitude) as we will get on this trip.