The Pathways Hotel Colonia

... why but it is like watching a play ... . Mum or sister (pregnant, so adult) is yapping to a woman who could be grandma. They completely ignore the crying girls but do wipe us their own tears, busily chatting. And everybody is chewing that beetle nut. Two young women also chatting like crazy, put the garbage bin in between them, opening it, to spit the red stuff in. Yuk! One of them puts on lipstick. Why? Her teeth are red-brown and rotten. Two ...

Happy birthday, mummy. Nothing prepared me for today's trauma! It looks like a perfect day in paradise. With our 2 divemasters/captains, we sail to the first diving spot. Julie joins us too. She is the underwater photographer of the resort. Unfortunately: we are baaaaaad costumers for her business: we cannot buy a DVD of all diving destinations! South of the island. It is weird: the sea is calm but then: you arrive in a wild part ...

Pick up at 8. It is a rough ride today. The dives are nice. Hubby finds me a box fish!!! Both of the dives are more than 70 minutes! Sailing back, Dr T does not feel so well: sea too wild. I have never been seasick in my life but I feel a bit sick too. Ah, well, the leftover of being sick, I guess. Now ...

... After a very short night I wake up at ... 26/05: ... 5h! Get up at 6h. Try to chat to my Bro. It is his 22h, the previous day! Pick-up at 07h30. The boat leaves at 08h10. We go to 'The valley of the rays'. I cannot believe this: we are on the boat with: a diving professor(did not even know that existed!) of the university of Hawaii, a professional under water photographer and an underwater biologist, specialized in Manta Rays. We are the most inexperienced ...

... clothes & lunch, I joined 4 friends to look for a small boat to take us out in the lagoon. We negotiated a boat tour with Lorenzo who acted as a tour guide, too. He had a 16 ft. dinghy with an outboard motor & one life jacket. He pointed out various wrecks, some which could be seen under water & a huge anchor, partially above water. The anchor belonged to a 535 ft. sunken Japanese passenger & cargo ship. Lorenzo & I ...

... made from the roots of a pepper shrub. The roots are pounded to a pulp and then squeezed through hibiscus bark like they are in the picture. After that the juice is mixed with water and served in cocunut shells. In the old days this drink was only consumed in religious cermonies when the high chief was present, but now people drink it every night. It makes you lips and tounge tingle!

... on. Of course I gave up on trying to climb to the top! I actually didn't realize how bad my arm looked until I went to dinner that night. A woman exclaimed "Oh my god, what happened to your arm?!" Since my dog bite still hurt worse I started to tell that story while pointing at those wounds and she said "no, your other arm!" That's when I finally got in front of a mirror and got good look at it. I ended up with a massive bruise between my elbow and ...

... impact can be made. My time away, and reentry into my village has reminded me of the importance of adaptation, humility, and patience; of how these have grown inside of me over the years, and how important they are when living with a foreign culture. My nono celebrated her 75th birthday last week as well, and there was a nice party in the nas, where I took a bunch of pictures which are a decent display of aMicronesian community gathering. Enjoy!