From the Rock 7-13 to 7-18

It started from the rock. Sunday night Alfonso and I went down to the market (Sakau bar) to drink from the rock. This is the term used when the Sakau is pounded squeezed and drank fresh. At other bars you buy bottles of Sakau at this market you pay six dollars a person and it is all you can drink. The seating is outside under a tin roofed hut. A server comes around to the tables with a coconut filled with Sakau and everyone drinks from it. When it is empty he returns to the stones to refill and make another round to the tables. Alfonso and I drank here for a while until we called a taxi to return to the apartment where we ate and then prepared for the following day. This brings up my next point. Contrary to popular belief I am not living in a tree, thats only during the week when we are in the jungle. So most of the time I am living in a tree because we have spent more time in the jungle then in town or our apartment. This past trek in the jungle was relatively relaxing although we did get a lot of work done.
I thought I might take this opportunity to give everyone some insight into camping and living in the jungle. It definitely has its ups and downs, but there are some things you learn along the way that can make your stay more comfortable. One of the best things about the jungle is that you always know right before it is going to rain. This is because you can hear it coming. At first the rain sounds like a breeze blowing through the trees or a stream flowing across rocks. However, you soon realize that its not windy and that you did not hear a stream before. Furthermore, the noise is getting louder and louder until its right on top of you. Sometimes, it pours and sometimes its just a drizzle, but it comes quick and depending on how long it lasts is usually gone before you realize it has past. When it does rain the jungle also provides umbrellas the large leaves from the banana tree make a great umbrella and they can simply be discard when it stops. However, there really is not much of a point in trying to stay dry you are going to get wet and there is nothing you can really do about it. Due to all the rain there is there is also a lot of mud in the jungle. Some of the mud looks a lot like ground and you do not realize it until half your leg is berried in mud. Your legs will get muddy and it is very persistent mud that does not like coming off once it has dried on. Really the mud is the most annoying thing about the jungle because it makes it impossible to stay clean, and sleeping muddy just sucks. The jungle also provides some very useful building materials.
Palm fronds are great for building huts and houses when we have too. They can also be used to make a nice dry place to sit and eat lunch. the bark from the hibiscus tree is not only good for squeezing Sakau but it makes great rope. The best part is that you do not have to carry heavy rope up with you when you get o the site you can just strip some hibiscus of its bark and use it. Large ferns make a great bedding to lay down in the hut and they are also quite comfortable and warm. Some plants provide a flower that can be squeezed and used as a shampoo. These things can make the jungle quite hospitable when implemented correctly. They have definitely improved our stays in the jungle.
We managed to get a lot of work done when we were in the jungle this trek. We completed 12 transects. This time we were again looking at the impact of the Sakau clearings. We did 3 above clearings, 3 on abandoned clearings, 3 on present farms, 3 below clearings. It was a lot of work and we managed to finish them all. However, usually by the end of the day our brains were pretty fried. However, when we finished we were all very relived. I had some question asked about my previous blog from my Aunt Susan, who can ask question just as fast in emails as she can in person. I would like to take the opportunity to answer them.
She asked why the spider researchers sprayed the webs with corn starch. They do this because it makes the webs more visible and more easily photographed. Many spider species can be identified by the type of web they make so this is why they photographed the web. She also asked about the Sakau crop and what kind of money it yields. Sakau is a huge cash crop here and I do not believe that they export it. One of the major farmers recently bought a truck in Guam he payed 30,000 USD in cash for it. She also asked if it would be hard to get them to abandon this crop. The program here is not trying to get people to abandon the crop. It is just encouraging them to grow low and not in the upland forest. This is because the clearings in the upland forest are affecting the watershed, and increasing soil erosion. That covers all of Aunt Susans questions for now if I know her there will probably be more. Lets get back to our past trek in the jungle.
The last night there we ran into some Sakau farmers and we ended up spending the night with them in a hut. We also drank some Sakau with them. This was nice and it was a nice ending to our time in the jungle and it also makes sleeping that much better. I even got the opportunity to pound some Sakau. You have to clean it, pound, squeeze it before you can drink it. Sakau Tubers
Pound ItPull HibiscusPack Sakau into the Hibiscus
Roll ItSqueeze it and enjoy
The next day we woke up and finished our last transect and then hiked down to Kitti. It was an relatively easy hike as jungle hikes go and it was not that long. When we got down we had lunch at Emos's and then hung out it Kitti. We went down to the river to go for a swim. Before we jumped in about four eels swam by the biggest one was about 4 feet. After we saw them we all jumped in the water which was most refreshing. After our swim it was time to celebrate.
It ended from the rock. After our swim we decided to wait a little to drink Sakau. We did not realize that someone was leaving so the village was also having a celebration. We pounded Sakau and the chief stood and distributed the cups. It was very interesting to drink Sakau in a traditional setting with the chief overseeing the activities. The first cups always go to the highest ranking people and then after that they just go around. Everyone was enjoying themselves and we all drank and eat to our hearts desire. The locals cooked whole pig in a ohm (underground oven), and that was distributed in the same manner as the Sakau by the chief. It was a very humbling experience to participate in. The people here are still very much in touch with their culture and they take drinking very seriously. When you are drinking Sakau in a setting like this it is almost like traveling back in time. You are constantly thinking that this is has this has been done since people first settled this Island. At one point a older gentleman got up to give a speech although I couldn't understand a word he was saying it sounding like he was saying some pretty insightful stuff so I listened. Thats another thing although everyone speaks English to some degree they usually speak Pohnpeian. Which I understand very little of. However, this does not really bother me everyone is very nice and I can usually get the gist of what they are trying to communicate. After eating and drinking we returned to the apartment to retire. The culture here is very interesting and beautiful although similar in some ways to ours and other Micronesian cultures it is very unique.
There are some things here that I do not think that I will ever get used to. It is always shocking to see a 10 year old wielding a Machete. However, this is just part of their culture. My aunt also asked how people keep track of the kids when they are drinking Sakau. The little ones sit in parents lap the others usually run around. They do not really keep track of them I guess. The parents just let the kids learn the hard way and the older siblings do a lot of the watching. However, this allows the children to grow up very strong and they become very experienced, and understand their culture well. Most people here have large families and everyone knows everyone so it creates a large close nit community. Wayne and I are always welcomed and treated as if we are family at many of the places we go. The people are always interesting and many of them are very interested to why we are here and what we are doing. They always respect you more when they find out you are spending 4 days a week in the jungle are are very curious to what you are doing there.
I have been here almost a month and although I understand more then when I came here but I still have so much to learn. It is hard to believe that I will be leaving soon and I will definitely be sad to go. Next week we are going up the same way we went up the first week. I am excited about this because I will be able to see how my hiking skills have improved. Other than that I am hoping to go diving this weekend. I will probably go drink Sakau at market tonight with some friends, but other than that I will just be relaxing this weekend. Hope you all enjoy reading my blog and I will talk to everyone soon. If you have any question just leave a comment. Also just leave a comment with your name and a hello I am curious to see who is reading.