Spiders and Hills

The spider

The bugs on Tinian are amazing! Each night they gather outside our door, due to the light that is situated on the corner of our building. When coming home at night, we have to ‘run the gauntlet’ as we try to avoid being attacked and get inside the door without having too many follow us in…

Now we have help in our fight! It seems a giant spider has spun a web across one corner of the arch leading to our door, and is feasting on the gathered swarm. I only had to watch a few seconds to see this large spider in action. A moth flew into the web and the spider, with lightning fast moves, captured its prey. I suppose it should be unsettling to us to have a large spider outside our door, but instead, we take comfort in that now we have a guardian to protect us. Besides, we are too big for it to eat, and ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, so I guess we will consider him friendly. Or perhaps it’s a she…

Of course! We’ll call her Charlotte!

The Hill

One of the goals I set for myself after moving to Tinian was to climb the ‘hill’. Most of the population of Tinian is settled in a village near the south end of the island. The ground rises sharply from the beach about 50 to 75 feet above sea level, then flattens out. It is here the village is located—far enough above the sea to protect it from most storms and tsunamis, but still quite low compared to the hills surrounding the village.

To the east and north the land begins to climb sharply again, rising high above the village to a height of about 300 feet. It is here that the airport is located, and it is in these surrounding hills that many people have built their homes, for the view, and perhaps, as in other places in the world, to get away from the ‘riff raff’ below.

Broadway, the main road running north and south on the island, was built by the Seabees during WWII and literally runs from the south beach to the north shore, dead straight. It is here, as the road leaves the village and heads towards the airport and the northern side of the island, that the ‘hill’ is located.

Terri and I have been walking one to three miles a day, almost every day. Trips to the clinic and the store and back easily give us a mile or two a day. And then the walk to the beach and back (if we walk all the way down the beach to Dynasty casino), is three miles. So, now that we have been here a while, and we should be somewhat in shape, I decided to try my luck climbing the ‘hill’.

To my chagrin, I only made it half-way up the hill! It is amazing how much a little bit of slope adds to a short walk! As I approached the hill, I was completely confident I would make it to the top without a problem. About a quarter of the way up I began to breath hard as the slope got steeper. Then about halfway up there is a road that cuts across the hill, going east to some homes. I debated going farther, but decided that ‘discretion is the better part of valor’, and remembered that I still had to walk back!

So my first try was a failure. But at least I know what I am up against. Perhaps in another month or so I will be in shape enough to make it to the top.