Saturday, November 10, 2007

Getting lost on an Island

















Yesterday I decided to visit the east side of the village. My trip to the west side didn’t discover much—the city dump and the power plant. There were no homes or sights to see (although the view of the ocean from the ridge is always beautiful. However, my trip to the east side was much more interesting…which is probably why I got lost!

After climbing the hill, I took the road at the top east. I immediately began to run into homes built along the ridge line, looking over the village below. Many of the homes were very beautiful, some were in various stages of construction—a sight very common on the island.

Some of the homes here have been devastated by typhoons, leaving just the shell—the tin roofs and wood frames having been blown away. Due to lack of funds or materials, these homes have sat vacant, or in partial repair for years. One home for example—a large home with a beautiful facade—I discovered was almost completely empty. The family had put a new tin roof over one small section of the home (about one 10’X14’ room), while the rest of the home was empty and without a roof!

Some of the homes are in the process of slow construction. Many people build a first-story, with the intention of adding a second story to their home at a later date. Sometimes this is seen by the rebar sticking out of the top slab used as a roof, and sometimes as block that has begun to be installed on the second story—but never finished. You can tell the construction was stopped some time ago…perhaps their funds or materials ran out.

Some of the homes are simply tin shacks. These homes look as though they would collapse with any strong wind that came by, but seem to have been here for years. Every time I see one of these homes, all I can think of is the war movies made about WWII, specifically the war in the pacific. In almost every movie they would have a small tin hut that was used as a punishment box for the prisoners of war. Prisoners would be shut-up in this ‘hot box’ for days or weeks, and often died as a result. Many of these homes look just like those in the movies…and I worry about the people living in them!

There were some roads that seemed to go nowhere. It was clear that tire tracks had driven into the brush (the brush is so thick here, you cannot walk through it, so if there is an opening of any kind, there has to be a reason for it), and an opening wide enough for a vehicle, but the opening and tracks soon disappeared into the green brush. Perhaps there was a hidden home back there? I wasn’t about to find out, figuring that I really would get lost and never find my way out!

I became so fascinated by the variety of homes I was seeing, that I lost track of where I was! On the west side of the island there are few roads, but on the east side the roads seem to multiply, and go in every direction. Some seem to go in circles, or twist and turn in directions I found confusing. Finally I saw some cars going down a dirt road in the direction of the village. I had assumed the road would be a dead-end, as I could not see the end, or where it went. But I also assumed that the vehicles had to come out somewhere, so I followed them. I was amazed at how many homes I continued to find on these dirt roads running here and there through the hillside. And I continued to find a large variety—large homes next to small one-room homes, nice homes next to destroyed homes.

At last I came out onto Broadway again…just one street down from the top of the hill! It was just crazy. I had been wandering around for what seemed to be a very long time, figuring that I would turn up a mile away from where I started, and it turned out I had simply made a small circle and come out almost where I started! I can see that I have a lot of walking to do to come to know the island of Tinian!

It was a beautiful day, so that afternoon Terri and I went snorkeling at the beach. It is such a fun pastime! We discovered that we float very well in the seawater without life jackets or belts of any kind, and can swim around with literally no effort at all. Today we discovered a current that was traveling down the beach quite by accident. As we were floating in the water, concentrating on all the beautiful and varied kinds of fish and coral that was just below us, the current was slowly pulling us down the beach—not out to sea, or into the beach, but directly parallel to the beach! We held hands in the water so that we would not get separated, and then, without any movement or effort, were slowly carried along. In this way we were able to view a large area of underwater sights while completely at rest! It was wonderful. The variety and bright color of the fish were amazing.

After about an hour or so we swam back into shore (all the time we were being carried down the beach by the current we were only about 30’ from shore, most of the time at a depth that we could stand up if we needed to), completely rested and relaxed, as though we had been at a spa or something. We loaded up and walked back home, ready for a wonderful dinner at the Fleming that night. Tough life, eh?

No comments: