A walk through Marpo Valley

There are a lot of small dirt roads that criss-cross through Marpo Valley, in-between the paved roads that run east and west below the hills. Each road is lined with power lines, and occasionally one will find a home nestled in the foliage... but for the most part, the roads are empty, waiting for some family to build a home, or some farmer to plant a garden.

One of the sights that is becoming more and more common is to find 'lawn mowers' tied-up in front of homes. One poor filipino had carefully fed and cared for his 'law mower' for months, only to have it stolen by someone just before he was going to butcher it for a family feast... just another sign of the tough economic times we are in, I suppose.

I discovered another 'standing' garden along one of the roads. I think these are wonderful, and hope to build one myself one day!

You can always find a 'rooster ranch' along the way, as cock-fighting is a popular sport here in the CNMI.

Although most of the dirt roads are empty of development, there are beautiful homes that can be found here and there.

There is also an occasional piece of property that is fenced off and marked 'private property'. Many of these, though fenced, seem to be of little use. I expected to find cows, or goats, or gardens-- something to explain the expense of putting up a fence!? But most of the time, they just seem to be empty lots... but beautifully fenced!

Some of the locals have carefully designed their homesteads so that it will provide them with year-round food. They have coconut trees for milk and meat, banana trees, mango and papaya trees, cows, chickens, pigs, gardens, etc. Everything one might want or need to make a good life on a tropical island!

It is amazing how much fruit one can get off of small trees. These banana trees are full of fruit-- so much so, that the owner has to support the branches to prevent them from breaking.

Some of the lots have many trees, providing seclusion and shade.

One of the local products used a lot are coconuts. They are used for their milk, their meat (they are often fed to the local pigs also), and the husks are used to burn for fuel.

There are a LOT of chicken on the island. Some are kept by the locals and used for eggs and food. Others are wild, and can be found wandering all over the island. One of the sports on the island is to go chicken hunting.

One of the banes found on the island are the vines that grow and can eventually cover everything in its path!

They are a mixed blessing though, since most of the vines can produce beautiful flowers...

As always, one can find wonderful plants and flowers along the way!

This is a new one for me. I have seen the plant before, but havn't seen the flower it produces. It is very large and colorful.