A few months ago, I flew to Pohnpei (PNI) for the Micronesia Challenge Focal Points meeting. I was exhausted by the time I got to PNI because I had to wake up at 2:30 a.m. to check-in for the 4:00 a.m. flight to Guam and then there was a 4 hour layover in Guam, a stopover in Chuuk, then I finally got to my final destination at 1:00 p.m… whew!
I’ve been to Pohnpei once before over the holidays in 2003. Peter and I were on the island hopper, diving throughout Micronesia. It seemed alot busier since I was there last, more cars and more buildings. The “Wall Mart” I saw in 2003 is still here.
A view of Sokehs Rock from my hotel balcony.
On the first night, we were invited to Willy Kostka’s home, Willy is a well-known conservation leader in Micronesia. He is the Executive Director for Micronesia Conservation Trust, where the Micronesia Challenge endowment is will be housed.
At Willy’s home, they made a lot of food and it was so delicious. Almost all the starches had coconut milk from pounded breadfruit to red taro, white taro, tapioca, bananas and more. They roasted a pig and carved it. We also had fried fish, fried chicken, ribs, green salad and a variety of fruit and desserts.
The highlight of the social event was the sakau ceremony. Sakau is made from a pepper plant, piper mediastinum which contains a form of alkaloid that gives you the buzz. Strips of hibiscus bark was used to squeeze out the juice. They would squeeze it into a coconut shell cup and passed around in a circle. After my first 2 sips, my tongue started getting numb, so I was told to drink water to wash it down. After my fourth sip, I was told that I needed to close my eyes when I drink the sakau because of the spirit’s presence in the drink. This was my first experience with fresh sakau in Pohnpei and it was good
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The village Chief was there with his wife and his son was the processor of the sakau. It was extremely quiet during the drinking process. We were all seated in a circle and the men who had been drinking 30 minutes before I did, started to appear different, they all had different facial expressions, some had their eyes closed. At first I thought, this was freaky, but then I got comfortable after a couple of sips. A good friend whom I will not mention had a completely different facial appearance during the drinking event. He appeared angry as if a spirit had taken over his body. I was actually afraid to make eye contact with my own friend. The next day when I saw him, he was back his to normal self.
I did work while I was there, it wasn't all fun, we had meetings everyday for a full 8 hours and then I was appointed by the Micronesia Challenge Chairperson to do the presentation on behalf of the Steering Committee.
The next day the group went to the Village because Trina was raving about how great the bloody marys were. She was right. I think I had 5 of them. It was so good because they grated fresh horseradish root into the drink. They are the best I’ve had so far in all the places I’ve been too, but I still think mine is the best.
We had a social on the last day of the meeting. It was fun to network after a week-long meeting. The food at the last party was great, but everyone got really sick the next day. I guess we must have eaten something that had been sitting out for too long. I had food poisoning for at least four days, and it was a very unpleasant experience.
A nice view from the Village right before we went to the airport.
