Majuro

I stated in one of my entries from Tonga that it was my first time on a coral atoll. That should be corrected. The main island of Tonga, Tongatapu, isn’t at true coral atoll. It is a raised atoll. It is flat like an atoll, but it is not the classic ring shaped one dimensional shape of a true atoll.

Majuro is my first time on a true atoll

….and let me say, when you have no expectations for a place, you will always be surprised.

My five days in FSM were quiet to say the least. At no time did I see anything resembling anything urban. The villages were very small and didn’t even have the stores I normally see in most pacific villages. Pohnpei and Korsae were quite, peaceful, with very few people and little development. I assumed that going to an atoll even farther out in the ocean would be more of the same. Even during my very very brief stay on Kiribati, I didn’t get the impression that the place was a hopping destination. I was preparing for three days of boredom on Majuro counting coconuts.

Boy was I wrong.

The moment I got off the plane I could tell I was wrong. The airport had…..people. There were kiosks with people selling…. things. BOOKS were sold. After we got into the car to go to the hostel, the entire drive there was houses and stores, and many of the houses would be right in place in an American suburb.

In fact, I’m writing this on my laptop in a god damn sports bar watching the Cowboys vs Giants on a plasma TV eating a cheeseburger. (The bar is 20 feet from my hostel room and was the closest thing open).

Within the next two weeks i’m going to write a post about the Micronesia region and the former Trust Territories of the Pacific and how it wound up ending in three independent countries and two US territories. I think its a fascinating story, more-so having talked to locals about it (its not ancient history either. It all went down in the last 10-20 years)

While I sort of have access to the internet here, it is slow. Photos may have to wait until I get to Palau or during my layover in Guam.