Last weekend Morgan, Marci and I decided to visit another volunteer on Santo (also known as third island). Santo is in our same atoll, near a second smaller military base called Roi-Namur. The military bases run free 20 min. flights from one to the other, and if they aren’t filled up with base workers, they let local people get on. We left on Friday, and as most things are done here, our travel was done on island time- meaning it took forever.
1) We had to get into Ebeye (I was fortunately already there from teaching)
2) Had to take a boat from Ebeye to our military base (Kwajalein)
3) Had to get past security at the base, who made us wait 2 hours and wouldn’t let us go to our plane until 10 minutes prior to it’s departure
4) Missed our flight (stupid security)
5) Had to wait for the next flight, an hour later
6) The next flight was delayed an hour and a half because there was a missile in the air (is anyone checking out the safety of these missiles on behalf of the Marshallese people?)
7) finally flew to Roi-Namur, where our friend Trina picked us up
8) Trina has access to the Roi-Namur base so was able to buy us some meals and fresh salad- amazing!
9) Had to wait 1 hour for the boat from Roi-Namur to Santo
10) Took the boat to Santo and finally made it!
As you can see, nothing here is dependable. Even the American run things that don’t run on “island time”. You always have to bring a book and plan for many, many obstacles.
We loved our time in Santo. It is interesting comparing it to Ebeye/Gugeegue. Santo is right next to a military base, as we are, but it is much more of an outer island. There is no electricity, only a generator run at night. No phones or computers either. It is physically much smaller than Gugeegue, but has a population of 600. While it is much more of an outer island, they also have much better access to Roi-Namur. Since Roi is smaller than Kwajalein, it is a bit more relaxed. Trina can go to Roi-Namur just about any day or time and do whatever she likes there (go golfing, get food, use the internet, wear American clothes), though spending the night is more complicated. For us on Kwajalein, we have to find a sponsor, it has to be certain times on certain days, our sponsor has to chaperone us everyone, we have to get security clearance, so it’s usually not worth it.
Trina’s host family was so welcoming. They live in a small house right next to the ocean. Though life there I’m sure has it’s obstacles (the outhouse bathroom with rats running through it as one of them), it is also plenty laid back. We spent Saturday lying out on a woven mat with the ocean breeze, playing cards or reading. Trina’s family was constantly bringing us food and coconuts, and local children would come by with their ukeleles and sing to us. The only word that comes to mind is idealic- jealous anyone?
Saturday night Trina’s host parents made us an amazing dinner of coconut crabs (these gigantic crabs that live in the roots of coconut trees) and steak teriyaki from the base. We left on Sunday and returned to Gugeegue refreshed, and finally having experienced another part of the Marshall Islands.
1) We had to get into Ebeye (I was fortunately already there from teaching)
2) Had to take a boat from Ebeye to our military base (Kwajalein)
3) Had to get past security at the base, who made us wait 2 hours and wouldn’t let us go to our plane until 10 minutes prior to it’s departure
4) Missed our flight (stupid security)
5) Had to wait for the next flight, an hour later
6) The next flight was delayed an hour and a half because there was a missile in the air (is anyone checking out the safety of these missiles on behalf of the Marshallese people?)
7) finally flew to Roi-Namur, where our friend Trina picked us up
8) Trina has access to the Roi-Namur base so was able to buy us some meals and fresh salad- amazing!
9) Had to wait 1 hour for the boat from Roi-Namur to Santo
10) Took the boat to Santo and finally made it!
As you can see, nothing here is dependable. Even the American run things that don’t run on “island time”. You always have to bring a book and plan for many, many obstacles.
We loved our time in Santo. It is interesting comparing it to Ebeye/Gugeegue. Santo is right next to a military base, as we are, but it is much more of an outer island. There is no electricity, only a generator run at night. No phones or computers either. It is physically much smaller than Gugeegue, but has a population of 600. While it is much more of an outer island, they also have much better access to Roi-Namur. Since Roi is smaller than Kwajalein, it is a bit more relaxed. Trina can go to Roi-Namur just about any day or time and do whatever she likes there (go golfing, get food, use the internet, wear American clothes), though spending the night is more complicated. For us on Kwajalein, we have to find a sponsor, it has to be certain times on certain days, our sponsor has to chaperone us everyone, we have to get security clearance, so it’s usually not worth it.
Trina’s host family was so welcoming. They live in a small house right next to the ocean. Though life there I’m sure has it’s obstacles (the outhouse bathroom with rats running through it as one of them), it is also plenty laid back. We spent Saturday lying out on a woven mat with the ocean breeze, playing cards or reading. Trina’s family was constantly bringing us food and coconuts, and local children would come by with their ukeleles and sing to us. The only word that comes to mind is idealic- jealous anyone?
Saturday night Trina’s host parents made us an amazing dinner of coconut crabs (these gigantic crabs that live in the roots of coconut trees) and steak teriyaki from the base. We left on Sunday and returned to Gugeegue refreshed, and finally having experienced another part of the Marshall Islands.
Ebeye from the plane- you can see how dense it is. The little road jetting off the island is the causeway, which connects 4 islands and is how I get to work.
Waiting for the boat to take us from Roi-Namur to Santo
As you can see, these islands are really small and close together!
Some boys in Santo who took it upon themselves to entertain us...
A left over from the Japanese and WW2
Trina's house dad with the giant coconut crab!
A really sweet picture of Trina's brother and sister drinking coconuts
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