As I sit here on my birthday, reflecting on the great times I’ve had this trip and the life long memories I’ve created with people, I’m slowly feeling ready to come back home. Part of me wants to stay in Chuuk, the other wants to be home.
The morning started early – just like every day these past two weeks. I ate breakfast and then started to pack all my gear and organize each item so that I could meet weight limits. My carry-on luggage came to 46lbs and my checked luggage was 53lbs. Most of my scuba diving equipment was packed into my carry-on luggage as its expensive stuff that I don’t want to let out of my sight. We said our goodbyes to the crew, settled our bills and loaded the boat with our luggage and headed back to Weno. We returned to the Blue Lagoon Resort where we hogged their wifi and grabbed lunch before taking the bus back to the Airport.
It was a 30min ride on a pot hole filled road where you couldn’t get into second gear because of the poor road conditions. Chuuk is a third-world country and I’ve seen my fair share of them. I’ve been through the shantytowns of Cape Town, South Africa where 3 families shared an outhouse and houses were made out of tin roofing. Chuuk had a very similar feel to it. Its hard to describe as some people lived in tin shacks, others occupied crumbling abandoned buildings (which I assume used to be Japanese buildings during the war) and used the tin roofing as windows or roofs. Weno, being the main island, was the only Island to have cars. As we drove down the bumpy roads, we passed tin houses with old stripped down cars sitting on lawns. Some were being used as a jungle gym for the kids, others, a spot for the locals to lay their clothes on to dry in the hot sun. It made me really appreciate all the things I have in my life. To know I have a roof over my head, a bed to crawl into at night and a kitchen to prepare my meals in.
We reached the Chuuk International Airport; it was no bigger than a football field. There was only one check-in counter and we stuck out like a sore thumb. The security guy was really friendly with us and could tell we were dying from the lack of air conditioning. He took us across the street to a restaurant that had a nice couch, tv, food and drinks. We hung out at the surprisingly fancy restaurant until our plane landed. We passed through security and waited in a boiling hot, non-air-conditioned “terminal” before walking out onto the runway and up a ramp to board our airplane.
The plane ride to Guam was quick, lasting only 90mins. I saw seated next to a little girl who almost fried my laptop by spilling her water all over the two of us. I helped her clean it up and was thankful that my laptop came away with no damage. We took a taxi to the Hilton Hotel in Guam which was very very nice. After settling in the room, a few of us decided to dine at the hotel’s restaurant. I ordered delicious slow cooked short ribs, which came with baked mashed potatoes and vegies. Afterwards I was given a birthday treat from the restaurant and they sung me happy birthday. The local musician in the lounge even got in on the action. Although it wasn’t a grand party, it was spent with some of my most favourite people in the world; Matt, Grace and Chris. It was good company and plenty of laughs.
Well its 12am here, I have to be up in two and a half hours to head to the airport and truthfully at this point, I’m thinking of pulling an all nighter and inducing a gravol sleep on the flight to Hawaii. I still have to go through and edit a few pictures for yesterday’s blog and hopefully some for this post.
Take care and see you all soon. On the bright side, I’ll have two days of birthday celebrations, as I’ll be crossing the International Date Line.
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Justin Steele
The Green Ranger