September 6, 2008

Busy Days
We had intended to keep a pretty relaxed pace most of the time away from Majuro, but so far haven't managed it very well. We did get some rest the afternoon we arrived, because we didn't have to rush ashore to clear in with the mayor. The mayor is in Majuro, and the acting mayor saw us come in, borrowed a canoe, and paddled out to see us. He was very relaxed, asked where we came in from, and how the trip was. After a short, pleasant visit, he told us to come see him the next day at his house, and we'd clear up the paperwork.
Mid morning yesterday, after I'd finished my radio schedule we went in and started meeting people. Before we made it to see Emai (the acting mayor) we were called over to visit with his brother in law, Winda, the previous acting mayor. I guess they pass the mayors duties around the members of the village council until the mayor gets back on the copra ship. That will be either 3 months or 6 months, depending on whether the copra company has enough fuel to send the ship this far out. Winda was quite pleased to find out I work on boats, and promptly requested that I make up some oarlock sockets for his small plywood skiff. He says they can't get fuel for the outboard any more, so it needs to be a rowboat. No problem. The project is now under way, and his brother-in- law (another one, not Emai) is shaping a pair of 7 foot oars. Winda and his family shared drinking coconuts, then sent us down to see Emai, where, over more coconuts, we cleared up the entries. We talked about things ranging from previous visitors to agriculture, the state of the water table (very good!) and house construction out here. We were surprised to find that many of the villagers have spent their very hard earned money to build concrete block houses rather than stay with the comfortable, but more maintenance intensive thatched and woven houses. We got a walking tour of the airstrip and new, solar powered terminal building. Unfortunately, the strip is too short, and a bit rough (it's grass over coral rubble) for the two planes now in service (well, sometimes) with Air Marshall Islands, so there's been no arrival since the terminal building was finished last year. But there's a deal under way for the Japanese govt to buy Air Marshalls a suitable aircraft, so by next year, maybe....
Emai accepted our gift bag of flour, sugar and rice, and his wife Litti gave Karen a truly spectacular woven wall hanging. They invited us to come by and eat this afternoon. We forgot to ask what time, but that turned out to be fairly flexible.
When we got back to Sequester we took a short swim, and then were inundated by six 10 year olds in three small versions of the famous Ailuk sailing outriggers. They had been to a nearby island gathering copra (dried coconut meat) and stopped to see the yacht on the way home. They had no lines to tie their canoes to our boat, so I dug out some giveaway rope and got the 4 boys and 2 girls secured and on board. The boys were moderately rowdy, but generally well behaved, while the girls were quite shy. It took a little urging to get them to take a tour of the inside of the boat, but once in, they were all fascinated with the pictures of friends and family we have on the walls. Their English capability was pretty thin, but they pointed and asked until we'd identified most of the people. Karen managed to find out that one of the girls was the daughter of Tempo, who we were carrying a letter for, so we arranged to meet him this morning. Tempo speaks pretty good English, and was quite pleased to receive guests who are friends of Trevor and Jan on S/V Watea. Watea made a lot of good will when they were here last year. By mid-morning we made our way back to see Winda, and I measured up the boat for parts to be made, and had more discussion of what they can grow here. It turns out they have a number of lime trees, which is a real plus both for the vitamin C and for flavor in the food. By noon we had made it to our lunch date with Emai and Litti, and among the small talk I asked about his solar panel system. It turns out he had a problem with one small panel, the regulator, and one of his lights. When we left at about 2:00 I had a bag of parts to work on. In a couple of hours this afternoon I got everything going, and located some wood for the oarlocks. We're not likely to be bored on this little vacation, and that's a good thing. Ted