Eric & Autumn's World Roll Up: ruins

Showing posts with label ruins. Show all posts

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Finally...Nan Madol.

So the day finally arrived. My birthday. A special day that I try to mark each year with a trip. I love to travel (obviously) and I love to see new things. But..I especially love to see old things. Like really old things. So when I heard about an ancient, mysterious city in Micronesia built mostly of basalt, I had to see it. Our intrepid taxi driver, Wilson, led the charge.

We're on the right track. After paying "Trespassing Fees" to some local landowners we were on our way.

Sturdy and toddler friendly bridges lined the way.

The foliage was stunning.

Air plants and super-jungliness made for a great ambiance.

Next came the mangroves...

Then there is was. Out of the jungle sprung Nan Madol. Wilson tells us without batting an eye that back when Nan Madol was built Pohnpeians were giants (or at least some of them were), so that's how they could move all the rocks. The jury is still out with archaeologists on how it was made or even where the rocks came from. There is evidence that the site was inhabited as early as 200 BC, and construction probably began about 900 years ago. The site was abandoned in the 1800s. It is made up of many artificial islets and a lot of it is submerged or overcome by jungle. It is a National Historical Landmark, but it has no other designations for preservation.

The builders neatly stacked the basalt using no mortar.

The jungle is eating up the city.

A ruined basalt wall.

A jungle path around the complex we visited.

It took hundreds of years to build Nan Madol.

Some new and some old.

The city was part religious center, part home to elites, and part administrative center for the ruling class that inhabited it.

A small window thoughtfully placed in the center of the wall.

Oh hi! Just enjoying some ruins!!

More buildings out toward the beach.

Another look at the central complex.

Enjoying another adventure (and using my new selfie stick, see, not a total waste, right?).

Little K hitches a ride back to the car with Wilson.

The garden path back to reality.

We were originally supposed to visit Nan Madol by boat to see more of the city and some of the artificial islets. Unfortunately the tide wasn't right, someone had a funeral to go to, or no one could find a boat. The truth was probably a mixture of those things. It was still an incredible place, and I am so happy to have had the opportunity. Another great birthday on the books!

Kaselelie! Our Adventure to Pohnpei

For my birthday we had an adventure. It was to be a whirlwind tour of Pohnpei, Garden Isle of the Federated States of Micronesia! Glorious in both the island's beauty and the efficiency with which Eric planned this less-than-48-hour-trip. Yes.

So, the goal was to visit Nan Madol, which was amazing and its own separate blog post. We left Majuro on Friday night on the Nauru Airline island hopper. I admit, I was worried at first. There were about 10 people aboard the 737, and we were three of them. What did others know that we didn't? Why was no one taking advantage of this seemingly amazing deal to fly a family of three to Pohnpei for the price of one ticket on United's island hopper? The world may never know the answers to those questions, but here's some pros and cons to Nauru Airlines:

Pros Cons

Nice plane Empty plane

Free wine Emphatic prohibition on drinking booze you brought from home

Good price Way early departure from Pohnpei

Nice flight attendants Definitely saw the pilot and co-pilot out of the cockpit at the same time

Zero Furby tolerance policy (see pic)

Don't even think about bringing your Furby aboard Nauru Airline. And leave what appears to be your Tamagotchi at home too!

So it appears the pros outweigh the cons. So we arrived in Pohnpei after dark and quickly settled into our hotel for a good night's rest before our (MY!) big day. At about 4 am we heard a loud thud and then panic cries from little K. She fell out of bed!! :(:( And there was blood!!!! Fearing the worst, Eric and got her calmed down and cleaned up. Luckily, it was just a fat lip, no stitches, no broken teeth. Phew!

On the morning of my birthday we met friends for breakfast, had our plans all changed, then went off to adventure through Pohnpei. Our guide, Wilson, and his trusty taxi took us all over the place in an action packed day. After Nan Madol, we went to see a really pretty waterfall.

Yes! Let's!!

A walk through the jungle reveals beautiful foliage.

Jungle orchids line my birthday path (yayayay!!)

Eric and Kylie enjoying the jungle path.

The falls are so beautiful. It is a nice view to get to look up.

La Intrepid Familia Oakley!

Eric and his mad photo skills making the beautiful waterfall even prettier.

View from up the mountain.

Next stop, petroglyphs!

Wilson says this is script from an undeciphered language.

Enjoying the petroglyph rocks.

Knives/swords were sort of a big theme here.

Wilson was in a hurry at this place, though. He thought something was going to fall on the car, so we had to hurry back. I was naturally curious...if there is something that will fall hard enough to hurt the car here...why are we walking around without helmets or something??

Anyway, next we did a quick spin through the town of Kolonia. Here is Spanish wall. Apparently the Spanish stopped by here hundreds of years ago and tried to take over. The Pohnpeians were not cool with that. The Spanish walled themselves into a small city to stay safe. They eventually left.

And here is German Bell Tower. Kylie was asleep at this point, and got really upset later when she learned that she missed out. Taking after her parents already!!

After our whirlwind tour, we went on a sunset cruise in Pohnpei's lagoon. Cheese, we're on a boat!

Eric saw some coral.

And we could not stop admiring the geography.

We finished the evening with a sushi dinner by the water. It was a great trip, and happy birthday to me! The weather was perfect, and I finally got to see Pohnpei, a really special place. Thank you to Eric for planning such a wonderful trip for us!

I caught this last glimpse of FSM as we were taking off from Kosrae on this beautiful morning.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Panama Viejo

Kylie had still not recovered from the goldfish/bird poop incident last night, so the two of us stayed behind this morning for some much needed sleep, swimming and relaxation. Carri, Jason and Autumn headed out for a morning of breakfast and exploration, and we all caught back up together at the Panama Vieja ruins. After the worst cab ride of our lives (think no AC, a crazy jibber-jabbering driver that was blasting evangelical radio in Spanish at 1000 decibels and insane traffic), we emerged at the wonderful, air-conditioned oasis of Reprosa for some serious shopping. Afterward, we had Lebanese food for lunch (Carri and Jason's first time!) then went back to the apartment to relax by the pool with a backyard barbeque!