Although I've told plenty of stories about my experiences living in Palau, I haven't focused enough on telling you all about Palau's history and culture. Thankfully, Palauans have already done the job for me. They've passed down their history and culture through storytelling, resulting in a collection of legends. Among other things, these legends describe how the islands of Palau were formed, how they discovered natural childbirth, and how the dugong came to be. Palauans create wood carvings depicting these legends, called storyboards. More on the storyboards, later...for now, here's are a few of the most famous legends...

Born to Latmikaik, Chuab is one of two daughters of her three children. Another girl was named Tellebuu and a brother, Ucherrerak. While Ucherrerak went to live in heaven, Chuab, was blown to Ngebeanged and went to the house of Ngetelkou with Tellebuu, where they lived and were fed.

Soon Chuab grew very tall, and kept growing. As they kept feeding her, she grew so tall that they could not reach her mouth. The people began to build ladders and climbed to feed her until even the ladders could not reach her height any longer.

As Chuab reached the clouds, no one could care for her. The people finally deciced to buy soil from Uchelianged (God of heaven) and pile them to reach Chuab. Even this measure proved useless, so they gathered firewood and decided to end this by burning her. As the people went about collecting firewood, Chuab asked what they were for. The people replied that the firewood was for cooking more food. They arranged the firewood around her feet and lit it. As the fire burned Chuab and she fell down. Her body parts formed into Belau. The name Belau comes from the aibebelau (indirect replies) to Chuab about the activitity to burn her down.

It was also believed that Chuab died of a sacrifice. As a demi-god, she knew that the people's intentions, yet sacrificed her body for the people.

Long ago, the people of Palau did not know how to deliver a baby, except by slicing open the mother’s stomach with a bamboo knife. Unfortunately, the mother of the child would always perish.

Mengidabrutkoel, a spider in the form of a young man, came from Peleliu to Ngiwal, where he took a young woman named Turang as his bride. When the time came for the midwives of the village to slice open her stomach and deliver her baby, the husband refused to let the women near her. While they stormed outside of the house, the spider supervised the first natural delivery of a child.

An old woman and her daughter lived in Ngerielb, a small hamlet of Koror situated close to the water. One day their problems of poverty were compounded when the mother discovered that her daughter was pregnant. In Palau's olden times, an unmarried girl who became pregnant without having made at least a formal arrangement for marriage was strongly censured by the community, and the girl and her family were stigmatized for life. Thus, to avoid further disgrace, the mother cautioned her daughter to be particularly careful in observing all the traditional taboos on food for pregnant women.

The daughter diligently obeyed her mother's advice, and after several months, she gave birth to a baby girl. The mother was still concerned that her daughter should observe the rituals and avoid food that she was not supposed to eat. One day she cautioned her, "Daughter, you seem to like keam but it is not good for women who have just delivered. I would advise you to abstain from eating it until you are strong."

One day, the mother went to the taro patch while her daughter stayed home to care for the baby. The daughter could not resist eating keam, and cut one of the nuts open, finding that one side of it was a bit larger than the other. As she was trying to get the meat out of the larger side, her mother came. She was so surprised to see her mother that she left the house, went toward the dock, and with her mother and the baby following her, went to the edge of the dock and jumped into the water.

The mother pleaded with her to return and she began crying, but to no avail. The daughter swam on further, finally surfacing as a dugong. When the mother saw what happened, she lost all hope of her daughter ever returning.

The mother wanted to honor her daughter and to have people remember her daughter's fate. She sighed and spoke to her for the last time. "It is clear that you do not want to listen to me, so now your price is a kluk, and this price will be paid as a tribute to a married woman."

Playoffs?!?

Playoffs. No, I'm not talking about the NBA playoffs. I don't follow the NBA. The only thing I knew about this year's playoffs was the Heat was in it, and they didn't win. Were they supposed to be good? I don't know. Like I said, the NBA just isn't my wheelhouse. Too much drama.

I'm talking about something much more serious: Palau National Women's League playoffs.

Intimidated? You should be. Pay no attention to the floral clothing in the background of this photo. This is serious basketball; there is no hour-long "Decision," just 40 minutes of basketball.

In case you missed the broadcasting, we played in April at the Palau National Gymnasium. This is where Kryptonite's magic happens...

Before even making it to the playoffs, Kryptonite had to win in a play-in round. We won, and our first opponent was Bring It On. I mentioned earlier that Bring It On had beat us pretty badly once during the season, so we all knew we'd have a tough series.

When it comes to playoffs, you leave nothing on the table. So we ramped up the practice times to two, maybe even three times a week. I'm not going to lie, there was one shooting drill where Jubilee had me running sprints between shots and I almost lost my lunch afterwards. If I remember correctly, Ryan's way of encouraging our tall ladies to play tough was to "stop pretending that you're a grizzly bears cuddling puppies." Clearly things were getting serious. It even got to the point where Veronica and I started running plays in the law library instead of working. OK, so maybe that didn't happen....and maybe along the way we had a team movie night where we giggled, ate seven layer dip, popcorn, and jellybeans, and watched Princess Bride. But trust me, it started getting real.

Thanks to all the effort, and the fact that Jubilee officially took herself off maternity leave, giving us another amazing guard, we defeated Bring It On in just two games! There were definitely some bruises along the way, but everyone played incredibly tough. As usual, I was really, really effective at cheering and handing out water when needed. What can I say, I don't choke in the playoffs.

So we made it to the finals. But we were set to play Money. You know, that team comprised of 5 or 6 girls that played on Palau's national team from the Micronesian games. No big deal right? Wrong. Suffice it to say that we played our Kryptonite hearts out, and went down fighting after two games. We won't dwell on the details, and it doesn't really matter because we were all smiles at the end, got a ginormous trophy, and of course a feature article in the Island Times.

And...wait for it...I scored a few points. That's right Schumaker family. The shortest one of you all managed to score 8 points [over the course of three games]! It only took an entire season, but man, my 10-foot jump shot is golden. Booya!

Team Kryptonite's 2011 season is over now, but I had a great time getting back into a sport that I have absolutely no business playing, and getting to know some fantastic ladies that I wouldn't have otherwise met. Sulang Team Kryptonite!!!

(Oh, and in case you're wondering, the jersey's coming back to Chicago.)

From Sea to Sky!

I've mentioned the waterfall up in Ngardmau several times, right? It's that 100-foot high waterfall located in the jungle in one of the northwest states on Babeldaob. Getting to the waterfall requires a half-hour hike, including wading in the waste-high water of the river formed by the waterfall. I've done it a few times, and it's a fun, sweaty hike. When I first arrived in Palau in October, I did the hike with just a few folks, paid a few bucks, and didn't see more than 2 or 3 other hikers along the way. When we finished up the hike, we bought a few coconuts, ate them, and went on our way. Not a bad way to spend a morning!

It's a pretty fantastic experience. Here are a few photos of the path to the waterfall...

(The path to the waterfall follows railroad tracks from the bauxite mining done during the Japanese occupation)

(The river path to the waterfall gets to be waste-deep at certain points...watch out for crocs!)

(Totally worth it.)

(Happy as a clam after trudging through mud and river)

Well, the state of Ngardmau has realized how fantastic its waterfall is, and wanted to figure out a way to somehow add to the experience. How do add to the experience of hiking through a jungle, wading through a river, and bathing under a natural waterfall? Flying of course! So the state paired up with a Korean company called Zipsky, and they've been working together to install a zipline and monorail system to get interested tourists up and down the hike in a much faster and more exciting way.

Now, when I first heard about this project, I believe my exact reaction was "I'm afraid of heights and I just don't trust a zipline. I'm never doing that." Famous last words. Not only did I do it, but I was a guinea pig for the unfinished zipline route. I'm nothing if not true to my word and incredibly cautious.

But it was completely justified (maybe) and a ton of fun (definitely). One of my neighbors is an incredibly sweet Korean family. Chris, the father, is involved with the Korean company that has been installing the zipline over the past year or so. He's been installing ziplines in other places in this part of the world, and Palau is the company's most recent endeavor. Because the zipline is an attraction, the company developed a love theme, combining a Palauan and Korean legend. The Palauan legend is the creation of the waterfall by a one-eyed snake, and the Korean legend is a love story between two one-eyed fish. Here's the combined story...

Once in a small pond, there lived two one-eyed fish,

one with a left eye, and the other with a right eye. They were deep in love.

Other fish mocked them for lacking one eye,

but they didn't believe they lacked anything.

Because together they had more than enough eyes

to see how beautiful the world was.

The two one-eyed fish made each other perfect by filling one half of the other.

At first it seemed the day's outing was sweet as usual

as the two of them were swimming gently side by side in calm water.

But then a sudden storm turned it bitter.

The unpredictable temper of the jealous sky hit them with threatening roars,

and swallowed them with cruel torrents.

The two one-eyed fish struggled hard

not to be swept away, not to be separated.

"Hang on!"

They desperately cried to each other.

But alas! The fish with the left eye quickly felt worn out.

The moment the right-eyed fish turned around to lead the way,

the left-eyed fish shrieked.

A fierce current took the left-eyed fish out of the pond

and it fell over a precipice.

After a while, silence came over the pond.

The whole world seemed still as if nothing had happened,

or as if there were nothing more to happen.

The right-eyed fish could hear a faraway cry,

a cry for no one but him to recognize as his beloved's.

He followed the cry, but could not reply to it.

The steep distance between them threw him in despair.

"Now that you are gone, I see no reason to be here myself."

Guilt often leads the one who survived to a hopeless decision.

Just as the right-eyed fish was about to throw himself down into the deep void,

a stranger wrapped him with its long body and saved him.

It was an old eel, one-eyed himself, who had been watching the right-eyed fish.

The old eel listened to the sad story of the right-eyed fish with

tears in his eyes.

The story resonated with what he had been through a long time ago--

the painful parting with the one he loved

and the intense desire to meet her again.

The old eel wished the story would end differently for this young fish.

Differently, that is, happily.

"I pray my body, though old and infirm, be allowed to be used

to span the distance between these two loving fish."

Perhaps his heartfelt prayer was answered.

Because upon saying these words,

the old eel's body began to grow longer and longer

until it finally transformed into a waterfall over the precipice.

The right-eyed fish leapt into the waterfall,

with his heart full of love and gratitude.

When he reached the bottom of the cliff,

he looked up at the sky and saw a beautiful rainbow.

It was as if the old eel were giving his best wishes for the two fish.

Splash!

The right-eyed fish turned around to find the left-eyed fish swimming

towards him

Tears of joy sprang from his eye.

Love, gained despite the painful trial.

They knew being together would make them a perfect and whole being.

Isn't that the true and genuine meaning of love?

Sweet, right? Along the path to the waterfall, Zipsky installed certain "love seats," and created a small platform in the shape of the heart...it's all very sweet...

(Veronica and Alexis on the love seat--it's slanted inward to avoid any confusion about its purpose.)

(This heart-shaped deck was built under a "love tree," two trees with separate roots that grew together. The story is that if you bring the one you love here, they'll be yours forever.)

Anywho, to publish this story on wooden panels along the hike to the waterfall, my neighbor needed to translate it from Korean to English. And so he asked me to help out with the translation. That led to several other translation projects throughout the past six months or so. As repayment, he offered to take me and a few friends out to try out the ziplines once they were in working order.

It took a little convincing though. He told me that there would be three separate ziplines, starting from about the start of the hike all the way down to the waterfall. During the second zipline, the rider is actually 300 feet in the air, traveling at about 30 mph. Chris wanted me to try out the first two ziplines. He assured me that several groups of tourists have tried the two that were up and running, and they all loved it. I still needed convincing, but once he showed me a video of a 250 pound man successfully riding the line, I decided to give it a whirl.

So one Sunday morning, Veronica, Alexis, Ben, and I headed up the Ngardmau. After not signing any releases and joking about four American lawyers trying out an unfinished project like this, we ziplined! There was definitely a few moments of panic before the very first line, but each of the two ziplines only lasted about 30 seconds. Here are a few shots...

(I may have been a little nervous. See My Backwards Helmet.)

(Alexis, cool as a cucumber...If that teddy bear can do it, so can we, right?)

(Ahhhhhhh!)

Afterwards, because the third zipline was not yet "safe for humans," we opted to climb down the ride of the jungle hill, hike through the river, and enjoy some time at the waterfall, and then get VIP seats on the newly installed monoline...happy to avoid the long hike back up...

(The monoline is powered by what looks to be a lawn mower motor...worked like a charm!)

The zipline opened to the public about a month after we tried it, and apparently it's been such a hit that there are a total of five ziplines in working order. Not a bad way to add a little more adventure to a hike through a jungle river!

Homer's Odyssey Chapter 2: Tom Visits and Homer Gets Tempermental

When Tom visited, we had a great time out on the Rock Islands, swimming at PPR, hiking to the waterfall, and rubbing elbows with the President (aka, seeing him nearby at a restaurant). But that doesn't mean he was pampered the whole time--he was driving Homer after all.

One day, I went to work and planned to give Tom the car over my lunch hour so he could explore Koror a little if he wanted. About 20 minutes after I got into work, the marshals called to let me know that one of my back tires was completely flat. Oy! So I took my errand time and headed to a nearby gas station to fill it up, hoping that the tire would make it through the day. I let Tom know that he should keep an eye on it, but that he'd be able to drive around town without too much trouble. So I was relieved when at the end of the day Tom picked me up and the tire was in tact! But then I saw the expression on poor Tom's face. He informed me that the folks at PPR had to fill up Homer's completely flat tire. Way to take care of your little bro Island Girl!

Hearing this, I thought OK, it's almost 5 and all the auto repair shops will be closing...and I told Tom we'd go out for dinner. And obviously we didn't want to spend the night walking back to my apartment. What to do?? Then I remembered a small shop on the route back to my apartment with the sign reading "Fix Tire Available Here."

We pulled up, and the shop lived up to the hype...after 20 minutes and $4 (woohoo!), the tire was fixed. So Tom and I hopped back into Homer, happy to head to dinner. But apparently Homer wasn't in the mood for sashimi because he wouldn't start. Arrgh! And because the sign described the entirety of that shop's services, they didn't have jumper cables or a booster to get Homer up and running. And of course the auto shop next door closed 5 minutes before we realized Homer had died, and no mechanics I knew were answering their phones. To add insult to Homer's injury, Tom was nursing a sunburn that only a Wisconsin boy on the equator could manage, and the flies were starting to bite.

I looked around helplessly at the men at the repair shop, and one of them, who'd just stopped by to pick up a few tires for himself--and didn't actually work there--grabbed a set of jumper cables from his nearby car. I figured we were saved once he volunteered to help out, but when he tried to start the car, Homer wasn't budging. He took a look at my battery and announced it was "too small for the car." Hmmm...not a question I thought of asking when I bought Homer...lesson learned I guess!

So now what? Well, isn't it obvious? Our good Samaritan promptly walked over to his car, took the battery out, walked it back to Homer, took out Homer's battery, put his battery in Homer, my battery in his (smaller) car, and successfully jumped Homer.

Whaaa?? Now, I've mentioned that I have little to no car expertise, but this isn't a run of the mill tactic in car starting, right? I mean he was basically juggling batteries back and forth between the cars. I was half expecting an explosion...but I really wanted to get Homer up and running so I just kept my distance and crossed my fingers.

Given that we were able to juice up Homer's mini-battery, our friend switched the batteries back, but Homer was just being stubborn and still refused to start. And that's when Tom and I learned just how fantastic folks in Palau are. This man offered to switch the batteries back, follow us to my apartment, and then switch them back so that Tom and I could get home together and I could have a mechanic come to my apartment the next morning instead of the side of the road.

I'm going to guess that it wasn't part of his evening's plans, but he insisted and we gratefully accepted. So we performed the battery switch-a-roo once again, Tom and I ended up enjoying a large amount of poke sashimi, and I tallied yet another time I've been helped out by complete strangers. I guess I have Homer to thank for making me appreciate Palau in a way I wouldn't have otherwise!

Palau Half Marathon: My Quest for T-shirts Continues

I'm still in Palau and haven't forgotten about the blog! Sorry about the silence over the past month, I've gotten a bit caught up in diving, running, basketball-ing, zip lining, playing in treehouses, swimming, and (of course) car repairing. The silver lining is that all my running around has provided excellent blogging material. So let's start with running!

The Palau Half Marathon took place on April 2, 2011, just a week after I returned from visiting Jesse in Hawaii. After almost two weeks where I consumed only macadamia nuts, coconut syrup, and waffles, and my training consisted of boogie boarding and playing about 20 games of foosball a day, I wasn't feeling all that confident in my half marathoning abilities. But...

Yup! Somehow I managed to win for the women. And a picture made it into the Island Times...a picture that was immediately post-race and will never leave Palau if I have anything to say about it. So you'll just have to settle on a few of the photos that I had editorial control over...

(A post-race photo with all the participants. The last 100 yards or so were across the beach at PPR. Hopping into the ocean after finishing the race wasn't half bad!)

(Some of the ladies from the judiciary raced too!)

Overall, the race was a ton of fun. But man, there were some low points! The race started in the state of Aimeliik, which is on the west side of Babeldaob about six miles away from the bridge to Koror.

(Aimeliik is the light green state on the west side of Babeldaob. We started there and ran south over the Japan-Palau Friendship bridge into Koror, then onto Arakabesang, where PPR, the finish line, is located.)

It was scheduled to start at 5:30 in the morning, so participants met in downtown Koror at about 5 am and drove up to Aimeliik. We started on a gravel road about a mile and a half off the main road, in complete darkness. It was pretty funny to see everyone standing around waiting to start the race...or, I guess to not see everyone waiting around to start the race. But we had a few trucks to guide us, and a few runners had lights on their hats or shirts, so we were able to start running without running into each other. The first 1/2 mile or so was a lot of fun...I felt the great surge of adrenaline and excitement that I usually feel at the start of the race.

And then it started raining. And I started kicking myself. Now, the day before, I'd been trying to figure out whether I wanted to wear sunglasses or a hat, and bored various people with my thought process (much like I'm boring you now!). Ultimately I decided on sunglasses only, thinking that the sunglasses were lighter and I could deal with the rain with just sunglasses, so they'd serve me better in the long run. What I didn't think about was that it would start raining when the sun wasn't up yet. So...once it started pouring, I had put on my sunglasses in the pitch dark. Nice planning Anna!

As I ran through the darker dark, I tried my best to protect my ipod, but there really wasn't much that could be done because I was drenched to the bone after about 15 seconds of the rain. There was no tree coverage on the side of the road, so I stuffed it inside my already soaked shirt and hoped that I wasn't breaking my ipod for the second time.

The heavy rain came down for about the first 30 minutes of the race, and then settled into a sprinkle, which was quite pleasant despite the fact that my shoes weighed about 3 times their normal weight. And thankfully the sun started rising so I could actually see where I was going. So from about mile 3 to 7, I was content running through Aimeliik on the compact road. The route was smooth, there were relaxing rolling hills along the way, and the rain made for a cool sunrise.

But then we hit the halfway point, and we had to climb the K-B (Koror-Babeldaob) bridge, the "friendship bridge" funded by the Japanese in 2002.

It looks so picturesque right? Well it's also steep and painful, and after finishing it, we had to deal with a steady incline over the next 2 miles or so. That was particularly painful. About a mile and a half into the incline, I was ready to walk. But as luck would have it, I passed by a water station, and lo and behold, the President of Palau was standing there, cheering on the runners! I refused to look like a wimp in front of him, so I plugged on, and finally got into downtown Koror, where I was able to glide downhill for almost about 15 minutes and get some encouragement from Holly and Veronica, who'd woken up at about 4 am to man water stations. They even made me a sign!

The last mile or so of the race on Arakabesang involved 2 steep climbs and some powerful sunshine, but because I live on Arakabesang, I'd run the hills before and knew what to expect. And of course, finishing the race running along the beach looking out on the Pacific made me completely forget all those hills. Despite the rain, pain, and subsequent limping, I'd say that I'd do it again--not just for the t-shirt.

(Boom.)

Kryptonite!

Even though most of the activities I report on involve the water in some way, the biggest sport here is clearly basketball. At any given time there are three difference leagues competing at the Palau National Gymnasium, there are basketball hoops in every hamlet (that's what they call neighborhoods here), and the last page of every issue of the Island Times includes at least two articles about that week's games.

Palauan basketball is impressive too. What may be lost in the height that the best players in the states have is easily made up for in three-point shooting, ball handling, and speed.

My sisters will tell you that basketball...well it's just not my sport. I played in grade school and for a bit in high school, where I promptly got cut at the the beginning of my junior year. So it's not that I choose not to play, it's that I've been asked not to play. And although the Schumaker fam has been known to play some pretty intense games of lightning, when I get involved it inevitably becomes a chance for Lisa and Kelly to play "tackle Anna." I get the impression that I serve more of a comedic than athletic role when we play. And to top it off, it's been literally over a decade since I've played in an actual game, so the little skill I have is rusty.

Given my spotty history, when Veronica asked me whether I wanted to join the Palau Women's League and play for a team called Sam's Kryptonite, it was a good thing I hesitated. But Veronica, Holly, and Justice Foster were all playing, so I decided to give it a whirl as well. After all, Kryptonite is coached by Jubilee, who's been coaching and playing in Palau for years, and is basically the go-to person for all things basketball as far as I'm concerned.

We started practicing in the beginning of December. I've figured out how to shoot and handle the ball again, but I'm definitely not playing point guard any time soon. And I've come to the sad realization that I'm getting old because my ankles are killing me! Thankfully, my sister Lisa has some fancy-pants basketball shoes that she was willing to send me. I've been told that wearing her "And 1's" made me legit. So even though my 5 foot 4 inch frame doesn't look like that of a basketball player, and I don't really play like one, from below the knee I'm [insert really good basketball player's name here].

Practice takes place on an outdoor court near one of the schools here. It's not too shabby, our court is on a cleared field surrounded by coconut trees, and it's somewhat high up. So we play until the sun sets, or until it rains to the point where we're slipping and sliding all over the court. I've had a few not so gracious falls during practice. Like I said, I provide comic relief!

During practice we split the court with some of the kids from the neighborhoods, and Jubilee and our tough-as-nails assistant coach Ryan (Holly's fiance) run us through some drills. And then we attempt to scrimmage the neighborhood kids--they consistently trounce us in bare feet. Turns out, the And 1's don't carry much weight here. Despite the fact that Veronica, Holly, and Justice Foster are all very tall and athletic, these kids weave around us and make shots--more often than not 3 pointers--every time. So before the league officially started, our confidence was pretty low.

But thankfully we've got a bunch of other really talented ladies with experience playing Palauan ball. So we pressed on, kept on practicing, and we're going into the playoffs with a record of 5 and 5 (if memory serve). We've had some tough losses, and learned the hard way the "take no prisoners" attitude. The teams to beat are Money and Bring It On. Team Money (and I thought we had the perfect team name) has at least four women that played on the national team during the Micronesian games this past August, so they were tough. We stuck with them during the first half, but they pulled away in the end, beating us by 8. And when we attempted to take on Bring It On, we failed pretty miserably. We don't need to go into the score...let's just say we lost by more than 8. It wouldn't be that bit of a pride issue, but as I mentioned before, the Island Times reports the scores, making a 30-point loss sting a bit more. But lately we've been making some great ground, including a 90 to 42 victory! Put that score in the newspaper!

This coming week we head into play-offs. I'll keep you all posted on how we do. I'll do my best not to trip over my own two feet, throw airballs, and get beat on defense--not that any of that has happened...

Let's go Kryptonite!

Here are the girls!

Homer's Odyssey. Chapter 1: Babeldaob Debacle

Hey folks! Sorry about the silence lately. I just got back from a two-week long trip to Hawaii. Jesse and I met up there over his spring break from law school. We had a great time. Extremely uneventful, with the exception of some amazing basketball, which is exactly what we wanted. But more on that later. As we lazily drove around the Big Island in our electric blue rented mustang (feel free to judge), we thought back on our last road trip together, leading us into the first chapter of Homer's Odyssey through Palau...

Now, after I got Homer back in October, the first time he wouldn't start for me was when I was heading out of the PPR parking lot on a rainy Saturday afternoon. I had been helping out with a triathlon since about 4 am, so I was, to say the least, a bit cranky when my "new" car wouldn't start. A few incredibly helpful employees called and truck and jumped Homer back to life.

After Homer got back in action, I drove him straight to the auto shop, demanding (in the most "Anna" way possible) that they check all the fluids and fix whatever went wrong. This led to an education about auto care in Palau. Angie told me that, yes, I was low on fluids...the battery needed more water! Now, my chemistry is definitely rusty, but if I've learned anything from my ipod/rain experience, it's that water and batteries typically don't combine well. But I've learned that that's the first question everyone asks when you have a problem with your battery here. OK. Noted. Keep water in battery.

Now, I thought that with this new kernel of knowledge under my belt, I could head off any future car problems with the motto "Just add water!" Homer had other plans though.

When Jesse was in Palau about a month later, we decided to take a day trip up to Babeldaob to see the capitol and check out some of the sites, possibly the waterfall and monoliths. And so Homer, Jesse, and I optimistically headed out of Koror on what should have been a three hour tour.

As I've mentioned, Babeldaob is the largest of Palau's islands, and most Palauan states are located on this island. Because the commercial center of Palau is in Koror, there are very few businesses or residences up there, and many of the roads aren't paved and are extremely rocky. Thanks to U.S. financial support, Palau recently finished completing the compact road, which is a nice, smooth 85 km long paved road that outlines Babeldaob. Here's my map of Babeldaob. If you look closely, you can see the red lines showing the compact road:

Because all our planned stops were along the compact road, Jesse and I weren't concerned that Homer's undercarriage is about 5 inches off the ground. We were so sure of ourselves that we got overly-adventurous and decided to take the "scenic route" to visit the capital building in Melekeok state. As we took a right off the main road onto a gravel road, I assured Jesse that Ben had once taken this route to the capital too. Apparently my memory isn't as sharp as I'd thought, because Ben reminded me later that, sure, he'd started on that road, but then quickly realized his mistake, and turned back. Probably a detail that would have been useful for me to remember.

Well, as we drove down the gravel road, it quickly narrowed to the point where Homer was as wide as the road, and the gravel turned into rocky clay. We drove along just fine for a few minutes, just taking the increasingly abrupt ups and downs as slowly as possible. But the sound of rock scraping metal wasn't pretty. After about 15 minutes of constant scraping and inching along at about 5 mph, Jesse and I looked at each other. This would have been the most logical time for us to turn back. But for whatever reason, we were both feeling adventurous, and so I justified continuing on by saying "We'll be fine. I've got my phone!" Had I taken the time to look at my phone, I would have realized that it didn't have service, but clearly we'd left behind logic at this point.

And so we inched forward, and the road turned from rocky to just rocks. And our 5 miles per hour turned into stopping every ten feet or so, saying that Homer just wouldn't make it over the rocks, and inching forward, hearing clanking and scraping as the rocks tore poor Homer apart. At one point, we had to drive down a hill and Jesse tried to insist that I get out of the car, so that if Homer's brakes had gone out, at least one of us was safe. Although I was touched by his chivalry, I stayed in the car and we made it down unscathed.

But Homer didn't. By the time we finally made it into a town with paved roads in Melekeok--about an hour an a half after turning off the main road--Jesse announced that the power steering was shot. To avoid getting stranded up on Babeldaob, we decided to head straight back to Koror. And, to add insult to injury, we learned that had we simply stayed on compact road, it would have taken us about 5 minutes to Melekeok! Nice work Anna!

Poor Homer. He's just not cut out for off-roading. After that day, I decided it was time to treat Homer to some TLC with my mechanic, to fix up the power steering and anything else I may have broken. Leading us to Chapter 2: Auto Mechanic Fail!