Despite the long trip and adjustment to being 14 hours ahead of Chicago time, my first and second day in Palau were jam-packed. Friday was spent unpacking, meeting members of the Supreme Court staff, and running errands. And Saturday...well, it deserves it's own blog post.
Instead of hitting the ground running when I got to Palau, I hit the ground hiking, and hit the water kayaking and snorkeling. As I write this a little over a week in, my sleep schedule is still a bit out of whack. Last week, I was rising at 5 and falling asleep at 8. I think I'm getting the hang of things now...my schedule is from about 5:30 to 9:30 or 10, depending on how many of those tasty mango drinks I indulge in. It's definitely a different schedule, but I decided early on to embrace it.
So Saturday morning I went for my first run around my neighborhood at about 5, and was chomping at the bit to head out for my first excursion with my co-clerks Ben and Veronica, and Alexis, a new lawyer at the AG's office.
It sounded harmless enough, but it turned out to be much more involved than any kayaking trip I'd been on before. I expected to take the group boat out to a good snorkeling area, paddle around, and be back a little after noon. Newly Island Girl Anna, you're dead wrong.
We did start out the trip taking a boat ride out to a good area for kayaking, which we did for about 25 minutes. Given that this was my first time out on the water in Palau, I was wowed by the beautiful, clear water, and all of the Rock Islands (the uninhabited islands of Palau). I was (and still am) getting over the shock that this secluded and fantastic place is my new home.
And then my arms got tired just as our guide pulled up to a beach. Sweet! A break, right? Nope...this just began one of the hiking portions of the trip. Our guide led us into a cave, stalactytes/stalagmytes and all, and showed us an area where apparently very old Palauan bodies had been buried...he pulled out a couple of bones from a stump to prove it to us. Now, our guide was a bit of a jokester, so we had a little difficulty figuring out what was fact or fiction. So I was either holding ancient Palauan or ancient cow bones. Either way, I was walking through a cave holding bones. Not too shabby.
After our first cave, we kayaked more...except the wind was against us and I (not surprisingly to those of you who know my sense of direction) started paddling in the wrong direction. So I spent the next 40 minutes paddling against the wind as quickly as I could, cursing myself for getting so out of shape and hoping my new friends wouldn't judge my lack of athleticism. When I finally caught up, we headed into a small cave on our kayaks, and our guide pointed out a tree trunk on the outside opening of the cave. He told us that we could climb up a pathway to the tree trunk and jump into the water of the cave, which was apparently about 50 feet deep. Veronica, Ben, and I decided to give it a go. There are some things on this trip that I'll document through photos and videotapes. You should be glad that this wasn't one of them. Although it was exhilarating, my 15 foot jump from the tree trunk was anything but graceful and apparently involved a high-pitched shriek.
After a bit more kayaking, we pulled up to Disney Bay, and were told that we'd be snorkeling through to Disney Lake to see some amazing coral. I couldn't quite hear our guide when he was talking about the plan to "snorkel through to Disney Lake," which was probably a good thing. We started snorkeling, and I followed the group to the entrance to Disney Lake--a cave where the air opening was about a foot high for 20 feet or so. Now, most of you know that I've been swimming forever and was a lifeguard for 6 or 7 years, so I'm really comfortable in the water. What only some of you know is that I have a terrible fear of being trapped under water and panic any time someone holds me down (a few of my lifeguard friends loved this and started the "Drown Anna" game, which didn't help alleviate this fear). I'm not exactly proud of this, but it's a fact. But it's also a fact that I succumb to peer pressure really easily, so when I realized what I'd have to do and the alternative...well, through the cave I went! And I came out unscathed...well my body did...the top of my snorkel repeatedly scraped the top of the cave as I went through. But the trip was definitely worth it, because we got to see coral that very few people have ever come into contact with. We couldn't stay long because the tide was rising, so our time to snorkel back through the cave was waning. We made another trip through the shrinking cave, and then hopped back on the kayaks for more paddling!
You'd think that'd be enough for one day, right? Nope again! After our lunch break, we turned back to hiking, where our guide had us climb up to an old Japanese bunker on the top of one of the Rock Islands. Then--you guessed it!--We were back on the kayaks again to head to our final snorkeling destination. I was pretty tuckered out by this point, but the sun was shining and the water was incredibly clear, so I enjoyed my last bout with my paddle. Once we finished up with the last snorkel, our guide--never failing to impress--took us to see the most poisonous snake in the world. We weren't entirely sure how he was able to find their lair, but suddenly our boat pulled up alongside a small opening in one of the Rock Islands, and we saw several of these guys curled up in the rocks.
Apparently these little creatures are incredibly "gentle" but pack a strong enough punch when biting you to kill a human in less than 5 minutes! (http://www.earth-touch.com/result.php?i=Up-close-with-one-of-the-worlds-most-toxic-snakes-) So obviously I had to crawl as close as I could to take a few photos. Sorry Mom!
After avoiding death, we drove by a few remnants from WW2....
...and headed back to shore. Not bad for my second day in Palau, huh?
Hope everyone is doing well! Now that I've hooked up the internet at my apartment, I'll be updating everyone sooner on life as court counsel for the Supreme Court of Palau! But in the meantime, here's what happens when you place Anna in humidity.
(there's no controlling it)
P.S. The sun sets here at about 6:00 pm. I welcome any and all suggestions on how I can fill up my evening sans cable!
I love your crazy hair.
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