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| Traditional Dress |
As we came out of
customs we were greeted by a lady dressed in a lava lava (traditional colorful grass
skirt) and something like a lei that is woven from thick strips of palm leaves
with small red flowers woven in. She was
topless but I did not realize that until later because the lei covered her very
well. She gave each of us a smaller
version of her lei as we came out of customs.
Just like most tropical airports
this one was completely open to the warm humid night air.
We were on Yap to
scuba dive which I have already written about but we also discovered a very
rich and traditional culture. Part of
the joy of travel is the research you do ahead of time but I have to admit I
did absolutely no research on Yap before this trip. In my mind, Yap was just a minor stop to see
the Manta Rays so I spent my time reading about Palau.
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| Men's House |
I underestimated
Yap!! Populated well before the birth of
Christ by sailors from Indonesia and the Philippines the Yapese have always
been known for their great navigation skills.
When you live in a place that is less than .03% land and GPS has not
been invented yet, you better know how to navigate by reading the sea, clouds
and stars. While the modern world has
invaded Yap with mini-marts, cell phones and Wi-Fi many people still live a
very traditional life. The social
structure is a caste system with a strict social rank and each area is led by a
chief. The men never change their social
rank but women can change by marriage. They
still meet in community houses built out of palm leaves, coconut rope, tree
trunks, and bamboo with low eves to keep out the sun but open sides to allow
air flow. They are very cool inside on a
hot day. Built the same, but a bit
smaller is the “men’s house” where men hold meetings and just gather to get
away. Much like a man cave today, only
no electricity for the big screen TV.
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| Stone Money Bank |
Their
financial system historically consisted of various sizes of stone money that
was carved from Palau and brought back to the island. Even today local people still own stone money
and use it to buy land and homes. When
you think of stone money, you think of small coin size pieces carved from
stone, right? Well no, their stone money
ranges from small sizes like that to very large round stones taller than a man
with a hole in the middle. We visited a
stone money “bank.” It was a path lined
with all sizes of round wheel-like stones each with a hole in the middle used
to carry them back to the island. The
money never moves but does change ownership.
Its value comes in the history of the stone and how it was carved. A small stone, carved by hand with a giant clam
shell and brought over long ago on a wooden canoe is more valuable than a much
larger stone carved with more modern metal tools and brought over on a large
ship. When the stone changes hands the
current owner must pass down the history of the stone to the new owner. A long rich history adds value to the
stone.
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| Betel Nut and Pepper Leaf |
Something very unique
to Yap and almost nowhere else is the chewing of Betel Nut. This is an addiction that is much like
smoking, chewing tobacco or habitual coffee drinking here in the states. I don’t remember meeting one Yapese adult
that did not chew Betel Nut. The Betel
Nut grows on a palm like tree; they pick a green nut, crack it in half, put
lime inside (not the fruit, but ground up limestone) and wrap the whole thing
in a pepper leaf. Put it in the back of the
mouth and slowly chew, spitting out the extra juice. Doing this causes the juices to become a
bright red color and if you did not know any better you might think a chewer
was bleeding in the mouth. The red color
stains the teeth and anything else it is spat upon. In many stores there are no spitting signs
and there are spitting cans outside to keep it from staining the sidewalk. Our tour guide extraordinaire, Theo, sat us
down in the men’s house, showed us the process and let us try it. I tried it
and it gave me a small head rush like a first cigarette but I did not chew too
long. Your dentist would not be very
happy with you if you chewed Betel Nut on a regular basis, it is not easy on
the teeth.
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| WWII Wreck |
Yap did not become
entangled in WWII until late, April 1944, when the Japanese build a runway so
the Americans started bombing it. I
asked what the local people did during that time and was told some left to live
with family in other areas and some stayed trying to avoid the dangerous
action. In that short time it saw its
share of WWII action and there are still many war relics scattered over the
island and in the surrounding sea. There
are still 120 American men listed as MIA on Yap. You might ask, why, how is that
possible? I did. But with the depth of the sea, the steep
ocean shelf and the extremely dense jungle, it is very possible. There are planes that went down over Yap that
have never been found and one that was discovered as recently as 2006.
I have a lot of
respect for the Yap people they seem to have done a great job at adopting the
modern conveniences of life without losing their rich heritage. Yap is
a place I would like to return to; for great diving and to experience more of
the daily life of the local people!
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