We took off with hiking packs, a tent and fins, carrying even fewer plans and expectations; to a place I hardly knew about. The more we discovered that very little was written about our destination, it drew even more appeal. I just couldn\u2019t wait.
\nOver 30 hours after leaving Boston, my adventure companion and I landed in the Republic of Palau. \u2018New Time Zone\u2019 is a misrepresentation. Zombie-like, I was nearly convinced we had flown beyond planet Earth. One long layover in Houston, and we continued across the Pacific, stopping in Honolulu, Guam, and the island nation of Yap. Once our passports were stamped, we were graciously picked up by Larry from the Tree D Hotel around 11:30 p.m. We had arranged two nights, planning to \u2018wing\u2019 the rest. The Tree D was perfect for hatching-out our adventure: affordable, air-conditioned, in one-blister-walking distance to town, and closer yet to a gas station that sold homemade donuts. This was more exciting than being able to buy bottled water! I realize I should probably get my priorities straight. Turns out, EPA tested the water in Koror, Palau a few years back and it\u2019s fine! Region 9, we need to talk.<\/p>\n
Outside the airport, as we piled our packs into his vehicle Larry exclaimed,<\/p>\n
\u201cWow, it\u2019s busy tonight!\u201d<\/p>\n
We groggily looked at each other, and then at the \u2018crowd\u2019 of passengers from the half-filled, lone, Boeing 737, exiting the desolate airport, grinning wildly.<\/p>\n
It was a dark ride, but I already began to take in the mystique of Palau, watching the broad tropical leaves in the headlights, and catching the warm breeze in the backseat. I already felt the eerie shadows stubbornly lingering from WWII, contrasting with the sincerity and helpfulness of the people that live there and the communal simplicity of their lifestyle. It seemed no one is out to prove anything to anyone, or gain at another\u2019s expense. I\u2019ve never seen such contentment in so many faces, and it became clear that we didn\u2019t just enter a new country; we came into a place where an individual, for good or for bad, isn\u2019t easily forgotten.<\/p>\n
Palau Part I<\/p>\n
About the author: Jeanethe Falvey lives in Boston, working since 2007 for EPA\u2019s New England Office as a Public Affairs Specialist, and a Superfund Community Involvement Coordinator. Currently Jeanethe is on detail to EPA\u2019s Office of Web Communications in Washington D.C. working on web and social media outreach.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We took off with hiking packs, a tent and fins, carrying even fewer plans and expectations; to a place I hardly knew about. The more we discovered that very little was written about our destination, it drew even more appeal. I just couldn\u2019t wait. Over 30 hours after leaving Boston, my adventure companion and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-420305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}