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It's 7:00 am right now. I think it's mostly light out, but since my eyes are only half open, I'm not sure. Half of our group has gone diving (left the house at 6:15) so they can finish their Advanced Scuba certification.
The other half of our group is still asleep. It's easy to sleep in the tropics, except for the roosters. They don't seem to be able to sleep through the night — crowing at the top of their little rooster lungs. As a general rule, we've decided we like roosters just fine, but wish they would not crow so much while it's still dark.
A few days ago a tropical storm blew by Yap that caused no damage, but did make the coconut trees sway like hula dancers. There was semi-serious discussion among some group members (who shall remain anonymous) as to whether we should fit plastic shopping bags to the backs of the roosters in the hope that they would parasail over to the next village. We decided against it out of compassion for the next village.
Our most physical day of work so far has been helping clean up the Tamilyog Trail. This traditional stone path was built many generations ago by Yapese as a way to get across the island. Each stone was laid individually to form a sturdy path. The trail starts just beside our house in the village of Kanif, and winds past people's homes, taro patches, and betel nut trees.
This is the "agroforest," what Charles Chieng (Chief of Dalipebinaw) calls "the grocery store, hardware store, and pharmacy of Yap." Knowledgeable locals know virtually every plant species present — which ones are edible, which are medicinal, which can be used for construction, etc.
And, they know which ones can hurt you. Back home in North Carolina, we have Poison Ivy. On Yap, they have the Poison Tree. The tree made such an impression on the Japanese during their time of occupation that they named it "the tree with black sap that rots the flesh." I'm sure it sounds better in Japanese. Regardless, no one in our group encountered it.
Climbing in elevation, the trail leaves the agroforest behind and crosses the grasslands of central Yap. Once in the grasslands, the Tamilyog Trail intersects the other trails that collectively make up the traditional "highway" system of Yap. Before roads, these were the major transportation routes between villages and municipalities.
Now, however, many of these traditional paths are overgrown with vegetation. Typhoons don't help in this regard. Typhoon Sudal, which hit April 9, blew down countless trees over the trail. Our job was to clear the trail, and make it useable again.
Two foresters from the U. S. Forest Service were on hand to man the chainsaws. Our job was to move the brush and tree limbs off the trail and into the forest. The trail was over two miles long, and we worked from 9:00 to 3:00. It was hard, hot work. By the end of it though, we had a real sense of accomplishment. We celebrated by devouring several pizzas at Manta Ray Bay Hotel.
We have also found time to relax and see the island in a more comfortable manner. Yesterday, we arranged for a local guide to take us on a land tour of Yap. We piled into a 15-passenger air-conditioned bus and set out to see the sites.
We started with several Japanese military relics (blown up planes, anti-aircraft guns, etc.) from WWII. There was no hand-to-hand combat on Yap like in other Micronesian islands (Pelilieu, Saipan, Tinian, etc.), but there were plenty of bombs dropped by the U.S. Navy in 1944.
The story is that the Japanese commander on Yap actually was working with U.S. forces, and ordered his planes to remain on the ground when the Americans started to attack. All of the Japanese planes were destroyed. The bomb craters have since developed into their own little pond ecosystems with pollywogs, dragonflies, and marsh grasses.
We also saw more traditional sites such as stone money banks, dancing platforms, and men's houses. Our tour guide explained the hierarchical nature of Yapese culture, with the villages being ranked in status based on battles fought between them in the 1800's. Also, within each village, families may be ranked based on the land they own.
At the Bechiyal cultural center, we practiced climbing coconut trees and explored the men's houses that were devastated by Typhoon Sudal. One house was reduced to a pile of loose rubble.
This weekend we will be doing more scuba diving and going on a boat tour of the island. I'll let you know how they are!
— Dr. Reed Perkins | 
