Sokehs Rock

This Saturday about 16 of us decided to go on a hike. Three of the current volunteers offered to lead us up Sokehs Rock, and good Lord, what a day. As it turns out, the volunteers underrepresented the difficulty of the hike. “A little steep” and “not too bad” turned into the most physically taxing day of my life. No joke. I don’t think I have EVER sweated as much as I did on that hike. And about halfway up, in true Pohnpei fashion, it began to pour for a good 20-30 minutes. The rain was a Godsend, as we were all so hot, but we probably could have lived without the mud (and there was a LOT of it). We kept up morale by singing every song we could think of involving rain (“If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain it would be...”). 

One very interesting thing about Pohnpei, and FSM in general, is there is old, rusty military equipment just laying around (mostly Japanese), like ships still in the water or run aground, tanks left abandoned, and giant tank-like guns. Two such guns were up on Sokehs, and it was really incredible to see. We climbed all over them and got a few group shots. I’ll try to get a hold of one to post for you guys. It’s so interesting, because in America these sorts of things would be roped off and preserved as history, but here, Micronesians don’t really think much of them. They’re just ever-present reminders of the country’s past.

Against all odds we finally made it to the top, and the hardships were all worth it, because the view was spectacular. The rain finally let up once we got to the top, so we were able to really appreciate it all. We ate our lunches at the top, then slipped, tripped, slid, and fell all the way down the muddy “trails”.  It was excellent. 

Then the idea came up to just walk down the road a bit (30-45 minutes, said one volunteer) to a great swimming spot. We were all dirty and sweaty, so we agreed. As it turns out, the volunteer had only ever driven out to the spot, so she was just estimating the walk time. 1 hour and 45 minutes later, we finally arrive at a coal mining facility, which we walk through and discover is adjacent to a perfect, private swimming spot, complete with a giant rusty war ship still tied to the dock. Gorgeous scenery, as was expected. I mean, come on. It’s Micronesia. Again, the walk was worth it, but we figure we probably walked 8 miles so far (from home to trail, entire trail, from trail to water), so we opted for taxi’s home. Definitely worth the $2 fare. I don’t think I have ever been this physically sore in my life. I passed out at 7:30 that night and slept almost 14 hours. It was wonderful.

But you should all Google Sokehs Rock. It’s quite spectacular. I find out my permanent placement this coming Friday, and if it’s not Pohnpei, at least I’ll know I took in the sights before I left.

Hope you are all well. Enjoy the air-conditioning for me.

--Christy