Weno - A study of contrasts

Written on a recent trip to Weno, the main island of Chuuk State.

The beauty of Weno lies not on the land but on top of and beneath the lagoon that spreads out below and before me. In front of me clouds rise from the horizon in multi-hued brilliance like a canyon wall closing off the outside world. They lay, one on top of another, stacked from the sea to the sky in all shades of blue and grey during the twilight hour. Westward, the sun lingers somewhere behind the wall of clouds. A few strong rays penetrate a layer of clouds producing swirls of a pinkish salmon color that peak through blend with the blue-gray curtain of clouds.

I didn’t bring my camera on this trip and now wish I had. For the last three nights I have sat as the minutes passed by watching the horizon as the sky changed from blue to black. On past trips to Weno I had brought my camera but the lense only focused on the road. Rainfilled potholes as deep as ditches are as prevelant as holes on a piece of Swiss cheese. Dirty water washes into and out of the potholes until the road is covered in a layer of slimy mud. The potoholes are so common and so deep that no one travels more than 15 miles per hour. Every few feet drivers brake so the car can gently roll into the ditchlike potholes. When possible, they turn into parking lots or the oncoming lane to avoide the holes. The joke on Weno is that the way you can tell if a person is driving drunk is if he is driving in a straight line.

When the road is behind me, beauty is in front. Between my 3rd floor hotel balcony and the clouds, the calm lagoon water sits. Digesting and reflecting the color, a purple hue spreads across the surface. The water, disturbed only when a small boats skims the water heading from Weno back to a lagoon island, produces the occasional ripple but otherwise is as still as the full moon at midnight.

Beneath the surface another type of beauty exists. Spread througout the lagoon are 40 Japanese ships sunk in battle during World War II. Nature and time have removed the ugliness of war and few remnants of battle remain. Brightly covered corral decorate the ship’s sides hiding the dull gray steel. Schools of fish now occupy the spaces where sailors once stood watch. They are peaceful, silent, and present everwhere. Their numbers suggest that the lagoon is healthy, vibrant, teeming with life.

Behind me, the opposite is true. There is nothing healthy looking on the island. Litter lines the streams feeding the lagoon. Abandoned cars rust and tin shacks rust on the side of the road and everything seems in need of a fresh coat of paint.

Weno – A study of contrasts.