Neighborhood

Dinner with friends in tiny apartment. 

Every once in a while we hang around with our lovely neighbors. 

Satomi works in a bakery, Shinji works in a lodge, Sugi does Hawaiian dyeing, Reiko is a nursery teacher, Tsuyoshi is a chef. They all do Ocean sports, surfing, supping, swimming and snorkeling.

bird talk

 

You guys! That road is very dangerous! I've seen gigantic machines with wheels moving at high speed! I know the grass looks greener on the other side but why don't we just go to the beach instead...

We are crossing Mario! We are hungry and that tree seems to have what we want!

Let's go guys! We are not going to starve any longer. 

But Che don't you think Mario is right, I mean haven't you seen them! those humongous machines that make that noise!

Look guys I think we have to act! It is now or never!

Follow me! 

 

 Oh men! Here we go! 

oh oh oh 

ruuuuuun! 

stop! 

ok go!

 

Yeah! We made it! Uff tough life we've got! 

Thanks Che for your encouragement.

Never mind guys!

wait a moment, why didn't we just fly to the other side -.-;

nature of ogasawara

 

 Wonderful colors and shapes to be found in the Island. It seems to be a blur but when you get closer to objects you can see an infinite amount of detail, all of these created by nature. All the inspiration that you can obtain by just wondering around it. 

The Island is semi tropical so you can find exotic fruits that were brought to the island by human beings. The most exquisite one for me is the Mango and the best way to eat is with your hands! A mango is sold for an outrageous amount of money, it is cheaper to buy Mexican mangoes that have traveled so far. You can also find papaya trees, banana trees and passion fruit vines. 

It is sad to say that fruit is very expensive so we don't buy it often, but along our road there are many banana trees that to my believe lack an owner ; )

Mark's magical blog

check out this blog

early rise - cloud hazy over rising sun - wanted to surf - last two days watching wind rapping the sea against the rocks - brewing waves - albeit weak - could ride though - thoughts racing by - watching them go - where from and where to? - rode waves for an hour - sooooo shallow - like 10cm under the water the living reef - Now coffee charges the brain - and inspiration has a chance to be channeled 

 

Mark Stone - Great writer and an amazing photographer.

Wood Pigeon

 

The endangered Wood pigeon can only be found in the Ogasawara Islands. From November to March they start looking for their female pigeon and start mating. The male sings to attract the female but there are other males that also sing at the same time and the female gets to choose. They lay eggs and after 20 days of hatching "pop" a new pigeon is born. At the beginning they are just black but as they age their peak turns yellow and their feathers look like this. 

In Chichijima they have created a sacred woodland just for the pigeons, it is called the "sanctuary".  My job right now is to check on them to make sure they are mating and having a peaceful existence. The energy of the untouched woodland and the smell of all nature can make you dizzy.

Sunset

Hatsuneura beach view

Beach Art 3

 

 

There is a little village called Pelan Village close to were we live. It is ran by a family trying to live a harmonious life with mother earth by being as sustainable as possible. They also have volunteers from WOOF to help them out improve their village. One of the volunteers we met is named Hiroki and on a day we bumped into him at the beach in town, just before we were about to open a nice bottle of wine. Great weather, talking about real things we wanted to do in life and the journey's joys. He went back to mainland and on a normal day our postman handed us a rectangular box... my lovely tried to stop the postman thinking that it was a mistake mail but it had our address on it. We opened it and it was a very kind present from our friend Hiroki. We drank it in your honor. Thanks a lot :) great surprise 

To keep this great memory I collected what people call trash from the beach and stuck it to the nice bottle of wine. With all the little pieces (shells, crab bits, lighters, glass, plastic) from the beach the pieces started to shape like a puzzle. One piece at a time.

Beach Art 2

 

This little one I found too at the beach, I am guessing it is a float or something similar with an aperture that makes it look like a frogs mouth. Very cute. Painted with Oil paint markers. Good for pretending to attack someones finger or just for simple decoration ;)

Beach Art

 

I found a piece of ceramic at the beach. Kept it in the car waiting for inspiration and this is what came out of it. You can find so many of this ceramic bits, before it landed in my apartment it must have been a part of a beautiful ceramic pot or who knows what, and who knows where it could have been before, or who's hands made it and when? I think it is a very romantic idea to bring little treasures and transform them into pieces of art. 

Raw Apple Pound Cake

 Made it the other day. It didn't look much like this gorgeous one but it sure did taste yummy. I recommend this moist cake if you have a spare apple in your kitchen. It is really easy to make. I made it with a microwave-oven, those things work... sometimes.

Raw Apple Pound Cake  (www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups apples - peeled, cored and diced
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a bundt pan.
2. Cream together oil, sugar, and eggs. Blend in flour, cinnamon, and vanilla. Stir in chopped apples and nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until done. Cool.

you'll stop working this month! NO! you know what TODAY!

That is how I stopped working in the Italian restaurant, Buono Horizon. In Japan there are ways of quitting, as well as in other places in the world I guess. I gave a notice but my notice was expanded until Mid January which would mean working new years and Christmas eve...  So I was released, I am free!
Free in an Island were time is slow means that time will slow down much more. I will start a new job as a forest ranger in December which I look forward to but that is half a month away.
First things first! Start baking and doing all of those little things that I have been wanting to do for long.

apple pie - English style
Delicious shared with neighbors on our Nachos party night

It is still gloomy since last post probably but one day we had a surprise sun! Hiking off we went with our bento and compass. The path was not labeled so we worried about getting lost but we found our way home with no problem. On the top we had a beautiful view of the East side of the Island, it just reminds me that we are in the middle of the pacific ocean, so far away from civilization. What took us so far away? Why did we end up so secluded from society?

Is it our rebellion against societies rules? or just simply the thirst for peace and nature? I don't really know. But since I have been here time has allowed me to look inside myself and something has changed. Meditation has helped as well as yoga. That time were you close your eyes and let all those thoughts just pass by, not grabbing any just watching them from distance and then slowly you sit inside with yourself. What a blessing to have such time to share with myself, I am very sure that I had not done that for long or even ever.

Let's just start the blog

 

4 months have passed now since our arrival to this Island. 24 hour boat ride from a very busy port in Tokyo and after packing our "bento" we got on without knowing what was waiting for us on the other side. I had a job sort out or kind of sort out with a friend of my boyfriend working in one of the nicest restaurants in town. An Italian restaurant with an awesome view. Nervous I was :-} but looking forward to living a balanced life, working but at the same time enjoying life's gifts. On arrival my new boss was waiting to have a quick interview and get me started. For the first days without home we camped in our friends train house's terrace. I must say that camping has been not a very good experience in my life and this one wasn't going to be a good one either. Hot, Humid! mosquitos everywhere and bed bugs. Nothing else could go wrong except for it started raining on our roofless tent. There were moments though, when the clouds were gone and the stars would shine to its fullest through the tree branches in that pitch black sky. The smell of nature was welcoming and securing.

Since then 4 months. Today I woke up with a cup of coffee next to my bed in our lovely home. Had a chat about my dream; some friends and I were swimming in an indoor pool with a big whale. A pet whale, HUGE and we danced and swam with it in the transparent water, oxygen wasn't a problem in there. We kissed the whale good bye and took a nice shower. Weather has been gloomy this days and there is a stagnant air in the Island. Clothes don't dry and going out is more difficult than usual. If it rains than you have to stay home but if its sunny you have to go out; so what do you do when its gloomy? Grab a book, bake, sleep, google etc. Time is slowing down so much since we came. It seems like we have been here for a year now but it is just the incredible amount of free time, the scarce amount of human beings and cars, it is unreal. So cleaned the closet did some yoga, went to work for an hour and had dinner out. Walked around town and checked the 20 or so restaurants, half of them owned by friends or people we knew. You walk down the dark streets and you feel like you might know that person because we are only 2000 people in here. Faces start to look similar and SO WHAT! You just start saying hello to everybody you see just in case you know them. Friendly Island Chichijima.

History of Bonin Island

In the 19th century a French cartographer corrupted the Japanese word "munin" meaning "no mans land" to "bonin" and since then BONIN ISLAND.
Micronesian people might have lived here but there are no details. In 1675 there was an expedition sent by the Shogunate and a map was made but until 1830 the Island remained uninhabited.
2000 people live in the 24km2 Island and it belongs to Tokyo Prefecture although they celebrate that it hasn't been tinted by the city colors.
During the 19th Century many western ships landed in the Island but it was in 1827 when the first settlement arrived with Nathaniel Savory from Massachuttes, 22 other men and a women from Pearl Harbor. You can still bump into Savory descendants when you go to town.
In 1862 Tokugawa Shogunate officially proclaimed the Island and introduced Japanese immigrants from Hachijojima. Only 40 members of the Savory colony were allowed to stay.

During the WW2 Chichijima was used as the base for Japanese radio stations. It was frequently attached by the US and during one, George H. W. Bush ended in an aircraft attack landing near chichijima. In 1944 for strategic purposes during the historic battle of Iwo-jima, all the inhabitants of that time, 6886 people were evacuated.
The Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers allowed 129 western origin locals to stay in the Island and destroyed the remaining houses. During the 1950's it was used by the US to hold nuclear arms even though Japan is strictly anti nuclear arms.

Previous stage

In this tiny little space packed with salary-man with white masks protecting themselves from viruses and contagious air is were I spent 3 hours of my day for the past year. Life in Chigasaki was in all a great city life experience as well as a challenging independent stage of my life.

I lived 5 minutes from the beach in Higashi Kaigan in between Chigasaki Kaigan and a baseball stadium. On the way home there was a commercial street selling unique little items to the famous 100yen shop open until the last train time - 1:00am.



I worked as an ALT assistant language teacher in Yokohama area. It was an exhausting job but very rewarding. Sharing lunch time with the Japanese children and being able to share about my hometown in Honduras was the highlight of the day. Classes were all about singing, dancing, learning a couple of new English words and playing games. The short time dedicated for English would not give much knowledge so for me it was all about feeling comfortable with a foreigner.

That summer I met my beloved who took me to an Island were he used to do the same job but in a place not far from the ideal paradise. Bonin Island - Chichijima - Ogasawara shoto. Cleaned our hands and packed for a journey. First 3 months of traveling and later on to start a life in Bonin.