| P-MAN XII Progress
Report #04 - Checking in with The President Lessons Learned
Airport pickup went well so now there are five of us on island. The plan for today was sculpted by having an appointment with the President of Palau at 1330. We slept in, (for me, that still means up at 0400) had breakfast and headed out to pick up as many of our permits as we could. One state said not only did we not need a permit, we didn’t need a letter from them at all. We can just do what we feel is right.
We made one small detour to check out a report from our expat friend Dennis Whalen. I met him at Sam’s Tours yesterday and he told us of an aircraft engine alongside one of the main roads. Seems some farmers were clearing some brush and there this thing was. It appears to be an engine from an Avenger. However, since none of us brought our aircraft identification books (And we all have them. I guess each of us thought the other guy was bringing them.) There are a couple of possibilities as to which aircraft this engine belongs to so we’ll have to do some research. Since we were in our presidential meeting clothes, we did not stomp around to find other piece parts. We’ll do that with Joe sometime next week.
We met with the Director of the Bureau of Arts and Culture. We got our National Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), so we are now good to go everywhere. Except in any state that does not give us a permit.
Up to President Johnson Toribiong's office. We were blown away by his interest in what we do out here. He actually wants to walk the jungle with us. I don’t think any U.S. President would do that. And then when we were at Neco Marine’s pub for dinner, the same President sat down at the next table for his Friday evening gathering. No body guards, entourage and no assistants. Only in Palau.
Rick was out with his daughter Nicole today, but tomorrow he’s on the hunt with us. And Sunday he leads us on our first water day.
And of course our team isn’t anything without Joe Maldangesang. He is our master guide, boat captain, interpreter, naturalist, betel-nut-ist and any other label doesn’t begin to describe what Joe does for us.
That was our first working day in Palau. Tomorrow will be our first jungle day. Some of the Civic Action Team (CAT) members are going to hike the jungle with us. The CAT teams were traditionally the Navy Seabees doing public works projects all over the Pacific. Over the years, the CAT teams were whittled down to where this CAT team is the last CAT team in the Pacific. And since everyone wants to come to Palau, the Navy, Air Force, and now the Army, rotate a group of 12-14 folks into this assignment every 9 months or so. - Flip |
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