Morning tour

Now that the sun's up, I can actually see the island! We would have had a decent tour of it last night if that whole daylight thing wasn't a problem. But I just got back from a quick shopping trip to get some groceries, which enabled us to see what's what a little better.

Interesting fact: locals navigate by landmarks, not street names. This is partially because everyone has their own name for the streets, and it may not have anything to do with the road signs, which have been replaced a few times over the past couple decades when they were ripped out by typhoons. Driving customs themselves are a little different, as the roads are old and paved with coral - up until recently they didn't have access to asphalt. This means that when it rains, which it often does, the roads get very, very slippery. So people generally drive pretty slow, they don't stop for yellow lights as a sudden stop is a very bad thing, and they also don't stop when making a right turn at a red light if there's no traffic in the way.

Grocery shopping was done at the nearest Joeten, a supermarket which is like a cross between an American grocery store and Uwajimaya, but about a third of the size of either. Everyday things like bread and cereal and peanut butter are pretty expensive, compared to on the mainland, because it's all imported. This does mean, however, that organic and specialty food items like Kashi and Bob's Red Mill grains are pretty much the same price as Western Family products. The produce section of the store is nearly nonexistent beyond frozen vegetables and bananas, but that's because everyone buys produce at the local markets that take place Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I'm definitely looking forward to market-shopping either tonight or Thursday so I can get some excellent local produce to supplement my rather poor-looking broccoli, green onions, and bell pepper.