Homeward Bound

It's one o'clock in the morning. An old landing craft is used as the ferry between Kwajalein and Ebeye. As you can imagine, it's jam-packed during the day.

KELET!

Election time in the Marshall Islands, and it struck me how bright and clean the candidates posters are, juxiposed against the decaying buildings of it's citizens.

Local Color

I actually liked this bar. The music wasn't too loud, and the people were nice. Of course there were a couple of fights, and a man was passed out and spread eagle on the floor, but it just added to the local color.

Men's Room

Everything in Ebeye appears to be in a state of disrepair.

Yokwe

"One Marshallese word is yokwe, which means both hello and good-bye. It also means love. (Compare Hawaiian aloha.) This word may also be written iakwe and iokwe." Wikipedia - Marshallese language.

The island's biggest bar was closed due to some private function, so that only left the other two. This one picked-up later in the evening and got crowded, but the music was so loud, it made my ears hurt. The man on the right is Evengle, a janitor at the building where I work. Real nice guy. Showed me around and looked after me for the evening. The other two gentemen were friends of Evengle's. Nice guys, but totally drunk, prone to fights and naps.

The Old End Of The Island

This used to be the end of the island, where that bump is (an old bunker, I believe). A couple of miles was added, and now it is packed with family housing, the local school, community center, etc. where the Pacific used to be.

Halloween

This is Myra, the cleaning woman at the building were I work, and her daughter on Halloween. Her daughter is dressed as a little Marshallese girl. They were only letting 100 Marshallese on the island for Halloween, so Myra was lucky to get her name on the list. It was kind of funny to see the Marshallese kids trick and treating because they really had no concept of what the holiday is about. Just go door to door, say some gibberish words in a language they can't understand, and get candy! I tried to get Myra's little girl a costume, but the local store here didn't have anything her size. The Marshallese kids didn't dress-up anyway, it was all about the candy.

A little after the photo was taken, a monsoon hit. Man, it was pouring! Some kids broke out their Kwaj rain gear, clear trash bags with head and arm holes cut out. Most just got wet. It was insane. The wind, the rain, I was expecting everyone to just call it a night. Everyone continued to trick or treat. Halloween decorations were flying everywhere in the wind, candy bags were getting full of water.I was soaked to the bone. Craziness. If I wasn't there, I wouldn't believe that people would be trick or treating in that weather.