Shoes Hanging from Trees

The fact that there are no addresses at all on Saipan seems like it would be an annoyance and pretty big hurdle to living here. Surprisingly, it's sort of refreshing. I thought about this during my hourlong walk to and from the post office yesterday to get the mail (we only have one car and Colleen had it at work). Getting the mail was one of the four things on yesterday's to-do list. Isn't that awesome?! The other three things on the list were cleaning the bathrooms, finishing my book, and continuing to plan our Christmas trip to Thailand. Such peacefulness in simplicity.

But I digress. Living without addresses is often refreshing, occasionally annoying, but always hilarious. A great example of this is the hike to the beach called Old Man by the Sea, appropriately named for the massive coral formation that resembles a profile of an old craggy man staring out into the ocean. The hike to this beach starts from an almost non-existent trailhead off of a main road near our house. The trailhead has been marked (so we were told) by a pair of shoes hanging from a tree. "When you see the road sign that has three curves in it, drive a little ways more than park your car on the side of the road. There will be shoes hanging from a tree on your right side, that's the trailhead." Commence aimless adventuring! Unfortunately, the shoes were gone, and in their place is a lone ribbon dancing in the breeze. Like every other hike in Saipan, the beginning of the trail always starts the same: sketchy, hard to find, impending doom lurking in the back of your head, but they always lead to the most amazing and seemingly untouched beaches in the world.