Home»All Photographs»Oceania»Micronesia»Yap, Ifaluk

People often ask me what my favorite places I have visited are. I really cannot answer that because there are so many places that are favorites and they are all so different and favorites in different ways. But Ifaluk is certainly one of my favorites. The people here are some of the poorest on earth by western standards, with nearly no monetary income at all. Ships rarely visit and there is little contact with the outside world. People wear grass skirts and live in grass and reed huts. The one 'solid' building is the church. There is a schoolteacher who comes to the island for a year at a time and teaches all grades. However, by my standards I would list them as among the worlds wealthiest. Most have homes and land right on the beach, there is plenty of great food that grows on trees and they pluck fish out of the water. Air conditioning rustles through the trees in the sea breezes. They are master canoe builders and perhaps the world's best ocean navigators.