At any rate, the archaeologist knew most of the ruins in the jungle were there from old Aeriel photos of the place, but she had never had the opportunity to “hack” through to them before now, so it was quite exciting for her. She is still in the process of identifying some of the ruins and others are sacred to the native peoples, and so we were not allowed to see those until the locals have had a chance to identify them and decide what’s to be done. Although, from what she could tell us, we saw some generators from an old Japanese power plant in the middle of a crater deep in the jungle which history tells us was blown up during the war in an explosion that rivaled the nuclear explosions at Operation Crossroads in terms of its widespread blast. We also saw another ruin, which we all made creative guesses at for now, but which was definitely Japanese because of the materials used and how it was made and also because of the bullet holes in the concrete of the structure from the American attack on the island.
The most interesting ruin for me was only a foundation of a Navy chapel (as the Navy occupied the island first after the war, then it was turned over to the Army in the mid sixties and has remained with that military branch ever since). The cool thing about the old chapel is its shape, like a cross. I would love to have seen this or any of the structures on the atoll in their former glory. Whenever doing one of these tours, I wish I could transport myself back, becoming a gecko on a tree, to witness what life was like here before, during, and after the war. At times, it seems there’s not much mystery in life now a days, what with the media and technology recording every aspect of life in this generation, but back then, and especially during a war when secrets abound because you don’t want the “enemy” to know what you are up to, there’s nothing to reveal the day to day life of an island. There were no video cameras to record it and very few photos to show the every day life of the locals before the war and of course, nothing that I’m aware of to show the Japanese presence on the islands except for the rapidly deteriorating buildings from their former rule and the far away photos from the sky taken by American military planes as they cruised over the atolls.
I suppose there are some things we’ll never know entirely. We may get the big picture, but not have the privilege of knowing the small details every time, and that’s okay. It gives life that element of mystery that is hard to come by today and continues to make learning a life long pursuit. There may not be many unexplored and uninhabited lands anymore, like in the days of Columbus, but there are always new concepts and mysteries of life (past, present, and future) to explore. I’m glad I have retained my curiosity as an adult. I used to ask a lot of questions as a child, and my boys ask a lot of questions of me now, and I don’t always have the answer, so it keeps my curiosity alive and kicking as we research the answers together. Trekking through the jungle and asking questions of the experts provides me that same sense of childlike excitement from learning something new, something I have yet to learn in my short 36 years on this Earth, and that’s part of the reason I choose to be an educator. I love to ask and find answers to questions, and this way, I get to do that for children, other teachers, and myself every day as part of my job. I get paid to learn and impart learning. What better grown up career could a former curious little girl have! A teacher I have become, but first and foremost a curious young student I will always be. 
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