Sakau
It might be stupid, but at least they admit it’s fun! This is a sign on the main street in Kolonia, Pohnpei. It appeared that substance abuse was a social problem on Pohnpei.
Sakau is the same as what is called kava in other Pacific islands. It is made from the root of a pepper shrub – ground and mixed with water. It is a mild narcotic, but legal in FSM.
It tastes like a mud milkshake – and it makes your tongue and mouth feel tingly and a bit numb. If you have too much, you lose control of your motor functions, even though your mind seems to work just fine. It is a sedative.
According to people I spoke to, sakau was enjoying somewhat of a resurgence on Pohnpei in recent years. All the locals drink it. Driving around the island at night was said to be fraught with danger – there are cars meandering all over the road at only 10 to 15 miles per hour! This is presumably the result of too much sakau!
Yalmer, the guy who owned my hotel, took me out to drink sakau one night, his wife tagging along. We drove up the road and bought a few bottles from a local who makes the stuff, then headed on down to the causeway near the harbour. This is apparently a popular sakau drinking venue. We sat in the back of Yalmer’s van, looking out at the stars and the water, drinking the night away. After a while, I didn’t notice the taste so much (it does taste like mud). We got through a bottle each, and I could (mostly) manage to walk OK.
No hangover the next morning – but for a beginner, it didn’t agree with my system. Probably local water and not the sakau itself. Didn’t stop me from going back for seconds a few nights later. That time, we teamed up with Captain Smitty, a local ex-pat, and got some sakau to takeaway, down at the local bar out in the mangroves.