The view from my 5th floor balcony: Crazy skies over the village of Uruma

I have such mixed feelings about Okinawa.

It is beautiful and exotic, but heavily peppered with ugly and distracting architecture.

The skies are striking and waver between extremes at the blink of an eye, but the congested island itself simmers and festers in its own oppressively hot and sticky steam… featuring smells you can’t quite eliminate from your walls, linens, and furniture.

You step outside and even if you are perfectly still, you will quite literally melt within 30 seconds – glistening wet on every square inch of your surface. It’s unlike any humidity I experienced in the American south, and there’s simply no escaping it…

… But the water is blue, placid, and refreshing. There’s always, always that 🙂

Courtney Beach