Our second day took us to the "brooding jungle isle to the west," Iriomote. Even though I couldn't help but mock my guidebook's description, it really does brood. While Ishigaki had been colored grey by the overcast sky, Iriomote was covered with threatening rain clouds. The first sight of it gives the distinct impression of going to Jurassic Park or the island in LOST.
Iriomote has an area roughly the same size as Ishigaki, meaning it's a bit less than 300 square kilometers. Though that means it's fairly big, it has a population of 2200 and has only one main road. I can't tell you how many times I thought to myself "is this really Japan?" while we were there. The jungle is so widespread and the settlements obviously not, it reminded me of the mountain forest preserve I stayed at in Costa Rica. For this I fell in love with Iriomote.
We stayed at the Japanese equivalent of a bed and breakfast, where we met the French Bulldog "Guts." He was adorable in an ugly way, and some problem with his nose caused him to snort like a pig while he breathed. It was like having a furry little pig around all the time. In the morning we took a kayak/hiking trip to the tallest waterfall in Okinawa, Pinaisaira. Unlike my companion and everyone else who was there, I was determined to swim at just about anywhere I could, so naturally I swam at the foot of the fall. Here we had our first encounter with a very weird creature, something that looks straight out of prehistoric times. It's a half-frog, half-fish thing, and skips across the water on little leg/fins. I swear it's a perfect illustration of the halfway point in evolution between water dwellers and land creatures.
Before we left the island on the next day we rented motor scooters, which was perhaps one of the coolest things I've ever done. I can't express to you the giddy idiotic grin that crossed my face the minute I gunned the (miniscule) engine. In the short time we had the scooters we made good use of them, hoofing it all the way to the northern ending point of the main road. Can you believe it? A "main road" that just stops at a dead end, cut off by mountain jungle.
Near there was where we swam out to a tiny deserted island and explored some natural sea-carved caves.
