sakura at mt. yaedake

2 weeks ago, my husband and I went to Mt. Yaedake near Nago to see the Cherry Blossoms. Again, I received information about this via OkinawaHai, but since sakura (cherry blossoms) are a big thing for Okinawans & Japanese, there was plenty of literature about it around base. I've known about cherry blossoms for a long time now, but I've never seen them before. So, for my first year here in Okinawa, I did the ohanami aka cherry blossom viewing. We drove all the way up to Nago to Mt. Yaedake, drove up Mt. Yaedake up some REALLY narrow roads, and saw cherry blossoms planted all along the roadsides. It's strategic, in a sense, because it makes the drive scenic and enjoyable. On the other hand, if you want to look at them up close, you'll have to walk along the side of the road. I was expecting a park or something where people can stroll around and observe, but all/most of them were on the roadside. Nevertheless, it was really nice. It was certainly a photo taking opportunity.

Unfortunately, we went a little too early. The most of the trees were not completely in bloom, so only the ones closer to the top of the mountain were completely pink. Needless to say, this was not the cotton candy-like experience I was hoping for, but I'm glad we went to see them even if they didn't look as poofy and pink as the postcards. I'm sure that they are really quite nice by now, provided strong winds didn't come and blow them away.
Luckily we went on a weekday, so we didn't have to wait in traffic to see them, while possibly being run over observing. We did go pretty late, so the festival stands were closing. My husband didn't really want to do the festival activities like prizes and food, which I was OK with. The only thing I wanted to do before we left was to purchase some tangerines called tankan which are like mikan but so much sweeter. YUM. There were a good number of stands with people selling citrus, vegetables, and other produce. I'm assuming they are local farmers who are selling to tourists. It was good stuff. There were also so unmanned stands with bags of produce out, and a little coinbox for you to pay. These people are SO trusting!!
They were also selling something called taimo, basically taro that grows in water instead of the basic dirt types. Didn't buy it, because I didn't know how to cook it. I asked the man at the stand how to cook it, but all I figured from my crappy Japanese was clean it, cook it, mash it. What comes after that?? Well if it's just taro, I can figure out the rest. I wonder if they sell it at the local markets now that I've forgone the mountain supply.

All in all, I do recommend seeing sakura anywhere on the island. My rationale is that you should probably see cherry blossoms before you leave Okinawa. That's all really.