Mele Tonga ... 2

So sleeping in our little shack/bungalow was delightful compared to Fifita's guesthouse in town. The heat gets one up by 7:30, and the mosquitos were hard to take, but that was as bad as it got. Also unfortunate, was that the water system was tied to the island's well, so like Gili Meno it was very salty. This made it hard to deal with ... another salty sea swim, followed by a salty shower. In addition, the water system to the house was irregular at best -- it would work, it wouldnt work. During my one of two showers there, I had got all soapy only to find no water once i needed a rinse. This was solved rather delighfully however as there was a bucket of rain water in the bathroom as a back up to the unreliable water system, so i actually got a fresh water rinse and managed to get all the salt off anyway!

Sunday's the whole place shuts down, and besides church (and a big noontime feast) the Tongans are forced into a literal " day of rest". As I reported last time, the Antarticans had failed to secure their return tickets off of the small Island back to Tonga tapu in order to make our return. Luckily, our hostess spent many an hour on Saturday talking to the airline's local agent in Tongan pleading our case, and left us with hope that maybe they would bring in the big airplane on the first trip of the day in order to take them back in time to meet the plane to Aukland. Apparently there were quite a few other fellow travelers who were in the same boat.

As a back up, the four of them were all going to take the Saturday "slow boat" back to Tonga's main island, leaving at 6 PM on Saturday and arriving in Tonga tapu sometime around 8 hours later. However, when the ferry had not shown up by nightfall, well, that was now no longer an option, as the ferry, too, was unable to sail on the day of rest.

Also, since there was no internet or phone service allowed on sunday, there was no way to contact the airline in NZ (whom also were not allowed to fly) in order to make a change within the required 24 hour prior notice period.... As a result there was little to do on sunday, but hope for the best, drink our conserved water (no stores being open on a sunday), lay about the beach, swim in the empty sea (of humans at least -- yep, not allowed to swim or fish), and read. I did quite a bit of snorkeling off our beach and there were isolated coral heads to look at. I saw a couple of lobsters and some of the basketball sized deep blue starfish kept things interesting.

Luckily Monday morning, the good news came that the airline was indeed sending the large airplane and everyone was going to be able to make it out alright!! We thanked our hostess profusely, settled the bill, and left for the airport in order to physically buy the tickets and be on our way. Joleen, Megan and Kevin were on the 12:30 flight, and Gen was put on my 4:15 flight.

So while at the airport waiting for our flight, there were a group of Tongan kids doing what kids do ... climbing fences, screaming, and otherwise running around causing havoc. So kids are kids, but the Tongan kids seemed more well behaved than usual. For example, the little boy at Mele Tonga was a great help to our hostess, he would climb up onto the cistern to haul up by hand the rain water that was needed for cooking and drinking. He also was deeply involved in fixing the pipes that kept coming apart at the seams (they weren't glued -- which is why the water was so on again off again.) He did do little boy things too, like playing with the machete hacking away at the trees for no real reason, and he kept throwing another piece of metal around as if it were a throwing knife, and Gen and Joleen caught him trying to peek at them while they were taking showers -- but hey isnt that what 12 year old boys do?

Anyway, the "screams"of these kids in the airport were truly remarkable. They were harmonious little twitterings that remarkably simulated the noises of the birds of the island, so that as opposed to just being plain obnoxious, they were interesting to listen too (and loud enough to be obnoxious). Clearly their parents thought it was just plain obnoxious and told them to be quiet, once, which they did. This example, combined with all the singing in the churches, shows that these Tongans are tremendous vocalists, and have relatively well behaved kids . . . .Thai kids on the other hand run wild and everyone, from parents to strangers let them get away with it!

until next time

Newo Out