Where on earth..?

Tonga

Tongatapu, Nuku'alofa, Ha'apai, Lifuka, Pangai, Uoleva; you just have to listen to the names to get that we're somewhere exotic. Its raining, so even though this computer connection is among the slowest I've ever used, its a good time to write a few lines. I'm in the capital of Tonga, Nuku'alofa, back from a week in the much more remote island group of Ha'apai.

We got to Ha'apai by taking a boat. Were told it would take about 8 hours and counted on beeing there early evening. By 3 am we finally hit our destination, guesthouse closed of course, tiny town dead. But the place we ended up in was the best place for snorkling I've ever seen. Just anywhere off the main island of Lifuka or the deserted island of Uoleva you went swimming from, we were met by corals and fish so strange and colourful that our imagination could never have come up with them. Ha'apai is nothing but sand and sea, small islands dotted inside coral reefs, and on our planeride this time (!) back to Nuku'alofa we saw the most amazing reefs from above.

Tomorrow everything will be closed as it is sunday, and you are not allowed to do anything but attend different church ceremonies. Mind you, not the same thing as at home, here they sing a lot and well. They actually seem to enjoy the thing. The ceremonies start in the morning and go on all day. Shops and restaurants are all closed by law, but apparently tourism has left its mark cos a few chinese restaurants (is there a place with no chinese restaurants?) do open in the evening. Not that there are many tourists here.

The missionaries came to the islands some time ago and found people not behaving at all as they wished. By giving the people a chance to believe in a stronger and more human god, they converted almost all to christianism and at the same time made rules about attire. Since then, the westerners have long ago stopped wearing clothes... but in Tonga wearing a shirt that coveres your shoulders is still mandatory by law for everyone everywhere. Swimming can be done in this shirt, or on empty beaches or at resorts.

Time passes slowly in Tonga. Tonga-time we call it, and it means nothing much happens here. Taking a one hour boatride to the next island? Don't count on doing anything else the same day. The boat will arrive anywhere between one hour before or three hours after the set time. One of our tourguides came to the main island Tongatapu 18 years ago. When asked what has changed here since, all he could think of was "they have built the road around the island". So, when he came here there was no road at all then. Why, we might think? Well, it all works differently here. Efficiency is unheard of, and they seem to cope just fine without it. Luckily for us, cannibalism ended about a hundered years ago =)

The people are colorful, very friendly and very big. The fattest people on the planet we heard somewhere, and the main source of income is money sent from relatives in New Zealand. Good thing they all have relatives there, at the moment more Tongans live abroad than here on the islands. What happens when they get tired of sending money to far-away relatives?

What else? They grow lots of kumala and different kinds of taro that are main diet stapels (root vegetables both). Corned beef (spam) is the it-food, shopshelves stuffed with it. Haven't been brave enough to try. The coconut tree is the most common plant, and both coconut and papaya are fed to the pigs, while the people eat white bread (and pig). Seafood used to be a staple food, but is getting more scarse, although they still eat lots of it. Cava is the drink, served at cava ceremonies in bars that women can't attend. We tried cava at a guesthouse, and it tasted like mudwater. Also, it does nothing for you. Then they told us you have to drink it three nights in a row to get drunk... Not to hurry!!

The snorkeling, picking wild lemons from trees in Uoleva, hearing the singing in the churches and seeing how pigs and chickens just wander about everywhere have all been highlights. But the best part is seeing this all. The couple from San Fransisco we met last night rounded it well. Asking where we come from, they then asked; so you're lost then?? Ha ha =)

posted by Carina @ 7:37 AM