I did not write an entry for yesterday; it was like a lazy Sunday even though it was
Wednesday. It rained all day and we never saw the sun. Everyone had their project to work
on. John and Ant worked on Bella Donna who is aging a little bit. Just as you finish one
oil change, filter change, cleaning or repair there are new chores on your list. John says
it is like the Golden Gate Bridge; just as you finish cleaning and painting at one end you
must start on the other end. Today they were cleaning the engines and the engine rooms. We
missed the weather report this morning, but caught the report this morning. The problem is
the convergence zone that always exists near the equator where warm moist air meets much
cooler air resulting in clouds and rain. The seasons determine where you are likely to
find it. In our case the jet stream placed it right over us. The weather people say it
will move out of our area tomorrow. Actually it reminds me very much of the weather we
left last week in Hawaii. Anyway it looks like the weather today will be cloudy and rainy
as well. In the afternoon the rain subsides a little, just a mist.
Today we will not let the rain stop us. It is off to town we go in search of exercise,
shopping and just any adventure we can find. Since mobile phones do not work I take a VHF
handheld radio as Deborah takes me to the Aquarium dock next to the Moorings charter boat
company. My goal is to start at the east end of town and walk west to near Mount Talau,
west of town. From town it is supposed to take 2.5 hours round trip to the top, about a
thousand feet. I will not go to the top because of the guides' advice against it in the
rain; there are flat rocks that become slippery. The waterfront street from Moorings to
Saint Josephs Cathedral is know as Hala Lupe, the 'Way of Doves', as female prisoners were
forced to build the road their sighs sounded like doves. Saint Josephs Cathedral is large
for a poor modest town; sitting high above the street above the Port of Refuge and near
the Moorings, it is often used by returning yachties. The waterfront is made up of time
and weather worn structures like most places. Most of the restaurant-bars are on the water
side, most of the churches and businesses are on the inland side. There is a Kava Room
serving kava juice and cheap beer. Kava is a tea like drink made from a local plant that
is a member of the pepper family it numbs the lips and tongue first and then slows down
the rest of the body including the brain and especially speech. Men sit and drink large
quantities of kava then talk for hours about what they had for lunch yesterday. Kava is
not a narcotic and is not controlled by law. I wonder about driving under the influence.
The town is teaming with activities. Yachties are wondering around shopping, locals are
scurrying around making what they have available for sale and school children are
everywhere as school has just let out. The school children are neat and clean. The girls
wear the same dress, obviously a school uniform. The boys mostly wear the lava lava all of
the same cloth and color as the girls' dresses. A few boys wear a ta'ovala, a pandanus
mat, around their waist so that it looks like a mini skirt over whatever else they are
wearing. The ta'ovala is worn by men going to work, church and all formal occasions
especially when meeting nobility. It is the Tongan equivalent to a man's tie. Maybe the
few school boys wearing one do so to make social acceptable the lack of a clean lava lava.
The businesses and the activity soon end as we walk west. Suddenly there is rural acreage
with modest weather worn homes on it. Large pigs roam freely into the street. Sprinkled
near each home is the family burial plot, a custom we also noted in Samoa. Soon the paved
road ends as we pass the Tonga Defense Force, some kind of military site. The road is now
hard packed wet slippery dirt. In the middle of the street a group of school girls still
in uniform dresses are playing some game I did not recognize. Across the street was the
town rugby field identified in the guides but overgrown knee high; I can't believe they
have played a serious ruby match here for some time. A group of school boys are playing
rugby. Except for an over inflated looking ball and passing that goes backwards the boys
looked like American boys playing football.
I walk until the return trip will take 40 minutes or so and turn around. The dirt road has
gone from two lanes to one and then to just a path one could hardly call a road. The
packed dirt was softer and the rains meant slipping, sliding and getting muddy. On the way
back I walked on the right side of the road as Tongans drive on the left and I could see
cars coming on my side of the road. I noticed a car approaching me and I stood to the side
to let it by. The car slowed and paused oddly just as it came close and then very
precisely like a surgeon with a sharp knife passed just next to me. As I looked down into
the window I saw two very young little girls by themselves in the front seat. The driver
had to be less than 7 years old. Both girls had a look on their face like I had caught
them sneaking candy. They drove expertly on as I stood stunned. No wonder the guide book
said bikes are better than a rent car as many drivers in Tonga are untrained.
I had timed my walk perfectly; it started to rain harder just as I reached the Aquarium
where I stopped for socializing and a double cappuccino. I offered to take everyone out to
dinner but the wind and the unsettled weather meant someone had to stay on board. Deborah
stayed having an evening to herself while the guys went out in the darkness, light rain
and wind to search for adventure, drinks and dinner. We walked along the shore through a
network of crudely attached restaurant-bar seaside covered decks to an adequate fish
dinner. We engaged in meaningless conversation after consuming not kava, but our
controlled substance of choice.
God Bless Bella Donna.
No comments:
Post a Comment