Burned to a Crisp on DAY FOUR:
I am sitting in the lobby of the International Dateline Hotel because my usual cafe is closed. You would think that Saturday night would be the big night, but no. Everyone is getting ready for Church tomorrow, and it has rained heavily, so the streets are pretty empty. They have a TV here in the lobby, and of course, on Tongan TV, they are playing UB40. In any case, here is how today went...
I was to meet Davida at his house at 7am, and because we had already missed a flight in Perth, I was paranoid about being able to get up, not having an alarm clock. I set my phone alarm, but since I have no service here, the clock doesn't change time, so I didn't know if it would work. I also tried to set up an alarm on my computer calendar, but it just gives a little Beep. In any case I was so paranoid i didn't sleep very evenly, and was up just fine in time. went there and passed the Saturday market where a preacher was using a powerful sound system, and occasionally a choir group would sing. Tried to record some of it, will let you know. Davida and I gathered some stuff, bought more Petrol, and headed out. After much difficulty passing out of the harbor because of low tide, we ended at the mouth where Davida needed to get more supplies. I sat in the boat next to a woman sitting in the water processing some kind of sea life. It seemed like a plant, but it also seemed to have guts that she was eviscerating. The guts colored the water purple around her. Another woman was farther off cleaning shellfish- the ones that the people that walk in the water collect. We sat there for a while, and eventually an old man in a wheel chair was rolled out and down to the shore. Apparently he lived across the channel with his family. The only access to the house was across this channel- there weren't any roads on the other side, and the family parked their vehicles on this side. So he was carried to the boat and we used it to ferry him across. There was alot of wait time, and amid the conversations I heard "Palengi", which is a reference to me. A foreigner is a Palengi. I never know what they are talking about ( if I can't figure it out from hand gestures, etc) until I hear Palengi, then I know they are asking what I am doing with Davida, and it is usually followed by a laugh.
We then headed out to sea. We went straight out past the islands we went to the day before. It was a long distance and he was pressing it. I was riding on the front, holding on by a line lashed to the bow, and for the deep water parts it was like riding a bucking bronco. It got painful after a bit, but we hit the shallow areas between the islands and the water was calmer. We stopped at the next island along the line, and I walked around while he motored along the coast looking for fish. We got to the far end and met, and a storm was approaching so we anchored the boat and huddled under a tree. You get soaked riding across the water, you get soaked by the rain, then the sun comes out and you dry quickly. I got severely burned the day before, so I was slathering on lotion, but I still turned a good shade darker today. We get back on the boat after the storm and headed out again. He bi-passed two islands and I didn't know why, then as we were between islands we got hit by another storm. I couldn't keep my eyes open what with the wind rain and sun. He took us all the way to the second to last island, where there was a house and some folks. One of them helped us anchor and was talking to Davida as if he knew him. It turns out he did. The fellow's name is Paul, and he told me that Davida comes out once a week. It also turned out that this island was a prison. Paul told me that one guy in for drugs was going to be released next month, and another guy for breaking and entering was here for five years. But there were three guys, so I didn't know if Paul was the guard or just didn't tell me what he was in for. There were no locked rooms, no bars, just an isolated island. I don't know if they could have visitors or what. They just had to live out here for their sentence. They had knives, fishing lines, etc. i assume they just had to find their own sustinence, maybe they get supplies dropped off every once in a while.
I actually didn't find this out right away. It seemed like we were going to hang here for a bit, so I found a beautiful view and set up the camera to take a static shot of the palm trees, beach etc. Then we sat down and Paul told me this info. THEN Davida sat down and proceeded to make two of his bombs! I sat and watched the whole process, not feeling comfortable taking pictures or videotaping the actual bomb making. I will write it down separately some time. But the entire time while the camera is shooting this idyllic island scene, just out of screen two bombs were built.
We head off to the far end of the island, where Davida and Lavakei have a conversation. Davida explains to me we need to wait until the tide comes in, about an hour. So we go under the trees and sleep. I was too hot, so I swam in the ocean a little then laid down. There were sporadic drizzles that kept me up, but eventually I crashed hard. I was suddenly awoken to Davida saying "Joe! Joe! Fish!" And I scrambled up, grabbed the camera, set it up, but then we were hit with another rain storm. So we bagged it and waited again under a tree. When it dried up we got out there again, I with my camera, Davida with his bomb, and he quickly spotted a school, lit the bomb from his cigarette, and BOOM! I caught it on tape! The other guys heard the boom and came down the beach to help gather the dead fish. Not a giant catch, mostly what Davida called Cod (I don't think it is the same though) and one large silvery fish. We went and cooked, ate the fish with boiled green bananas and boiled breadfruit. The "Cod" we ate raw, like the fish from the day before, even though these were much larger. They cooked the silver fish but I was stuffed by then. I thought that would be it but Davida wanted to take another look, so we walked back down the island and he saw a giant school, threw the other bomb and BOOM, there were fish sticking up everywhere. Lavakei ran across screaming happy and dived in to start gathering fish. I caught it again on tape. There must have been sixty fish we pulled out. The bomb caught the attention of two passing boats, and they both came in and talked to Davida. (fish bombing is illegal, but I couldn't tell if the boat men cared or not). The second boat, Davida ended up giving them some of the fish. It all seemed friendly, but I of course don't know since I couldn't understand anything. We then divied up the fish and we left the island, going hard as we could back to the main island. We got back, had some tea, and his family insisted I take some fish, as well as papaya and bananas we had gotten from the prisoner's island, over to the guest house. Another big storm came so we waited inside, and I solidified plans with Davida's father about going to the Ha'aipi islands on Monday. I am supposed to spend tomorrow with Lyndsey and her family, then stop by to visit Davida's family again. We will see. I am exhausted.
Since I am going to Ha'aipi I am pretty sure there is little power there, so I may not be able to send emails for a few days. I should be back here on Wednesday, your Tuesday, so you might not hear from me until then. Tomorrow, Sunday, all stores are closed, so I won't be able to send anything then.
I am attaching a picture I took.
Yours,
Joe
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