School Holidays

I've been off school for the past two weeks - school holidays. Most of my friends went skiing and I started feeling a little sorry for myself since I can't do much these days while I wait for knee surgery. So, instead of feeling bad, I took off for the Kingdom of Tonga for a week or so. I checked out the prices to every Pacific Island and Tonga was the cheapest. I was able to relax for a week, sit on a couple of beaches and read and sleep.



I visited two different islands of Tonga - the main island Tongatoupo and the island of Eua. The people of Tonga are so warm and friendly. When my friend and I got to the main city, we had no place to stay and started looking around at different hostels. The first one we went to was full but the woman told us we could have her room and she would sleep in the living room. We told her that we had a tent and she let us camp in the backyard. I felt like I was a kid camping in mom and dad's backyard because we were right in the middle of the city. The couple who owned the place invited us in for dinner, let us use their kitchen and said we could stay as long as we want.

We toured the main island then headed off to the island of Eua to a "resort." The ferry ride over was probably the scariest thing I've ever done. We were in the open sea on a boat that might have been built in the 1920's and we were traveling through 15-20 foot swells. I tried to keep my eyes on the horizon but when the boat would crest the wave and come crashing down, I kept losing sight of it. The seats weren't bolted to the floor, so everyone kept sliding around, water was pouring into where we were sitting, and people were getting sick everywhere I looked. I still can't believe we made it. After I got off the boat and kissed solid ground, we (there were 3 of us) piled into the back seat of a woman's car, while 4 kids climbed around the front seat, and she drove us to the "resort." Here are some photos of where we stayed. The view was amazing but the resort was not your typical island paradise. The conditions on the island are very primitive and the people are generous but not wealthy so it was very simple accommodations with a great view. It was great.










The people on this island were just as friendly and warm. I was walking into town one day and tried to walk past the school. The school children saw me, came running out to the road and the next thing I know, I'm in the schoolyard with them, playing catch, teaching them American phrases while they taught me Tongan.

I'll be posting more photos and hopefully more stories when I get the rest of the photos from my friends. I will recommend visiting Tonga to those who don't need upscale resorts with hot showers and who don't mind roughing while getting to know beautiful and generous people.