Lauren Comes to Tonga!

In April (I know, I’m a bit behind with this post), I was lucky enough to have my second visitor to Koulo, Ha’apai, the lovely and elusive globe-trotter, Miss Lauren Eriks! The trip was a bit last-minute, completely unexpected and absolutely wonderful. Lauren and her friend were spending 4 months traveling around New Zealand, and we’d been tossing around the idea of her coming over here, but there was nothing definite set. Then, after almost two weeks of no internet connection, I happened to go into town to check my email and got a great surprise: having found a great deal on airline tickets, Lauren just bought the ticket in the perfect traveler, and Tongan, frame of mind that things would work out. And they did- amazingly!

Lauren landed in Tongatapu in the evening, meaning she had to spend the night in town before getting a domestic flight the following afternoon. Some wonderful volunteers offered up their home and hospitality and provided a crucial cell phone link for the next day. In the morning I called the airline office to confirm her flight to Ha’apai, and was told the flight was canceled because the plane, once again, was broken. She was booked on the “big plane” via Vava’u, but this flight was now no longer going…maybe. I talked to three different people and got three different answers as to whether or not there was a plane. I got an extensive list of phone numbers for the airline, called them all, and was getting nowhere. Then I called the direct supervisor at the airport in Tonga, who told me there would be one plane to Ha’apai only in an hour and a half. After much begging and pleading I got a seat on the plane under the condition that the passenger be at the airport in less than an hour… meaning I somehow had to track down Lauren (who had no phone) and get her to the airport fast! Cue me calling the aforementioned amazing volunteers who found her, put her in a taxi, and got her to the airport in time to make the flight!

It was so lovely having Lauren here, and getting to show her the “sights” of Ha’apai, my school and village, and, of course, catching up. Since we hadn’t seen each other in almost 3 years, we had quite a bit to catch up on, and it was great having someone to talk to about everything with- the first day my mouth was actually sore from speaking English so much in one day (English consonants use very different muscles than Tongan vowels)! The kids at school and my neighbors loved having a new palangi around, especially Tupou and Fotu, who took full advantage of the new friend who would play with them and pay attention to them, and the two of them were over almost every day to eat cake, color, and play endless games of ‘hit the balloon’, which they still talk about.

We did a lot of nofo ia pe (just hanging out) and cooking/eating (obviously!) and talking about food and sustainable food culture and activism and being cajoled by Mui Mui into petting him and playing with him. We also went swimming with the neighbors and quite a few of the kids from the village one evening, which was fun and amazingly picturesque, took a bike ‘eva to the liku side of the island and prevented my dog from being trampled by a herd of cows he wanted to play with, and went down to Uoleva for 2 days, which was beautiful. We were able to help one of the resort owners set up plans and to do lists for her vegetable garden in exchange for staying there for the night, and it was, as always, relaxing and gorgeous. My neighbors also invited us to do Sunday with them, which meant we were able to get up and help make the lū, including possibly the first ever all vegetable lū in Koulo, see the ‘umu, and were dressed up by my neighbor in taovalas (woven mats) and tupenus for church.

The only down-side was that the week went by far too fast; I had such a wonderful time. That being said, I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I’ll have a few more surprise visitors before I leave in December! [Check out Lauren’s blog for some beautiful photos of her time in Tonga: http://interestinglyno.blogspot.com/2010/04/fakatonga.html]