Tonga

Tonga is hard to describe. We had to anchor offshore and take a ship’s tender (lifeboat) to the dock, but this time there was easy access to the harbor and there were many tenders from the ship transporting passengers and crew to the port. There were small shuttle buses waiting to transport us into the town where we walked through a food and craft market. The food was different and interesting for us to see. They had some of the typical vegetables and fruits, but the staple of their culture is a root like taro. The roots were enormous, maybe 5 feet long. To cook them, people took them home and roasted them whole in a fire pit. I think the taste would be something like sweet potato.

Many of the men were dressed in traditional skirts and not for the tourists. We saw police uniforms for men that were skirts and shirts. The people there are really friendly and happy even though they have few material goods. Or maybe because they have few material goods and an otherwise wonderful life.

While waiting for our little shuttle bus to return us to the tenders, we were outside a craft store where Jerry insisted that I buy a flower sculpted on a shell and made into a pendant. Although I didn’t really want it, we bought it with all of the money I had taken ashore. When we left the store there was a man on the sidewalk who asked what we bought in the store. Jerry showed it to him and the man asked how much we paid. The pendant was priced at $150, so Jerry thought we did well to get it for $16 until the man said in the market we could have bought all we wanted for $5 each. Jerry was so bummed.

On the return bus ride to the dock, we drove past the King of Tonga’s palace and the cemetery. In the cemetery they put the deceased’s most treasured possessions at the grave, which included several magnificent appliquéd quilts at several graves. The quilts were stunning and I suppose as useful there as anywhere but it pains me to see them slowly disintegrating in the hot sun and rain instead of being preserved. But, we did get to enjoy seeing them and we wouldn’t have if they had been in a drawer somewhere.

We had delicious Indian dinner the next night in the Lido buffet with fabulous rice and lentil dal. We look forward to the Indian Dinners, which they have each segment, so there will be a few more of them.

The best part of our dinner meal in the Mauretania Dining Room is the salad. We alternate among 3 of them. A vegan Caeser salad, a Greek salad with chopped peppers, onions, tomatoes, black olives, cucumbers, and soy cheese chunks. The third one is a julienned peppers, carrots, onions, lettuce, tomatoes with a marinated walnut dressing. All fabulous and the soy cheese is better than any we can get at home.