All In A Day
17 November 2012 | Funafuti Atoll 08 30.823'S 179 11.707' E
Linda
It's Friday, so we're up early. Our first stop 'The Happy Friendship Farm' on the west side of the runway for some fresh produce. The farm was developed for Tuvalu by the government of Taiwan and grows quite the array of veggies. Lettuce, eggplant, green onions, tomatoes, bok choy, papaya, squash, cucumber, peppers and some weird wrinkly cucumber looking things that we remember buying in Tahiti and not liking!
We were welcome to wander through the garden and it was interesting to see how the different plants were being grown. As much as possible is grown vertically to save space and in bags of dirt. Remember we're on top of a coral atoll. No soil to speak of. We met a young agricultural volunteer from Taiwan that had recently arrived for a year and a half stay. Most of what he had to say was that it's REALLY hot here and that the Tuvaluans are REALLY lazy!! Another week or so and I think he'll put that two piece puzzle together!
By 9:00am it's getting hot so we're looking for shade. Next stop the Philatelic Bureau. Yes, that's an English word. Tuvalu is famous for it's stamps plus we've heard they have air conditioning. Yes they do, but we're still dripping as we peruse all the display cases. First editions to commemorate Queen Elizabeth's visit, Elvis, Royal Weddings, Reef Fish, Sports, WWII, you name it! I collected stamps as a kid, so why not continue?
Just a stone's throw away is the National Archive and Library. They only have fans but there are plenty of places to sit and a quite amazing collection of books for such a remote place. One section is strictly books on the S. Pacific so we made ourselves comfortable for the rest of the morning.
Lunch??? We head over to the Filamona Moonlight Lodge and a table in the shade with a little breeze. The cuisine is funny here in Tuvalu. Nearly all Chinese stir fries with some Indian fare available here and there. You can have a meal out for way less than the cost of the ingredients and there's no heat generated by firing up the propane stove on the boat!
Since we got up sooooo early now we're ready for an afternoon nap. The sun awning is up on 'Lark' so if there's a bit of breeze now we're set!