Formalities
26 April 2014 | Funafuti, Tuvalu
Linda Same'o Same'o
Checking in was the usual routine of visiting Immigration, Customs, Agriculture and dropping off a health form at the hospital. They always give both ourselves and the form an odd look, we leave and they probably drop it in the rubbish bin. We spread the formalities out over a few days since no one here is in a hurry and we were exhausted and wanted to clean up some of the chaos on board.
It took days to get our land legs back and in the meantime we managed to connect with our friend Teoni, a teacher we’d met on Nanumea on 2012. Woohoo, the recipient of over 100 lbs of textbooks we’d been transporting. He picked them up in small loads on his motorbike which is the common mode of transportation here. Not the crappy tangle of cars adding to the heat and pollution that we found in Majuro.
We’ve met up with other Tuvaluan friends too. Even some from Nanumea that have traveled here by boat for various reasons. We enjoyed the singing at Easter Sunday services at the Church of Tuvalu with one of their congregations and Easter Monday evening a traditional ‘fatele’, singing competition between the 5 choirs. Culturally, Tuvaluans are a very competitive lot. Each island and village competes in hearty spirit. Singing, dancing, cooking, sports, you name it.
I’m finding that even though internet access is more accessible now, it’s slowish and posting photos eats up mb’s like crazy. Therefore photos will have to wait until our next stop, Vanuatu. I’m not sure why I think it will be better there, but I’m hopeful.
We’ll be here a couple more weeks so stay tuned. I promise to write more after my long dry spell. It’s good to be somewhere where the people and place make you smile. :)