Yesterday we hiked across the island to visit the village of Dakuiloa and to pick up the tapa John and I had ordered the previous day. The village was very nice, with lots of friendly people all shouting Bula to us as we walked through. We found Salote working on her porch, putting the last of the finishing touches on our tapa. It had turned out better than expected! It was beautiful!


Salote finishing up our Orcinius Tapa


Applying the details to our tapa

We wanted to let Salote finish up our tapa so Bob, Ann and myself took a stroll around the village to see the church and check out what else was going on. We came across Cinatia (sp?) pounding out the bark of the tapa in her house. She invited us in and let us have a go at it. Two minutes of pounding was enough for me! I can't imagine - these gals do this for hours and hours everyday! And it is so loud - I am surprised they are not deaf.


Cinatia trying not to laugh as I pound the tapa


That's just about enough for me!

After lots of laughter, and comparing muscles!, she invited us to go look at some tapas in the house next door. They showed us a huge tapa, at least 8 by 10 feet, and also three smaller - long tapas that are worn for weddings. Then they asked me if I wanted to try them on. Sure! The gals were having a fun time dressing me up while Ann shot the pictures.


Wrapping me up in a wedding tapa


Applying the second layer


Third layer...


Ready for my groom!

One of the tapas looked like a quilting pattern, very pretty - Ann fell in love with it and had to buy it. It will look great in her sewing room one day.
So enough goofing off. It was coming up on 4 o'clock and we still had to hike back to the other side of the island and get some dinner going. We walked back over to Solates (with an enterage of kids we had collected along the way) where she had finished our Orcinius tapa, and John was still hanging out having a chat with Chief Moses. Before we left, I pulled out a game of Barrel of Monkeys to give to the kids. I had to show them how it worked first - shaking the barrel, dumping out the monkeys, then picking them up one by one. The kids could hardly wait to get their turn. We left them playing with the game, said our goodbyes, and started our trek back to the anchorage.


Teaching the kids how to play Barrel of Monkeys




Good Job!

Bob and Ann came over for one last meal together for awhile. John cooked up a roast with potatoes and carrots while I threw a mung bean salad together - from mung beans I had begun sprouting about 5 days prior. It's nice to have something a little green to eat now that we are well into week 4 since our last visit to a market.

Today we are underway to Lakemba - about 24 miles NW. We'll do at least one night there, then head up to The Bay of Islands and Batavu Harbor to explore for a few days. We are starting to get some internet coverage - yahoo!!! It is very slow, but workable - at least for some emails. All for now!

Lisa