Gin and Tang Ceremony
05 June 2012 | Faraulep, State of Yap - Federated States of Micronesia. The Caroline Islands.
David
How do you thank 25 thirsty blokes who a week ago went into the forest and chopped down a bunch of their valuable trees for you, then spent 3 days cutting them to size, designing and building a cradle using their own precious rope to support your boat all while following your directions. T hen when complete, carry it out into 6 feet of water and pulling, pushing tightening and tieing ropes to secure the boat into it. There is no off-license, no kakuyasu, no grog shop and no liquor store around here. We did however have a massive bottle of gin and 3 tubes of Tang. That sickly sugary vitamin c thing we have probably all had as kids. We had ordered 3 large cans of orange juice from Yap as that is how it is sold we thought but instead we got 3 cans of Tang - enough to make 60 litres of the stuff. We also had a lot of aussie beef jerky. So a couple of hours after we had be decoupled from the cradle and we had securely anchored we went ashore with our meager gifts.
Nicky and I quarreled over the ratio of gin and the concentration of Tang. Eventually it was Chan who decided. More Gin, less Tang. Everyone was to drink from the same cup. After a small speech I went around the circle of men 3 times pouring into the cup thanking each one before the supply had been depleted. One would have thought that this might have led to more drinking of coconut wine or something. No, we disbanded, Nicky and I returned to the yacht and watched a dvd grateful for what they islanders did for us.