Tongatapu, Tonga
The capital island is all-in-all not as cool as Vava’u. But hey, it ain’t bad and they got the awesome fried rice we mentioned in our last post, not to mention the royal estate.
And goats! Goats they’ve got.
Also this ancient marvel of island construction which no is quite sure how exactly they built, Tonga’s version of Stonehenge – Ha’amonga_’a_Maui:
And this spot where the ocean slams itself into the side of the island and creates these amazing water spouts, which upon seeing Tiffany just HAD to make like the sorcerer’s apprentice.
But as always it’s the little things you notice that seem the most telling about how their daily life differs from our own.
Probably the most interesting thing we found was the DVD rental shop across the street from our hostel, and the only one we found on the island. We figured we’d take a night in and catch up on what you all have been watching, so we hopped over there, picked up some movies, paid to rent them and came back to watch them on our computer. When we got back we noticed that there was an audience enjoying the movie on screen with us, and we were not watching MST3000 (if you don’t’ know what that is FOR SHAME!)
The movie was pirated, so was the next one. We went back to the shop the next day and found that what we initially assumed were cheap movie boxes were actually photocopied covers in generic DVD cases. The entire shop was dealing in illegal movies.
So not only is cannibalism alive and well in the South Pacific but it looks like piracy is making a comeback as well. Or if you do it as a business venture would that technically be privateering?
Missed our adventures discovering modern cannibalism? Click on “Cannibalism is Alive and Well in Rarotonga!”
About the authors
Greg and Tiffany are traveling around the world on sailing yachts and keep a video blog of their (mis)adventures. If sailing to Tahiti on a 44 ft sailboat, getting pooped on by seagulls, opening coconuts with dull machetes, sailing past tornadoes and ukulele Christmas carols are for you, then check them out at www.CoastGuardCouple.com!
