Alofi, Niue
Local: “Oh hello, you must have come on a boat.”
Look, it’s not like we don’t think this trip has profoundly affected us or something but when multiple people come up to you and say that within hours of arriving, it begs the response:
Us: “Yes we did. Um, how did you know?”
Local: “Because you’re new here and it’s not Friday.”
This answer mystified us until one Friday we came ashore and everything was closed. Literally the entire capital village…er…city of Alofi was a ghost town. Then two hours later everyone showed back up. We later found out that on Fridays the one Air New Zealand flight that services Niue, The…One…Flight… arrives on Fridays at about 1pm local time and everyone goes up to meet the new tourists.
Anyone else just flash on a little short guy shouting “de plane! de plane!”? Glad we’re not the only ones.
Funny fact: Niueans love KFC. They love it so much that locals have their family members who are flying home pick up KFC in Auckland. We are told it is extremely common to have a couple of buckets of the Colonel’s special recipe onboard the 4 hour flight.
So we’re off the boat and into the “big city” (cough, hack, giggle).
First stop, the bank. We need currency and this is where we run into our first problem. See again to remind you, there are about 1300 people total on this island. Now these 1300 people have exactly 1 bank and that one bank only accepts exactly 1 type of card: Visa. Which we don’t have. We are actually saying to you that MasterCard is not accepted in this country. At all. So when Greg walks up to the bank teller and hands her his ATM card to make a withdrawal, she hands it back and says “sorry, we don’t accept MasterCard.”
Greg: “It’s an ATM card not a credit card.”
Teller: “Sorry, we can only process Visa cards for anything.”
Greg: “Ok, no problem, is there another bank in town where I can use this card?”
Teller: Sorry, we’re the only bank in the country. (emphasis added by us)
…
Holy cow we’re in Visa commercial! Where’s the voice over guy!?
It ended up being OK because luckily, we carry some cash for emergencies. But the emergencies we were thinking of were more like “abandoned in a foreign country and need airfare” vice, “hey I’d like some local currency to buy lunch.”
But an emergency it was and we were very grateful to have the cash. So lesson learned – always carry some extra cash because you never know when the one and only bank in the country won’t take your ATM card. Because not everyone takes MasterCard, but it seems greenbacks are still universally accepted.
Like this article? For more learn more about our varied shopping adventures in Polynesia by clicking on “Haven’t had a pig roast yet…”
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!
