I didn't really want to end my posts on the Pacific islands with the last sad one on the small, struggling countries, as some of the larger islands such as Palau, Samoa and the Solomon Islands were very different. Mostly clean and tidy, for one thing, with beautiful, lush countryside, and a much more upbeat feel. The above picture, for example, is just a street through a small town / village in Samoa - full of flowers and with no litter!
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (in Samoa) is beautiful, but represents something else I found surprising about these countries - the strong role of the Christian faith. There are churches everywhere, lots of very well-maintained and decorated tombs and graveyards - and no topless women! Somehow my image of this part of the world encompassed women in grass skirts, with chains of flowers around the head/neck ... but with nothing on the top half of the body. But that has been stopped by the Christian religion, especially in front of foreigners (I saw just one topless woman, an older lady in a village in the Solomon Islands). However, looking at the interior of this Cathedral in Honiara, they are at least keeping hold of some of their own culture, which I was pleased to see. Zoom in one the figures in the top skylight part!
Of course there were some beautiful beaches too, and we saw dolphins, stingless jellyfish, starfish, sharks ... and I was lucky enough to wander away from the rest of the group for a few minutes in Fiji at just the right time to see quite a large gathering of at hermit crabs. Apparently they do this periodically in order to upgrade to a larger shell discarded by another crab as they outgrow their old one. I saw at least ten crabs around the place, some already gathered together in a group, and clearly communicating with one another. I didn't see the actual exchange of shells, as I had to rejoin my group and the crabs' activity had stopped whilst I wandered around watching and photographing them - and at that time I had no idea why I was seeing so many of them out of the water and in one place together. When I asked a local man afterwards what was going on, he answered me immediately with the explanation about the regular exchange of shells.
Finally, I should add that I got to try both kava (a drug extracted from the ground up roots of a plant and made into a drink, with relaxing properties) and betel nut (a drug with stimulant properties where the soft interior of the nut is chewed together with a small amount of the leaf dipped into calcium hydroxide - slaked lime - powder). The kava I didn't really like, with its bitter flavour and the way it numbs your lips and tongue not seeming to me to be offset by anything positive. The betel nut was much better, although having seen the state of the teeth of those who chew it regularly, I shan't be consuming it a second time. & on the food front, I visited the famous l'Houstalet restaurant in Vanuatu where I had flying fox (bat) - something I certainly wouldn't eat a second time, but you have to try everything once, don't you?!
Comments
Post a Comment