The villagers were quite friendly and we were greeted at the road’s end by a local woman who wanted to sell us a large conch shell and locally grown vanilla. While we wanted to buy and help support these very poor people, we knew we could bring neither home with us – the shell is too heavy and you can’t take produce on the planes – so we had to pass. She also wanted us to give her a ‘C’ battery so she could hear the weather on her radio, but we only had ‘AAA’ batteries with us on the boat. We were followed by lots of small children who were friendly and curious, saw the local boys playing rugby in a field and were invited to watch the local women as they wove ‘tapa’ cloth in a large community hall. These are made from tree bark into large mats and then dyed and used at weddings and funerals. We also saw them on the floor of a local home and guess they might be used as bedding. These people are very poor, but according to all that we have read they value God, family and friendship over material things and live a communal lifestyle sharing everything and caring for one another. They certainly seem happy despite their very primitive existence - spoiled American girl that I am I cannot imagine living without running water, electricity, growing my own food and living among the hundreds of pigs that wander through these villages!
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