It's day 18 of relaxation and we are almost maxed out. Haha. We decided to stay in the main city in Tonga for a few days and each day we have one thing on the agenda and the rest of the day is spent reading, napping, playing yahtzee and eating. Tough life.
Our second day in Tonga we rented a car and toured the island. We saw more blow holes as well has a huge cave. There were huge stalagtites and they have lights to illuminate everything. Super cool. There were lots of bats and one of the highlights is a large pool of water you can swim in. I will readily admit that I was too creeped out to go in the water. Q on the other hand also did not go swimming, however, he won't admit it was creepy. He just wasn't feeling it... Right.
That night we went to a traditional Tongan feast and dance. The food was served on pieces of bark from a banana tree and most of the food is cooked underground. The dancing was similar to the Samoan fia fia. The men were very energetic and powerful and the woman are much more graceful. At the end three men did a fire dance. It was all well and good until one of the dancers lost his baton of flames into the crowd as he was spinning it, not once but 3 times. Haha. Luckily no one was hit. It always landed just shy of the first row, where all of the kids were sitting.
Saturday we went to the flea market. It's basically a gigantic garage sale. So fun. We bought a few books for about $1 and a few pairs of earrings as all 3 pairs of mine went missing from our room. Hmm.
Today the only thing on the agenda was church. Can you believe we've been gone 3 weeks and we've attended church twice. The service isn't in English, but the singing is amazing. I basically have goose bumps for an hour it's so beautiful. Anyways, I better get going. Given that everything is closed on Sundays I'm fInding the Internet to be very addicting which I also feel guilty about bc that should be part of the appEal of traveling. Oops. Will probably post again soon given my new habit. Miss everyone. Bye
are you ever going to get tired of relaxing?! say NO, NEVER, NADA! i love that you play yahtzee and read to one another. you're just my favourite people!
ReplyDeletewhen is q, 'just not feeling it'? haha, you know better than anyone riley, he thought it was creepy.
you'll have to teach us the fia fia dancing when you're home! i don't know how graceful i am when i dance, but they're probably not dancing to keesha when they're doing it either...or are they? ha! riley you'll have to teach them some of your moves when the opportunity arises.
relieved to hear that you're replenishing your bling as quickly as it's 'leaving' your room.
and church?! the singing must be amazing! what a wonderful place to experience a community and a culture. regardless of language or denomination, i hope you include attending religious gatherings as a must on many of your stops.
miss you more every day friends!
love!