DAY 4- diving and more arriving

We start of the day with snorkeling. It was definitely a walk over to the snorkel spot, and the tide wasn’t far enough up to start. We ended up playing ultimate Frisbee to pass the time. It was honestly so hard, since sand isn’t a good platform to run on. After being completely crushed, we were allowed to go out snorkeling. Unfortunately, we hardly had time to snorkel. We were about half an hour away from the time we were meant to leave, and snorkeling would for sure be longer than that. Luckily, Brett and Lisa let us go out and snorkel. It wasn’t the best time, due to the rough current and to the fact that the snorkel I got was broken, but it was still fun. One of the best parts (though it wasn’t exactly good) was that Jamison fell into the boat we took to get back to shore. It wasn’t the fall that was funny; it was that he didn’t get up for a good five minutes. He just laid there, and he even let Brett take a photo of him like that.

Then, we were set to go to the village. It was a bit nerve-wracking honestly, since we had no idea what to expect. The culture wasn’t like ours, and had rules we had never heard of, like not being able to touch each other’s head’s. Plus, trying to cram photography equipment and 4 days worth of clothes into a backpack isn’t easy. Once we (kind of) did that, we set off.

The drive wasn’t comfortable, especially due to the heavy rain that set in as we left. We were meant to stop and exchange money, but the bank had closed by the time we got there.

Arriving in the village was an adventure in itself. The rain was flooding the road, and there wasn’t a light to be seen. We had to trudge to the cover of a metal community center, for the opening kava ceremony. It was breathtaking; all of the singing and the synchronized dancing, all for us. They also had us introduce ourselves and say what we were looking forward to/how we felt about the village (during which Bora’s sulu fell down). It was so amazing to experience, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

Settling into our room involved throwing our stuff over for the time being, and eating in the same room we would be sleeping in. We were invited to stay in Angie’s house, and I can never thank her enough for it. It was a kitchen (a strip of a room), and a large room for eating/sleeping. I put my stuff in the corner to get the best spot possible, and finally went to sleep.