Gym's Ramblings: Tacking into Tonga

Tonga is a cute little island nation of about 110,000 inhabitants. Although the GDP/person is only $5k US/yr or so, the Tongan people have a strong underlying barter economy and this may not be reflected in the GDP. The soil and climate provide for very fertile farming conditions and every family grows ample produce to feed their family and trade a little for things they may not grow. The country's main exports are vanilla, squash, fish, root crops and NFL players. Yes, that's right, if on a per capita basis, Calgary had as many NFL players as Tonga, there would be over 110 local Calgary guys playing in the NFL. The author gets it though, these young Tongan men who are descended from long lines of canoe paddlers have 25-inch forearms and they are natural NFL material.

Tonga is a constitutional monarchy that has never lost its indigenous governance. It was a UK protectorate for a time, from 1900 until it withdrew in 1970 and since then, has been a member of the Commonwealth, without recognizing the British monarchy. The rule of law is British Common Law and there is a unicameral parliament. The current King is Tupou VI and he is head honcho. He has a very nice looking residence not to far from the new cruise ship dock where the Insignia was parked. There is a sign on the dock that indicates the dock was funded by foreign aid from China. So, it seems the kingdom is looking "east" for friends (China is actually northwest of there but you get the drift). I'm sure high ranking Chinese have dined at the King's residence.

Tonga is very, very proud of their rugby team. Did you know Tonga ranks 13th in 2018 WRR rankings and has been as high as 9th only a few year's ago? New Zealand, South Africa and England are usually the top three in the WRR rankings and Canada's best performance is 12th in 2011, the same year Tonga was 9th. But again, for such a small population, these high rankings are incredible.

Two things that stand out about this country are the very high literacy rate and a very high obesity rate. The culture obviously prizes a good education as well as lots of taro root with their beans and rice. Gym and Mrs. Gym noticed the following related items; happy kids in brightly-coloured school uniforms and a Carl's Junior.

Our adventurers checked out the Tongan Blow Holes and then went straight to the Oholei Beach & Hina Cave where we came under the wonderful care of Simana Kami, the owner of the establishment and the Don Ho of Tonga. He didn't sing Tiny Bubbles but he and his back-up band were very good. We were serenaded by Mr. Kami while we had a cocktail and then we enjoyed a Tongan buffet, Tongan- style, using various parts of the banana plant as plates and table clothes. Suckling pig was the star of the meal but there was chicken, fish, octopus, taro, puddings, salads and fruit to go with it. After dinner, we all went into the Hina Cave for a tremendous Tongan traditional dance show, narrated by Mr. Kami. The finale was a couple of fire-eaters and fire-jugglers that came out really well against the dark background of the cave.

After returning to the ship, Gym and Mrs. Gym on some touching Tongan moments:
1. During grace, Simana Kami came to tears when he described how much it meant to him, his family and the neighbourhood that our cruise ship showed up and so many of us came to his establishment; and,
2. As we drove back across the island, the uniformed school-children going home after school, yelled goodbye at our bus as we passed them on streets.

We learned afterward, that Tonga only gets 20 cruise ships per year.

On a sad personal note, Gym has learned that Tongan mosquitoes may carry the Zika virus, so Gym has to wait 18 months before he can get pregnant.

Next stop is American Samoa!