Last Trip to Hunga

Last week my good friend Jessica and I made our final trip to the island of Hunga to visit Sarah Kate who will be finishing her work in Tonga this month. The trip was the perfect combination of relaxing island getaway coupled with extreme outer island cultural experience that I’ve come to expect in my visits to Hunga.

The two hour boat ride to the island was thankfully uneventful. Clear skies and seas and a nearly empty boat offered the perfect environment to do some much needed catching up.

Upon arrival to the island we made our last walk up “the hill” from the lagoon to the village – an infamously muddy and steep trek that’s nearly ½ mile long. We were at once greeted enthusiastically by about 20 unaccompanied small children.

The kids predictably followed us to Sarah Kate’s house and bestowed us with gifts of fresh papaya, mangoes, and flowers for an hour before we asked for some time to rest. After dinner the three of us sat around Sarah Kate’s transistor radio hoping for some coverage of the presidential debate that had taken place that day. I noted how faka-1930’s it was of us to be sitting around the radio, awaiting news of our future president - a far cry from the SAT TV at Mango Restaurant where I’ve been getting my election coverage lately. We ultimately did get to hear some clips from the debate, something about Barack Obama and jello- politics as usual.

The next morning the three of us set off in search of a tiny isolated patch of beach located on Hunga’s west coast. Sarah Kate had been there only one time and it had been over ago but the three of us had high hopes we would be successful in our mission of having a “palangi” beach day, no matter how high the odds were against us i.e. no decipherable trail to the beach...

After over two hours of walking we were pointed in the right direction, so to speak, by five semi-aggressive giant bulls and found what we were looking for- paradise!

After a full day of wandering (somewhat) aimlessly around the island, lounging in the sun, and floating in the ocean (my personal favorite) we made our way back to the village. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by children who had been looking for us all day in the hopes that we would go swimming with them. The Hunga kids have great memories, apparently, as the previous day when we thought we were tired we had asked them to wait until tomorrow to go swimming, however, words cannot describe the exhaustion I felt on that second day after our little island excursion.

On the way to go swimming we had a “snack” of fresh mangoes – Hunga is one of the only places in Tonga that mangoes are currently so plentiful and ripe.

After an hour or so of swimming at the wharf we made our way back to Sarah Kate’s house for some much needed bucket baths and dinner.

It was an incredible couple of days. I’m so grateful I’ve had the opportunity to visit Sarah Kate and share a bit of her Peace Corps experience on the idyllic island of Hunga.

On the boat ride back to town Jessica and I were fortunate to see humpback whales breaching. So beautiful!