Any article I have posted or will post is strictly from my observation and experience of living in Tonga.
My family is still trying to understand the culture here. Most people have not heard of Tonga. It is a group of islands in the middle of nowhere. The closest known place is Fiji. Most people reside on the main island though other islands have isolated villages on them.
From California, it takes 10 hours to fly to Fiji then another 1 1/2 hours from Fiji to Tonga.
We came to visit Tonga in 2019 and loved it. We wanted to come back but COVID came on the world scene. Now, it is 2023 and we are here again, hopefully for a few years.
December-February are the hottest months. We had arrived in November. It gets pretty humid and hot, like 80’s but things become cool by the evening. Most homes do not have air conditioning and the electricity is outrageous. It is very costly to use electricity in Tonga. So far, we have been using standing fans and that has helped us adjust to the climate here.
The flowering plants are beautiful here. There are durantas, bougainvilleas, hibiscuses, dracaenas, ixoras, and all different colors of plumerias. And, of course, there are palm tress everywhere. Many plants here I do not recognize but I have a goal of finding out what they all are on the island. The island is great for plant lovers. Everything (plants from the tropics) grows very easily.
The driving is very slow. The fastest a person can go is 70 km, which translates to 35 miles per hour. I love that about the island! There are no traffic lights, just Stop signs and Yield signs. They have traffic circles throughout the main island. Rural roads tend to have potholes.
A person can find pretty much what they need to survive in Tonga, although there are no Walmart or McDonald’s or any such thing like them on the island. Life is pretty simple and slow here. Going to the beach to snorkel or to swim is our recreation.
Not everyone has a smartphone here since many people are poor and it is a respite to see children not zombying out in front of such things. Since many are poor, I am puzzled as to how they can afford new vehicles and gas prices are pretty steep. We are renting a vehicle similar to a van and it costed us TOP200 (which translates to roughly $100 US) to fill up the tank. Although there are Toyotas and Hondas on the island, many of the vehicles are unknown to us. We are driving a van like vehicle that is called “Estiva”. Trucks here are “Hilux”.
Living here seems like we’d traveled back in time when life was simpler. Thus far, we are still adjusting to the slow pace and the heat.
Will blog another day, until then “Malo”.
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