Monday, December 28, 2009

Sunday 20/12/2009 - Hair braiding by Diana


This morning, after breakfast we took a stroll into the local neighbourhood, to explore the local environment. We noticed that everybody was smiling, everybody said hello to us as we passed them, we weren't snubbed once. We walked down the road till we could see the water and navigated our way down a side street which popped us out at the lagoon where we witnessed a local man swimming and diving. The first time I saw him duck under the water, it took ages for him to surface again and I was starting to get worried. His wife / girlfriend didn't seemed fazed by it so I sat and waited patiently. Sure enough he did surface eventually and not in the least bit out of breath - amazing, but I guess that's what you get growing up in an Island culture.


At the lagoon we found some cool fossilised remains of underwater life. I could not resist but take some photos.


We made our way back to the resort and did some dive theory study before Diana arrived to braid my hair. She braided so very quickly and painlessly, but the braids were still tight.


We conversed about her culture and her life-style (she is a single mother of two little girls). We talked about basket and mat weaving and the role of women in her culture. She informed me that due to my interest in her culture and friendly attitude she had spoken to her mother who had kindly offered to weave a bag especially for me in the indigenous fashion.

Tonight we invited Tony and his girlfriend to have drinks with us at the resort. His girlfriend (Katura) is both beautiful and smart, training to become a pilot with Air Vanuatu. She had just that day returned from medical testing and induction into the pilots course she had earned a scholarship with in New Zealand. Tonys pride at her accomplishments was very evident.

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