Sifa Does 'Eua

October 8 -17, 2013

I finally got to go to 'Eua! I had a blast going to see my good friends Katy and Chiara and seeing the island of 'Eua, which is very different than Vava’u.

The whole trip was kind of spur of the moment. After planning on going weeks before during the school break but then being foiled and then again because of the fact that Vava’u volunteers can not really fly on the plane (it is a plane from China that is deemed unsafe). I had to request 2 separate weeks off to try and catch the 26 hour ferry ride. On Tuesday I called the women who knows when the ferry leaves and she told me that it was going to leave later that night! I had expected her to say that Wednesday or Thursday so I had to ask my principal if that was okay and then I had to quickly pack everything and get into town. I had a meeting with the high school principals for a secondary project and then after that I went to get snacks and pay for my ticket. I went to get money for the ticket to find out that both the items on the island are not working so I have no way to get money. I didn’t know what to do so I went to a nearby restaurant to talk to Sean (another volunteer who happened to be there) and luckily the owner of the restaurant lent me money to pay for the ticket (go small towns!).

I took the boat, which wasn’t that bad, and met up with Mike the next day on the main island! It was so weird being at the PC office without everyone else. Mike took me out and the next day we met up with Steph (another volunteer) and all 3 of us took another ferry to the island of Eua!

Eua is beautiful, very hilly and foresty looking. Once we got onto the island it didn’t feel like we were on an island at all! The first night we just all caught up and made dinner at Chiara’s house. The next day we went to this amazing spot to camp. The spot is on a clif side and there are wild horses and natural rock formations- it was absolutely breath taking and we just went there and sent up camp no questions asked. We roasted chicken on a fire we built and had a blast. The next day Mike and Steph left back to the main island and I stayed for another few days.

We went hiking in the beautiful national park that had pine trees! We explored Chiara’s village and Katy’s village. I met their people and saw their lives. We went out to dinner at one of the only two resorts on the island (and when I say resort I mean bungalow type things- that is what the resorts are in Tonga). It was just so great getting to catch up two of my best friends in PC, it was comforting to know that we are still close even though we live so far away from each other and don’t really ever get to see each other. We are planning a South East Asia trip after our close of service and after my trip to Eua I am reassured that it is going to be so rad!