Delightful and Disgusting - September 20, 2008

This fishing village is delightful from a distance

I have spared you a close-up of the rubbish

The boats were fantastic - it is really interesting to see how different the boats are in a village that is only a few kilometers away

This cheerful man was using his feet to aid his net repairs

A fish drying area - racks for drying the fish are suspended across the strings in the sun

Alan and Pat enjoying the sunshine - parts of the beach were delightful

This abondoned building appealed to me - it appeared to be a place for fish farming of some sort

Delightful and Disgusting - September 20, 2008

This afternoon, after the boat race I went with Alan, Adeline and Pat for a motorbike trip south to a fishing village in the next province. I had seen it from a lookout during our orientation tour when I first arrived and, very taken with the sight of the long boats with tall prows, I was keen to return to see them up close. This was not a good idea!

From a distance it looks idyllic. Palm trees, a big cluster of houses on the waters edge and the interesting boats. We could not find a road down to the beach within the village so walked back to it from a kilometer or two south. At first it was delightful. There was a lot of rubbish but we ignored that and Adeline and I enjoyed picking up all sorts of interesting shells from the beautiful golden sand as we walked towards the village. This is the first time I have been on a beach with many shells here so it felt like a real treat.

When we got to the village area it was a disgusting surprise. The people there use the beach as a rubbish dump and a toilet. There was poo and every possible form of rubbish everywhere. It was revolting. I have no idea how people can possibly live and fish amongst this disgusting mess without becoming very unwell. Perhaps I am being unfairly judgmental but I can not begin to understand why a group of people would not make better sanitary arrangements even just a communal long drop. The fishing boats were really interesting but I will not be returning for another visit!

The day had been bright and calm but another storm arrived so we were soaked to the skin by the time we rode home. I had a loooooong shower and scrubbed myself repeatedly until I felt clean again. Ick!