Back to the Middle Ages

There was a celebration in Bairiki Square in May to encourage people to use the ‘Green Bag.’ The Green Bag is a plastic garbage bag where you can put your rubbish and on certain days of the week depending on which Tarawa islet you live on, a truck comes and collects the bags on the main road and delivers to the dump. The bags cost 20 cents which is a cheap even here but only a few stores sell the bags.  I am not sure why but it could be because they have to pay for the bags upfront.

Littering in Tarawa is one of the big issues to solve. Honestly, you couldn’t hope to see a more beautiful island but the locals except for the trash that can be given to pigs and dogs prefer to throw it down. It doesn’t matter if they are on the beach, outside their own house, on the road or in the Tarawa Lagoon. My neighbors even like to throw their trash over the fence into my yard I guess because they have run out of room in their own.

Trash dominates the landscape and some seem quite comfortable with it or maybe they just accept things as there.

Littering of course is not precluded to Tarawa. It does go on in other places even where there are hefty fines for doing so. But in other places the trash may be less intrusive because of the larger land masses.  Tarawa, on the other hand, is a small space. The population per square meter on the Betio islet for example exceeds that of Hong Kong.

I know that there are people who are waiting for someone to invent a time machine so they can travel back to the Middle Ages. Luckily for me I don’t need the machine as I am already there and just in time for the plague.

Location Location Location

When I am in Tarawa I usually live in a little house in Teaoraereke right on the lagoon but have made a change. I now live on Betio island, which is an island separated by a 3 mile causeway from South Tarawa.

The real estate market here hasn't exactly taken off but when it does, I could be located in a prime spot. My house is within feet of key tourist attractions, two beaches and on a relatively pristine street with famous or infamous neighbors depending on your point of view.

Betio is the site of the famous WWII battle of Tarawa where 6,400 Japanese, Korean and American soldiers died over a period of just 72 hours. My new house is within 100 feet of two of guns from this battle. I walked over to take a look recently and found a man with his pants down and realized that the use has changed from artillery to public

conveniences.

Tarawa Lagoon





Pacific Ocean

If I stand in the road in front of my house, I can see the Pacific ocean on one side and the Tarawa lagoon on the other side. 

There is a handy convenience store on our street that offers canned foods, local fried donuts and a barbecue on Fridays.

My neighbors are friendly and include locals, a Kenyan couple and two couples from Fiji heading up some of Kiribati's best companies. The Kenyans are turning their yard into a farm to try and secure a constant food supply. This is a good idea but I just wish that their three roosters would sleep in on weekends.

I am also able to walk to work now as my office is only 3 miles away. I haven't decided yet whether this is an advantage or disadvantage considering the condition of the road and surrounding debris that I have to navigate through. It does make for an eventful morning though with people yelling out hey Imatang! all along the way and trying to avoid collisions with oncoming school kids, cars, pigs and dogs.

I came home from shopping the other day to find the police at the end of my road. They brought one of my neighbors out in hand cuffs and put him in the back of their truck. A few minutes later, his two sisters joined him. These are the same neighbors that had climbed coconut trees for me a week earlier to bring down my favorite drink here--the moimoto. When I asked what had happened, another neighbor told me that the man came home drunk and chopped off his brother’s hand. I still like my location but I think it is a good idea from now on if I keep my gate locked.

 

Long Noses of Maiana

 

Maiana is only a 10 minute plane ride from South Tarawa, which makes it a convenient weekend getaway as long as the plane comes back on Sunday. I decided to go for a visit when I heard about how the people there are famous for the lies they tell, black magic and powers over rain. It is also President Anote Tong's home island.



Airport

 The weekend started off well with a nice welcome at the airport and quick introduction to the caretaker of the local council hotel who took me to my accommodation on his motorbike.



Perfume Sprayers

On the way, we passed a group that offered to spray us with perfume in exchange for money.




The president's house

We drove past the president's house which wasn't much to write home about-- a small buia that needed maintenance.

After spending a more than a weekend on Maiana as it turns out, I can confirm that the people there do have long noses. It poured the entire time--the road was a big river and the plane from Tarawa would not come back on Sunday as scheduled because of the weather. No amount of Maiana magic could stop the rain. To make matters even worse,


Child enjoying a rainwater shower.

the locals do not fish when it rains, so on an island surrounded by some of the best fish on the planet, I ate noodles!


Black Magic Fish Wizard

I visited a man well known for his black magic spells who told me that he had killed a lot of people by composing songs for his customers to sing to bury their enemies.

However, on the way home, the hotel caretaker told me that the only spells he casts are those over fish traps.






Bride and Groom

Wedding Guests

I was invited to a wedding which was an entertaining instruction on how to seduce your lover. Everyone actively and I do mean actively participated.

 

The next day a truck went up and down the island's only road with screaming kids holding symbolic red sheets of the bride's virginity. It's up to you if want to believe that one.

 

If you do go to Maiana I would recommend staying somewhere besides the local council if you can.

 

The rooms at the council were crawling with scary looking bugs and the toilet did not work and hasn't for a long long time. The pigs that seemed to be taking over the place were very friendly on the other hand. This one took a real liking to me and kept following me around and kissing my feet.

 

 



Aerial View of North Tarawa

Each time I arrive in Tarawa after being away, I am struck by something.

The first time I marveled about how such a island with a maximum elevation of 3 meters (10 feet) could survive thousands of years in the middle of the Pacific.

I also prayed that the plane would make it across the short runway before toppling into the sea.



This time I had a good view of the islets of North Tarawa that I trekked crossed during my initial trip to Tarawa.
I must say that the feat looked very impressive from the air and I am not sure how I actually managed to walk all that way before high tide--although admittedly I did have to swim across a few. : )



Spirit Land of North Tarawa

I went to Buariki last year but am just getting around to writing about it. This is a small village near  the top of North Tarawa. It is special as it is the home of many ancestral spirits and some believe that this is where Nareau the Creator, a spider god, created Tarawa first and then the rest of the world.  

Buariki is also the place of the legend of King Kewe, a king deeply admired by his people and loved by birds.

I was lucky that some local friends decided to accompany me as I do not have a boat, which was essential for this particular adventure. Our captain, a former seaman, drove across the lagoon over the waves so fast that we arrived at our destination in a little over an hour. It was bumpy and at times I thought that I just might end up over board but we all arrived safe and sound.  And what a beautiful place Buariki is--no wonder the spirits made it their first home.  The sand is so white and smooth without coral, lava formations and no trash.

I jumped out of the boat and swam to shore where I was greeted by a group of children who saw our boat approaching. They seemed friendly enough but I decided to keep an eye on the boy with the knife.

 

 

  

My friend Kimere arrived a little later and taking the advice of her father dug her feet into the sand upon arrival and then circled a nearby coconut tree counterclockwise to
ensure we would be safe and lucky in this foreign land. After our luck was secured, we walked into the village to find out where the spirit shrines were.

 

1st shrine



2nd shrine

The first people we met told us that we must visit the shrines in the company of the official guide. Things were definitely more organized than I imagined and as it turns out the guide is the father of the
boy with the knife so he led the way.

Once the guide had changed into his
official uniform, we started off on our
tour of the shrines and other famous places.



I have to admit that I do not remember the names of the spirits entombed in the conch shell shrines. Maybe Kimere knows though. She was listening so intently to the very talkative guide who wanted to make sure we visited the shrines correctly. This is because the spirits once tormented him during the night for not doing so and  his mother had had to rescue him.










 

 

Where the bones  are

We visited so many places and it was so hot but the guide was relentless on doing a thorough job. He took us to the highest point in North Tarawa were the beautiful spirit from Samoa is enshrined, then to the spot where the cannibal woman threw the bones of her victims.

Highest Point and Shrine

 

And at last we reached the spot where the would be murderer of King Kewe was avenged. 

For those of you who do not know the story, Nei Aromaeao a witch from Nabanaba island came to Buariki to capture King Kewe and make him her husband. She pretended to be a log on the beach and one night when King Kewe couldn’t sleep he lay down on that log to rest. He quickly fell into a deep sleep and the log drifted back to Nabanaba. The king was lost. His people looked everywhere for him and even called upon magicians for help, which prove useless as their only response was “buramatoa” which means 'hard to tell'. In the end, they gave up searching.

Then his beloved birds began searching for him. They looked everywhere and finally they came to Nabanaba where they saw their king. By joining together to form a mass, they were able to scoop up Kewe and fly him home. Nei Aromaeao would not be scorned and she came back to get her man. However when she arrived in her form as a log on the beach, the village men fell their axes and knives upon her turning the sand of beach forever red. There is still a slight twinge of red to the beach but admittedly it is hard to see in the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you who do not know the story, Nei Aromaeao a witch from Nabanaba island came to Buariki to capture King Kewe and make him her husband. She pretended to be a log on the beach and one night when King Kewe couldn’t sleep he lay down on that log to rest. He quickly fell into a deep sleep and the log drifted back to Nabanaba. The king was lost. His people looked everywhere for him and even called upon magicians for help, which prove useless as their only response was “buramatoa” which means 'hard to tell'. In the end, they gave up searching. Then the birds began searching. They looked everywhere and finally they came to Nabanaba where they saw their king. By joining together to form a mass, they were able to scoop up Kewe and fly him home. Nei Aromaeao would not be scorned and she came back to get her man. However when she arrived in her form as a log on the beach, the village men fell their axes and knives upon her turning the sand of beach forever red.