Visiting the Village

Yesterday we wandered ashore to check out the school that's here in Viani Bay. It was pretty impressive and an odd juxtaposition of familiar grade school elements (math posters on the wall, map of the world, too small desks...) in a setting that is about as exotic as it gets. There are 59 kids (some walk to school, some are bussed and some are picked up by the "school boat" which makes perfect sense, but totally cracks me up), 3 teachers a few computers and a campus that feels like the very best of the third world - water catchment, solar, barefoot kids, a few more dogs than you'd expect, but extremely clean and sort of impressive.

Anyhow, we checked out a trail that lead away from the school and found a "village" about a mile back into the bush. Quotes used because it's really just an extended family home. There are 20 people who live there, all of whom are related (and two of whom are mentally handicapped - I wondered if it was a genetic predisposition or perhaps a lack of variety) and all of whom were incredibly sweet, kind and happy to have a few gringo visitors. They're 100% subsistence livers from what I could tell, and there was a vibe that reminded me a lot of being home in Alaska.

I'll post pictures when I can - I got a good one of Amanda, Lauren Girl and about half the town.

The next few days are forecast to be rainy. Having the solar power to write a blog post in the rain still blows my mind.