John with the frisbee we gave him

Little John with a very accurate (in a couple years) tee-shirt

Palmerston Yacht Club

So I ended yesterday with the promise of telling you about my new friend, John. John is four years old and is visiting/living in Palmerston for the first time ever. He has heard about Palmerston and talked to family members (yes, they have telephones) all of his life. His Aunt Fiftieth always promised to take him some day. Well, some day came and John got his wish. He sailed over on a boat (cargo ship) with Fiftieth and her daughter Sami. He did very well, except when the diesel spilled and the fumes made them all sick. So my little friend now lives thousands of miles away from home and is loved and cared for in such a way that he has yet to be homesick. I think he has been here about six weeks. (My 12 year old son was homesick after 6 days – even though he too was with his aunt!) John is a vivacious happy little boy who wore a shirt yesterday that said, “Hide Your Daughters”. If it weren’t Palmerston I would agree! We brought John a Frisbee (thank you, Lat 38 and the Baja Ha Ha) and he has been involving everyone in his Frisbee games. When we first met John he was on the boat that came with the Customs official. He immediately greeted us and asked how our trip had been. I was smitten from the start. John now has a special hello and runs to greet me when we arrive. So cute. The world John now lives in is so simple. The house he lives in has no doors or windows. In fact, the kitchen and the bathroom are totally separated. The bathroom is in the back of the house, like an outhouse, but it flushes! The kitchen could be mistaken for a chicken coop and is across the front yard. The chicken wire is to keep the animals out. There is a sink and counter space under shelves for the dishes just opposite the stove. The whole area is only about 8 feet square but very productive! Every evening (and times vary a lot for the evening meal) we have been treated to a feast that is spread across a table in the middle of the yard covered from rain overhead by a tarp – the dining room. The meals always start with a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing of the food and the participants. The front porch includes a chair where Grandma sits all day watching her clan. She smiles and waves and loves to talk if you slow down and join her on the porch. The porch includes a bed covered by a quilt that Grandma handmade – a girl after my heart! The road to town has a round-about complete with benches to sit and rest on. Some coconut trees have initials carved in them as evidence of ownership from earlier days when there were more inhabitants and food could be scarce. The road is lined with palm trees that touch fingers overhead and create a lovely palm frond tunnel. The roads are coral/dirt but the school kids rake them on Saturdays to keep them clean for Sunday services. There are not many roads and we have only seen a few ATVs and a few scooters. Most people walk. The town has the old church and the new church. A grave yard that was there before Marsters and the current Marsters grave yard. However each family now has their own grave yards closer to their property. Their houses are constructed of available wood, whatever is salvageable that washes up on the beach and tin roofs, often rusted in many areas. Some of the houses are on cement bases, many are not. The school is quite modern with study areas for each of the students, a testing center and some computers. Their windows are chicken wire. The playground for the little kids includes a jungle gym, trampolines and a seesaw. Looked like fun. There is a volleyball (pronounced walleyball) court for the big kids.

There is even a Palmerston Yacht Club. Bill, the apparent proprietor, apologized for the lack of beer but proudly talked about the mahogany bar and extra large table. He said yachties could sleep on them if they needed to. Each piece is made from one huge tree. This kind of mahogany is not available anywhere in the world. It is African Mahogany and has been over cut and you can’t find trees like this anymore, yet they have a number of these huge trees still standing on the island. Apparently when the island feels it needs some extra money for a community project, they trim one of the huge trees, take the wood to New Zealand and sell it. The simplicity of this life abounds as you walk around the island (it only takes 45 minutes to walk the whole perimeter along the beach). A few beach balls had Bill’s four children playing “walleyball” with us over a clothesline! The game full of giggles ended with hugs and kisses goodbye from children we had only just met. I also promised to share the reactions to our gifts. Of course we brought some basics in an effort to restock their pantry for all of the food they are feeding us. We brought sugar, flour, powdered sugar and some rice. We also brought a few items that really excited them. As requested we found some extra finger nail clippers on board and brought two pairs – they squealed with delight. I pulled out the Nutella and Fiftieth’s eyes went big and she handed it to her daughter, Sami, to hide! Quickly! We brought some notebooks for young John who has been writing in the sand with us. I asked that they hide it until his birthday in September. (We brought balloons to help make the event more festive too!) We brought more cake mixes to help the celebrations. Then they pulled out the nuts: walnuts, pine nuts and almonds. They about fell over and quickly ran to hide those too. But first they gave one bag of walnuts to Grandma. Enough of the food stuff. We brought Bob’s last two cigars from Mexico for Edward. Apparently Edward asked about them the next day and we heard that the ladies were claiming them. I think he won. And finally I couldn’t bypass my quilting friend, Grandma. So I went through my quilting supplies and found some thread and some needles with a needle threader. Bob suggested I include some “reader glasses” to help her vision on the close up work. She immediately put them on and was quite pleased. Finally I gave her a two yard piece of sunflower fabric I had on board explaining that she could use it to make many quilts for her family. She smiled and said, “Or a lovely dress for me!” Silly me, of course these people who have such simple needs wouldn’t waste that much fabric on a quilt! Quilts are made from leftovers! I am humbled but thrilled with her smile. (From Bob: Grandma was so appreciative of Ann’s gift and friendship, she gave Ann a beautiful decorative container made from a coconut. This won’t do justice to its glory, but it’s a deeply burnished coconut, made a lustrous dark brown. The top has intricately woven decorative coconut husk with cowrie shell accent on top and a woven handle. It’s quite beautiful and we will treasure it for both its beauty the effort that must have gone into making it and the spirit in which it was given. Thank you Grandma!) We went back to Bob’s (the Mayor) house where we enjoyed a cool drink and parrotfish the first day we were here. We brought them some fish hooks and beaded necklaces (still aboard from the Ha Ha send off) and some balloons for their kids. And then we taught them to play Farkle. Their kids range from 21 to one (we know she isn’t ready to play yet) and were all very interested. We played an abbreviated game with Mom, Dad, Goldeen and myself to help them learn the game. Mom was a very quick learner but they all seemed to get it and enjoy it. As we left we decided that we could see Bob, who we found out today is also the mayor, might just pull rank and declare himself the winner. Hopefully his family will keep him honest! Palmerston – simple ways.

From Bob: I would add a couple things that have made this visit thus far memorable. First off, the meals. They are all huge feasts. Of course these for the most part are big people so they like to eat. Tonight we had fried parrot fish (delicious!), sautéed wahoo, fried donut things (my best description), rice, cabbage/pasta salad, and the special delicacy-lobster fresh caught last night on the reef. Wow. Last night was similar and included boiled taro root (think potato).

Dinner is usually at about 4 o’clock. That way everything is wrapped up in time for sunset. Why? They have to run a generator for electricity and don’t want to waste the availability. It’s only on from 6AM to Noon, then 6PM to midnight-and that’s only while the diesel lasts. Once it’s gone, they have to wait until the next supply ship. They only problem-they are never sure exactly when it will show up.

After dinner, we’re back on Charisma by about 6PM. Tonight we could see a lone figure about 75 yards away on the edge of the reef catching fish. They use a simple pole with a piece of line as a feather lure to catch small reef fish which they drop in the bay slung over their shoulder. Sometimes they will use a net and sometimes come out in their boats (about 18 feet with outboards) to troll for wahoo, tuna and mahi.

This island comes the closest to what I expected the South Pacific to be of any island we have been at yet. Simple, beautiful, peaceful and unimproved. It’s all here. We’re staying a few more days to enjoy such a unique environment and wonderful people and amazing hospitality before moving on.

And lastly, to answer my daughter Christine’s question about the gene pool here. Technically they are only allowed to marry “beyond” the third cousin. That’s their law. In reality it seems a fair number of the current residents have met their spouses as they have travelled outside of Palmerston when as young adults they left to “see the world”. For example; our host Edward, met his wife Shirley (who we believe is New Zealand Maori) while working as an engineer about a ship on which she was travelling among the islands.