The heat and humidity eight degrees south of the Equator does make air conditioning welcome, but by the end of a week in a four-star hotel, my wife and I were ready to move on. Then we met Pica. He must have heard some note of dissatisfaction in my voice as I asked for directions, because he started asking me questions. He then told us his parents lived in a small village in the hills and had a spare room if we wanted to stay a while. That was the start of our dream vacation.
Kids play near a jetty.
Sea-turtles destined for a dinner table are kept in the cages visible in the background. Do not contribute to their extinction. Our introduction to the village of 75 families, all interrelated, came that night at a traditional village dance, held in the middle of the main road through the village. The young men of the village sat on the road on one side of a clear stretch in front of the orchestra, the rest of the villagers on the other, while the dancers, young women dressed in the traditional gold thread garments and gold headdresses covered in blossoms, came out one at a time to do the traditional joged bung bung, a flirtation dance n which they entice men to match their skill on the village's slightly pot-holed dance floor. The first dancer made it clear she was asking me to dance with her, so, to the laughter of the villagers, I did.