There are lots of ex-pats living in Vava'u. Some have tried to get the locals interested in cricket. They are working on a cricket pitch and give lessons. In order to help drum up some interest, they invite all the visiting yachties to come out for the day. They do this a couple times per month.
The promise was for a day of cricket, with food available. The locals were supposed to brings crafts and food for sale. That's what happened two weeks earlier when some friends went.
The night before we went, it started to rain. In the morning, it was still raining a bit but that didn't deter us and about 30 other cruisers. It turns out that the Tongan people are a lot smarter than the rest of us, as they knew to stay home as the ground turns to mud. We arrived to find an empty field, no food, no crafts, But the rain had stopped!
We had traveled an hour to get there, so most people decided to play.
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| Play ball! |
Malcolm decided to take photos and Dina talked with some locals who came out to watch.
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| Dina talking to some local girls heading home from school |
Once the participants decided that the mud didn't hurt, they all had fun. Little did they know how hard it is to wash out the red dirt, nor did they know that the pigs from the village wander around the cricket pitch and their manure mixes in nicely with the mud.
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| No comment necessary |
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| Cricket bats are good for knocking mud off |
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| Pig Manure!??!? |
