This is a little kingdom of approximately 120,000 people spread over one large island and many smaller isles. It is rich with its own history and culture, very different from French Polynesia. It has a religious backbone, Catholic, Methodist and Latter Day Saints. The churches run many private schools that seemed well attended. Their arranged marriage system seems to work fairly well. Traditional wedding celebrations stretch over a week and culminate with the couple leaving for a "honeymoon." The island doesn't have the breath-taking drama of volcanic mountains running into the sea, but beautiful beaches nonetheless with unusual rock formations, natural caves and some rocky coastlines with spectacular "blow-holes" that explode in high tide waves. Guess who's building public relations by by sending workers and machinery and supplies to mend pot-holed roads and rebuild hospitals and "palaces?"...I'll give you a hint...the Tonganese are expecting to have a "Chinatown" soon! Very Interesting!
I have a video of a traditional Tonga Firedance performed in a coastal cave after a huge Pig-Roast Luau... Because it won't upload by ship's satellite, just imagine a really cool firedance done by some really fierce-looking, smiling Tonganese warriors and ask to see it when we get home! Amen!
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