On our 2nd day at anchor in front of Omoka village, Penrhyn Island, we started walking from the little harbor along the main street in southern direction. This because the only shop in the village is there. A friendly lady told us where it is.
“You know”, I said to Shigeo, “today everybody knows us from yesterday’s event, but we don’t know everybody”.
Whenever a motorcycle passed us, there was a friendly greeting. The same when we met people without motorcycles.

Apropos “motorcycle”. 50 cm3, 4-stroke motorcycles is the main transportation means. It carries 2 people and if needed a trailer will be attached to transport more people or goods.

Transportation of people becomes especially important when it is about going with a bunch of kids for swimming, a bit further down south where there is a very shallow looking long sandy beach. But before they reach the beach, there’s a stop at the little shop and kids get sweets, which are still on stock since the last supply ship was here. (Supply ships come normally every 3 – 4 months; sometimes it can become 5 – 6 month.)

The traffic is slow. The motorcycle riders are balancing skillfully goods. I saw a young man with two about 5m long poles or tubes on one of his shoulders riding a motorcycle. At one point I got the thought that the traffic reflects the harmony between the people in their daily life with each other.

What is obvious are the well maintained properties, which I have seen all over the Polynesian islands I could visit so far. It seems to be a strong part of the Polynesian culture. Quiet some other places I have visited before arriving in Polynesia could or better should take this example to clean their living environment. This also is valid for the money-rich countries in the world.

When we reached the house with the shop, we learned from the ladies with the kids buying sweets before going swimming, that this is the house with the shop. No sign or something similar indicates the shop.

To reach the shop we needed to almost once around the house. The shop had only sweets and food one run out when the supply ship is delayed. As I expected no eggs and vegetable and fruits. I bought a can of cocoa powder which I can use for my chocolate chips cookies.

We then walked back to were we started and wanted to continue to the northern part of the village. However, we got stuck just at the shore of MaRe’s anchor spot. The reason was Alex, who welcomed us warmly the night before at the fund raising event. We started talking….