I arrived at my first stop today, it is beautiful outside, its winter here but they say it’s sunny year round. The breeze coming off the beach has a salty smell that gets me itching to don my bathing suit.
As I look around I realize that this is a small country (top 5 in smallness), although it is roughly 10 miles of land, you still cannot see nor drive from one end to the other. It is a poor country, not many jobs, there is really no natural resources, and they seem to rely mostly on national aid. They are a tight knit community though and everyone pitches in to help, everyone has a duty. They offer me traditional food to eat. Pulka, and tons of seafood, and to drink, coconut milk of course.
In the distance a bunch of kids are playing Ano, a sport very specific to this country. Though they were proud to have representation at their first Olympics last year with 3 athletes. Men's 100, Women's 100 and weightlifting.
As I look around I realize that this is a small country (top 5 in smallness), although it is roughly 10 miles of land, you still cannot see nor drive from one end to the other. It is a poor country, not many jobs, there is really no natural resources, and they seem to rely mostly on national aid. They are a tight knit community though and everyone pitches in to help, everyone has a duty. They offer me traditional food to eat. Pulka, and tons of seafood, and to drink, coconut milk of course.
In the distance a bunch of kids are playing Ano, a sport very specific to this country. Though they were proud to have representation at their first Olympics last year with 3 athletes. Men's 100, Women's 100 and weightlifting.
The more I observe, the more intrigued I am, I know there is a rich pool of culture here, though they say less than a hundred tourists visit annually and most are government and aid workers. There seems to be incentive for guests though, any visitor over 18 receives, on arrival a litre of spirit or wine and 200 cigarettes. As I pause at the women’s handicraft center near the airport I pick out a beautiful handmade basket.
I leave with one last clue… if you know what a true atoll is you may find it easier to guess, as this country is over 50% atoll
It's Tuvalu! It's Tuvalu! I win I win!
ReplyDeleteIt actually took me longer than I thought to find it. I eventually just googled "fourth smallest country". I know it's a cope out.
I also found that there is a legend that a man there married a dolphin.
Tuvalu! Good thing I didn't look at Jess's comment before guessing. I had never heard of Tuvalu before. And by the way, Jeff actually has relatives who still live in Zimbabwe (I'm not kidding), so maybe Zimbabwe isn't the best example of a random place.
ReplyDeleteTuvalu -- Nice to see others picked the same. I went searching for Ano, couldn't find anything except the word tuvalu, so then I googled tuvalu and olympics. Sounds like a fun place to visit!
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ReplyDeleteDang I thought I would be first..... NO I am 4th!!!! I also had guessed Tuvalu. I went first to the Olympics to see who had 3 entryies then looked up each of them to see who had 10 sq mi land base... must have been the hard way. One list of tuvalu however said it had over a thousand sq mi. So I think yours was most correct however. Good game!!!!
ReplyDeleteI didn't post til now cause I thought you had to be the first to win, I honestly found Tuvalu.
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