Lenny was going to be my guide for this early morning hike. He was also the person who picked me up in Gizo. His picture below will show you he has a propensity for the Betel Nut. He also had only one sandal on. I asked him why and he said the other one broke. I’m pretty confident in saying that he will continue to walk in one sandal until the only good one breaks. Maybe then buy a new pair. He was fairly quiet but friendly and pretty informative on the hike.
Schools
The hike took us through the main school grounds. It was much larger than I imagined as there are residential dorms for children from distant islands. These are children that can’t walk or canoe to school and they stay from Monday to Friday at the school. The grounds were pretty messy and in a run down state.
Because the school housed these children, they had quite a few students & staff to feed. They had an extensive garden system to grow vegetables to feed the children. The labor - the children themselves after school. I saw rows of tapioca plants (pictures shown below), eggplants, & cabbage all being irrigated by water from the nearby river.
The primary school was run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The students were keen on having their photos taken.
Villages
The next part of the hike was very interesting. Lenny took me along a trail that went between a two different villages. Along the trail we passed plots of vegetables that were property of different families. We passed several women who were on there way to cultivate these plots. The women would take their children along while they cultivated.
As we hiked, we passed others who were on their way to work.
The hike also gave me an opportunity to see other leaf structures, some in better condition than others.
This village actually had running water. A women and her two daughters were busy with baths & laundry.