Independence Day Show

This morning we went to "The Show" at the high school. It's very easy to hitch a ride with a local around here, which was great for moving the whole family across town. 

The Show is put on monthly, but was special today in celebration of their 40 years of independence. There is New Zealand Army and Navy here in support of their "freedom" also. They had speeches and presentations, etc. There were booths with local foods, local arts and crafts, and a huge display of fresh fruit!!! I was able to get a whole stalk of bananas for $25. I have paid $3. for these in the past, but for the prices here, I was tickled!! But they were being judged, so you couldn't remove it from the stand until after the judges had passed through. They also had coconut crabs and pigs for sale. Everything was nicely displayed in woven palm leaf baskets, very nicely done! Then there was a presentation by the local children doing traditional dances in native attire which was very cute. One dancer was the boys' friend from the wharf raft race the day before, so they enjoyed that. We had to leave, but apparently we missed a javeline throw and a climbing event. They had 2 wooden poles greased up, one for girls and one for boys. Each one had an envelope with $100 in it on top for the first one to make it to the top. That would have been fun to see too. 

We easily caught a ride back home. Courage took the stalk of bananas home on the motorcycle, I hitched a ride with the kids. As we carried the bananas out to the parking lot, a gecko climbed out of it. There were ants and earwigs on it too (which we DO NOT want on the boat). So we decided to keep the gecko too. He climbed onto my shoulder and we left him there. As I sat down in the van, he jumped off my shoulder and ran across the seat. Not wanting to alarm the elder couple that picked us up, I said nothing. Not wanting utter chaos in the car, I did not alert the children. So I casually looked around to see where he'd gone while continuing my conversation with the hosts. Then Integrity in the back seat said "Mom, there's the gecko." Intrepid and Innocence jump out of their seats and flip over to see the back row. I sit them right back down and tell Integrity to quietly and subtly get the lizard. Fortunately, the couple seemed oblivious to our excitement and we left the vehicle with as many living beings as we entered it with (we think).