Honiara

In every spy movie, there is a scene where the protagonist is in a foreign city. They sip coffee from an apartment window while watching the city below. The windows are open for ventilation but covered in curtains for privacy, and the fabric streams in the breeze. Sounds of the street below waft into the open window - honking horns and crying children and rubber tires over dirt roads. The spy watches life go on around them, because they are in the city but not of the city. A silent observer three floors up. 

This week, I am that spy. I am the foreigner intently watching the city below me but unable to join its throngs. Friends, I made it to my next destination: the Solomon Islands. As excited as I am to be here, I have to be patient. A short quarantine is required before boarding the ship, so I have 5 days in a spy-worthy hide-away in Honiara. 

I love watching the city. I'm up on a hill, so I have a great view over the bustling capital to Iron Bottom Sound. The architecture in Honiara reminds me a lot of Koror, Palau - which is probably no coincidence. Only a small subset of building materials are well-suited to the tropical climate. In fact, my latitude here is 9 S, the mirror image of Palau (9 N). Cars drive past on the main road, and I notice they are in the left lane. The Solomon Islands was a British colony, so their roads developed under the influence of left-driving Englishmen and stayed that way. Two nights ago, there must have been a sporting event, because I could hear loud cheers from one part of town. I long to be part of the action, but that will have to wait. 

On my flight here, it seemed that everyone boarding the plane knew the man in the row in front of me. It was uncanny: about half of the people who entered the airplane saw him, then lit up and shook his hand. Pacific islands are small communities. After spending time with Maikani's family in Palau, I would not have been surprised to find out the man was an uncle to half the people on the plane. In fact, that was my first assumption. Then the pilot announced that the Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands was flying with us - and everything was explained. Politicians in small countries are so much more accessible to their constituents than I'm used to!

I'm having a long week, but it's ok. Soon, I will board the research ship, and my patience will pay off. 

My view for the week - not bad!