Coronation Week
Part 2 (Continued from below)

Thursday, July 31

After resting all morning at the Peace Corps office I hopped in a cab and moved all of my stuff to my friend Joey's house where I would spend the rest of the week. Also staying were Miles, Grant from Ha'apai, and Sarah who flew down from Vava'u before we got there. We spent the afternoon catching up.

After having dinner we decided to head to Billfish Bar & Grill to meet up with some others. We stayed for a few beers and then went home, still being exhausted from the previous day's trip.

Friday, August 1

Friday was coronation day and we made our way down to the king's church where the coronation was to be held. The streets the king was to drive in on were covered in fine tapa mats and lined with girls from Tonga's different schools. The king's procession drove past and to the church where they went inside for the ceremony. We were not close enough to see anything inside the church but could hear singing and music coming from within. A short time later canons began firing and the church bells rang signaling the king had been crowned.

This all lasted an hour or two. The king then came out and got back into his open top mini limousine and the procession drove off down another street. After this all of the guests began pouring out of the church and walked down the street we were sitting on heading I'm not sure where. This was probably the most entertaining part of the morning as dignitaries from all over the world walked by. There were Englishmen wearing top hats, a Japanese princess, Tongans wearing colonial garb, a US Marine marching band, etc.








After seeing all of this we walked a little ways closer to the middle of town where the parade was starting. Marching bands from the different schools in Tongatapu marched through the streets followed by their students. There were also military bands from Australia and New Zealand.




After the morning's festivities we went back to Joey's house to rest and devise a plan for the evening. About this time we got word that Peace Corps staff and volunteers had been invited aboard the USS John McCain for the evening. Sweet.

Everyone met at the wharf at around 5:30pm where we were taxied out to the ship. This thing was HUGE. When we got close enough we could see the ship's flag flying above that read "BIG BAD JOHN". This was one of the MANY moments since joining the Peace Corps where I thought to myself "what have I gotten myself into this time".





After making it to the McCain we made our way to the helipad at the back which had been transformed into a reception area. There was tons of food and a bar with free American beer (along with Red Stripe). The food was the best I have had in the ten months since leaving the states and my favorite were the bacon wrapped scallops. They were incredible. We were also taken on tours all over the ship and learned about its weapons systems, all of the different jobs necessary to run the ship, etc. This trip was definitely the highlight of my week.




We were taken back to the wharf around midnight and then decided to head to Billfish. We hung around for a couple of hours and then decided to call it a night.