A Journey to the Disappointment Islands

I have a couple friends who have a knack of landing on their feet like that. Somehow, they can plan nothing and experience everything in great intimacy and depth. It's a skill. I have no doubt that if the technicians were not there at the same time, some other opportunity would have arisen.

It's a bit like going to Disneyland and complaining about the manufactured happiness there.

There are 300 other islands in Fiji off the extremely well-beaten path you walked where your experience could have been very different. Or you could have just visited a village that isn't part of any pre-packaged travel tour to find that in fact most rural Fijians will be extremely welcoming, hospitable, and amazing with kids without any expectation of payment.

Keep in mind that this is what all travel used to be like before tourism grew to where it is today. Done right, as in this story, it's a net positive for all involved.

I've done similar things a handful of times over the years, rocking up in remote places without any infrastructure to deal with tourists, hoping for a bit of luck in finding a place to sleep.

But here's the thing. It's not like you show up in these places like the stereotypical loud american demanding things and handing your wheelie duffel to the first local you see. It's more like the give and take you have when hitching a ride, essentially paying for your lift with fun conversation and wild stories, and by being an "interesting thing that happened" in this other person's life.

There's a little fishing village on the Pacific coast of Columbia with a river behind it containing fifty zillion perfect skipping rocks, accumulated over the millennia in front of a population who had never though to try skipping them. And now there's a batch of kids, teenagers now, who know how to do that thanks to that "English" couple who rocked up unannounced that one time, stayed at Linda's house, bought fish from the guys on the beach and sometimes spent their evenings sharing un-refrigerated beers with the locals in front of the depósito.

If you ever find yourself just about off the map someplace, I'd recommend making the effort to step over the edge once in a while to see what's there.

This person essentially behaved like a child who couldn't even be bothered to notify his implicit hosts beforehand of his arrival and extended stay.

Then he writes as if he's doing them a favor not wanting to inconvenience them. The reality is he's being a lazy selfish jerk.

They literally had to monitor his hydration for him and coddle him like an invalid.

https://www.tahitiheritage.pf/cocotier-a-quatre-tetes-de-tep...