You may remember Sharmila and me standing on the glass bridge in Eleuthera, looking out at the cerulean Caribbean blue on one side and the deep Atlantic blue on the other.
Today, I found another spot like that. Here on Fongafale, the island narrows to just about 20 feet. On one side is the sky-blue lagoon, and on the other, the deep blue Pacific.
Surreal.
Step 1: At the sound of the siren, close the gates on the main road so the plane does not accidentally try to use it.
Step 2: Close the gates on the runway so nobody else wanders onto it.
Step 3: And this is the crucial part: send people on scooters to chase the dogs off the runway. (Everybody knows a curiously watching dog and a multi-tonne metal tube approaching it at over 100 mph don’t mix well)
Step 4: Everyone gives a loud cheer the moment you spot a light breaking through the clouds. The passengers cheer the loudest since they realize they will not be stuck on the island, after all!!
I met this elderly couple at my lodge. By the way, I need to stop saying “elderly couple.” I am 60 already. They were probably about my age!
In any case, we quickly became friends and started chatting about countries around the world. Their planned trip to Nauru and Kiribati had been disrupted after an Air Nauru flight cancellation, so they were busy replanning the next few weeks of their adventure.
“Where are you from?” the gentleman asked.
“Atlanta, in the US. How about you?”
Now, before I go any further, I should mention that we had already spent quite some time swapping geography trivia. We talked about Kiribati being the only country in all four hemispheres, Tuvalu being one of the least visited countries in the world, Uzbekistan being doubly landlocked, and so on. The gentleman was an absolute geography wizard. In other words, my kind of guy!
He smiled and said, “We are from the only country that ends with the letter ‘g.'”
He looked at me expectantly.
I could probably scan through all 195 UN member countries in my head, but that would have made for a very awkward five minutes.
I immediately thought of my friend Danny back in Atlanta, another geography wizard. Unfortunately, “Can I phone a friend?” was not an option. There was no cellular connection on the island, and besides, it would have been some ungodly hour back in Atlanta.
I gave up.
“Don’t feel too bad,” he said. “I was asked the same question at a bar trivia night and couldn’t answer it either. And I live there!”
Luxembourg!!!
“Argh! I should have gotten that!” I laughed. “As a matter of fact, my wife and I have tickets to Luxembourg in early October. I could use some pointers.”
They were incredibly generous with their time and gave me plenty of ideas for our visit.
I never took a picture of them while we were chatting. Fortunately, I ran into them one last time at Sue’s Kitchen before they headed to the airport. I suddenly remembered and managed to snap this picture just as they were crossing the road toward the plane.
Maybe I will run into them in Luxembourg and remember their faces?
