Solomon Islands

June 25–27, 2014

Like all Melanesians, the inhabitants of the Solomon Islands are naturally blessed with voluminous hair.

Curly hair is the birthright of every Solomon Islander.

And stays with him throughout his whole life.

Some don’t shave.

Some shave.

Curiously, some of the Solomon Islanders are redheads.

And some are naturally blonde.

The same hairdos can be seen on the women.

On the elderly.

And so on until death, when the coffin with the body is checked onto a plane. “I’m sorry, your baggage is overweight!”

Public transportation is underdeveloped, so everyone crams into the backs of trucks to get somewhere.

A license plate.

Stickers on a windshield.

A fire hydrant.

The local wireless operator, Our Telekom.

Monuments are painted in full color, like in modern Africa or ancient Greece.

A payphone.

Most buildings are built on stilts, even if there’s no danger of a tsunami anywhere nearby.

The traditional shape of the roofs somewhat resembles that of East Timor.

It can be seen on many modern buildings as well.

Honiara

The municipal trash cans consist of fuel barrels mounted on brackets.

The lampposts are decorated with a national motif.

Generally speaking, the city is completely unattractive.

Solomon Islanders have barely learned to settle along the roads.

A postcard from the capital.

Another one. It’s difficult to believe that you can’t rent an ordinary house in Honiara for less than $5000. There’s no local demand, and officials from the UN and other international organizations have no limits on expenses. Why not rip them off.

Scrap metal transportation.

A store.

There are red spit gobs all over the streets—everyone chews and spits betel.

For some reason, someone decided to build pedestrian underpasses in the capital at one point.

Naturally, they weren’t used for even a day. The authorities chained them up, and the locals completely trashed them.

Who needs an underpass here? You can just cross the street.

Let’s take one last look at Honiara and move on.

Munda

A remote and beautiful place.

The airport.

The main street.

The market.

The main product in local stores is canned tuna.

That’s why even Miss Solomon Islands herself can be seen on the pages of the national airline’s in-flight magazine advertising nothing other than canned tuna.