| Pub Crawl: A PUB WITH ONE BEER |
Tokelau’s Luana Liki Hotel.
Michael Field
Winning the coveted Best Bar of the Pacific requires that the basics are handled before getting to those extra things that mark out something special.
| Short of beer but not hospitality... Luciano and Juliana Perez |
Beer, cold beer, is one of those basics.
On a blindingly hot afternoon on Nukunonu atoll in the New Zealand colony of Tokelau, five of us sat on the balcony of the Luana Liki Hotel and ordered beer—Vailima, in fact.
Owner, publican story telling Luciano Perez kind of smiled. But it was the grin of some one who fears he has met some lunatics.
“Beer,” he said, “you want beer?”
Now the manic grins were on the faces of the customers: “yes please.”
“But there is only one beer, one bottle of beer.”
It was an interesting test of the civility and politeness of all New Zealanders that no one demanded some prior right of claim to it. No one suggested we get five glasses and ration out the precious fluid. It might still be there waiting for a lonely traveller.
Perez offered what he called “the hot stuff” instead; rum, gin and even whisky. But the moment had passed. What must one do to field test the Best Bar applicants?
Let’s be clear here though, this is not the fault of Perez and his wife Juliana, the Luana Liki, Tokelau’s only hotel, deserves special mention—special credit, special care for what it has to suffer in the name of giving its guests a good time
The problem is this. Some years back a ship wrecked on the reefs around Nukunonu, population of around 500, mostly good Catholics, and when they went out there to find what was left, they discovered it was full of beer. Well, a good time was had by all, at least for a while.
As is the way of things, some people went overboard with the bounty and the Council of Elders cracked down. Yes, you could have beer, but only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, after 3pm. That, it seems, is the easy bit.
Poor Perez has to struggle to get any beer at all from the same council which controls the import from Samoa—two days away by rough shipping.
Perez has run Luana Liki, also known as Blue Lagoon, for 10 years since retiring after a 31-year stint as principal of the only school on the island. He built the place by hand and provides five rooms for guests who, despite the incredible isolation, get to Nukunonu to stay in what is paradise.
He is never too busy and happily gives his account of the complete history of Peruvians seizing Tokelauans for slavery and how his Portuguese forefathers arrived in a bid to try and stop it.
“The sale of alcohol now is really controlled,” he lamented, adding that he hoped that with some kind of self-government, it might ease up. But voters rejected self-government.
“It was a bit of a struggle to build the hotel,” he said, saying the islanders preferred to build modern houses to a bar. “The law makes this very hard.”
The guest book tells the story—with a couple of prime ministers and two governor-generals. He has a German ham radio operator who has come every year for the last 10 years.
“You are the best hosts we have met during our entire trip,” a Polish couple wrote in the book. “Thanks for your warmth and hospitality. Thanks for teaching us how to catch sharks and showing us what best hosts are all about.”
Said an American: “Luciano I will miss your smile and delectable bread.”
A Dutch visitor used the paradise word: “I feel privileged to be here.”
A Canadian bestowed an award: “The best hotel in the South Pacific.”
Actually it is so damned special that some day soon I will go back and drink that beer.
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