Survivor Tale #1

The people in this country sure know how to relax and to party. It was one of the most crazy and fun weekends of my life, yet at the same time it was the most responsible partying I have ever seen. No injuries, no booze-stealing, no vandalism, no screaming in the neighbourhood at 4 AM, not even barfing. Where grown-ups in my home-country always seem to party either somewhat stiffly or completely out of bounds, as if they either had something else on their mind still or shut it off completely, the people here just... yes, relax. I like that.

So we went over there armed (each) with 10 feet of rope, a tarp, a fork & a bowl, bugspray and lots of beer last friday to play the game survivor.
For all of you who do not know how the game works: A bunch of players (in this case 15), some helpers (3) and one mastermind-in-charge go to an obscure island off the coast. The players are divided into two teams, and over the course of a weekend have to compete in challenges against each other. Everytime a team doesn't win, they vote one person off their team. Eventually the number of people in the teams will reach a certain low, that is when the teams are merged into one. From this moment on everybody plays for themselves, yet still after every challenge a person gets voted off. Therefore it becomes very important to make alliances with other players to prevent oneself from being voted out. In the end, when only two players are left, everybody perviously voted out gets to vote for one of them. Whoever ends up with more votes wins the game.

We were divided into teams while still on the boat by the method of handing out t-shirts - I became a member of Team Purple, later renamed to Purple Haze. Team Orange by the way decided to name themselves Orange-you-glad-you're-not-purple, but not before the first challenge was over, which started right when we got to the island, on the wharf.
The very last part of the game took place on the boatride back on monday afternoon, so during saturday and sunday we were kept busy with building our own shelters and latrines, cooking our rations, doing challenges, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes.
One night some crazy local guy on a three-wheeled ATV showed up, talking rapidly in a language I couldn't understand (some local slang I suppose, or influence of beer?). He brought with him his 19-year old girlfriend, one very small dog (the kind you think it's a furry slipper until you step on it and it barks) and three live lobsters, which he in turn let dangle clipped to his fingers. I decided it was time for another beer when the guy repeatedly clipped a live lobster to his nipple, laughing manically, speedtalking his slang.

crazy local guy and his dog