How often have we heard about the pollution in the Pacific Ocean, which has spread into a patch of plastic waste covering around 1.6 million square kilometres, and the rather messy lifestyle of the islanders. Kārlis Bardelis, while travelling for nearly two years in a rowing boat from the coasts of South America to Asia, has seen the traces left by civilisation with his own eyes.

Huge patches of waste have not yet reached the southern part of the Pacific Ocean, at least not the part that Kārlis Bardelis crossed, and the traveller did not have to row through a stream of plastic refuse for all 26 thousand kilometres.

However, on the islands lavishly praised in tourist guidebooks, at every turn one could encounter the inhabitants' carefree attitude towards the environment, as well as towards their own health and lifestyle.