Hi Everyone,
We are now a 2 boat family! We took delivery of our 2 person outrigger canoe last week and we are learning fast. Our first lesson was that it sinks with 3 people if you don’t have them sitting in exactly the right place. Fortunately a local was on hand to give us advice and our second venture out with the three of us was fine. The locals think we have paid too much – about $230 but we think it’s great value considering the craftsman had to find the log, cut it to shape, hollow it out, attach an outrigger, make two paddles and then give it two coats of paint! We are looking forward to doing some fishing over the next few weeks.
Don’t die of shock, but it is the female of the species having a little talk this week.
I think I am right in assuming, that Vic reported on our visit to the island of Vao where I was on a working holiday and the other 2 were just on holiday!!
Last week, we set off on a journey (holiday) to SW Bay. We set off at 7.15 Tuesday morning by truck, for a 1 hour ride to Lambubu, where a boat was supposed to be, at 8.30am to take us the rest of the way. The village of Labo where we were going, is not accessible by road and the closest airport, when it is open, is about an hours walk from the village. Anyway, in true Vanuatu style, the boat turned up at 10.00, by which time, there was a local with his leg in plaster and his Papa waiting, a photographer/reporter from the cultural centre in Vila, and Australian/Russian couple and an Italian lady all waiting for the same boat. Anyway, we put all out bags up the front and piled into the boat. The weather wasn’t too bad, although it was drizzling off and on. The boat driver and his mate informed us that the boat ride would take 3 hours!! By the time we had been into a few bays and picked up people and dropped them off, it was 3 hours and we were very wet, mainly from the wind whipping the water off the sea and the sea being quite rough. We had a line out all the time and only caught a barracuda, which they let go thank goodness, as was not sure where he was going to sit!!
We stayed with a Peace Corp Volunteer, Yegor, at the village. He organized a custom house for the 3 of us to sleep in (Karen came with us). After we had lunch and a rested smol, Vic and I went out snorkeling. The coral and the fish were absolutely beautiful, even though it was a wee way to the reef and the water was a bit rough, but it was worth it. Vic left me out for a little longer and he swam in. I was about 5 mins behind him, but when I tried to swim in, I found that I was going backwards!! I must say I did panic a bit and kept on trying and waved a couple of times and yelled out to Vic, but he was still swimming. I looked behind me and saw some yachts which were there for the festival, so thought I could call to them if I got that far out. However, I looked down and saw a coral outcrop, so put my feet on that and got my breath. Vic still wasn’t looking, so thought I would try again and sure enough, I could swim in the right direction. When I got to shore, I discovered there had been an earthquake near Vila at about the time I was swimming, so am not sure if that could have had something to do with it!?
The next morning we were up bright and early and wandered down to the beach. We watched the people from about 10 yachts come ashore. We were all given salu salus and the festival started at around 10.00. Yegor was dancing with the locals, but he had to give a tithe to the chief for the honour of dancing with them. It was all quite spectacular. After the dancing, we all went into the village, where the Mama’s had cooked an amazing lunch for us. After that we went on a tour of the village, which is on the side of a hill and has some quite spectacular views. We went and saw the waterfall, where the men of the village have a shower. The women shower in the village at a communal shower, a pipe that is the height of a shower and is behind a tree. We were lucky enough to be able to use this also, even Vic. We were told that we must keep our clothes on when we shower!!
The next morning, we were back on the beach at 9.00, for the Grade Taking Ceremony, which happens about once every 25 years, as one of the chiefs had died and they needed to appoint 2 more. It was amazing to watch and of course included the sticking of 2 pigs which were taken away and cut up and then divided between the 9 villages represented. They cooked some of it up, along with Yam, which only the men were allowed to eat.
Once again an amazing lunch, was served up to us on the beach and then we were able to watch the preparation of some food and sand drawing. The sand drawings are done without taking your finger off the sand and all the pictures tell a custom story – fascinating.
One couple who owned a yacht, invited us out to look at his boat. It was a wooden one and really lovely. Vic swam out to it!!
When we got back to the beach, it was time to watch the locals making Kava and of course we had to sample it!! One shell was plenty for me! Am not sure if I will ever get used to drinking mud!! It does make your mouth go numb for a while!!
We organized for a boat to come and pick us up at 7.30 Friday morning and lo and behold, it was there at 7.20. Anyway, by the time we got on board, it was 7.30 and we were off. We dropped one man off on the way. The weather was beautiful when we started off, but half way through the trip, the wind got up and we got very wet. We caught one small fish on the way, had dolphins around us for a while and saw some small flying fish. The 3 hours went quite quickly!! There was a truck there for us when we arrived, so we were back at home by 11.30, which was good.
We did not realize that Monday is a holiday here – Assumption Day!! Anyway, we have made the most of a quiet weekend and have been out for a paddle in our canoe, biked along some new tracks to Lakatoro and generally had a quiet weekend, as we are off to Ambryn on Wednesday and to climb to volcano, Mt Benbow