Pentecost Trip

(Last jumper of nagol or land diving set to go)
(Pentecost Gang from left to right: upper row: Jeremiah, Carol, Laura, Alexia, Arthur, Jack, Liz, Tim. lower row: Lizzie, Bridgett, Chris, Me and Erica’s dog Sniper.)
(Chillin’ on the nagol hill)
Written April 27, 2009
Alright, so it’s taken me a little while to be able to sit down and write this, but I think it’s good to do a blog on the trip to Pentecost a group of of volunteers and I made in the beginning of April. Since I have gotten back from the trip (around mid April) I have been bogged down with work and am just now able to write this.
In the weeks before our trip to Pentecost we, Peace Corps volunteers, had various conferences, pertaining to our work areas, held in Vila we had to attend . I had a close of service conference and another conference about community development strategies where I was a bit bored because if you don’t know them now, after two years, it’s a bit late as we’re going back soon. But, because a lot of volunteers were in town we were able to rally a group of 12 volunteers, including me, to go on our Pentecost trip afterwards.
The Boat Ride:
In order to save money we decided to take a passenger boat, The Fresh Cargo, to the island rather than fly. This boat is supposed to be the new speedy (relatively) way to travel by boat as your other options are to go by cargo ship (not always the most fun from what I’ve heard). So on the evening of the 3rd, after running around and getting supplies for the week, we boarded the 60ft catamaran in Mele Bay, and headed out. But wait, we were to make a stop on the other end of Mele Bay first. We chugged to the other end of the bay for what reason we did not know, but you kind of go with the flow when you’re traveling in Vanuatu. When we got to the other end of the bay night was falling as we saw a small dinghy approaching us. Were we picking up more passengers? As the dinghy got closer we saw that the three men in the boat were not propelling the boat with oars, but with planks of wood. Too funny. And it turns out the dinghy was the dinghy that belonged to the boat, and we were picking it up first. Why it was on the other end of the bay, and why it was not picked up earlier when they were probably fueling up at the nearby fueling port? Well, see that would make too much sense.
Once the dinghy arrived it was hoisted, not by ropes, but by physically lifting atop the second story of the boat. The catamaran’s engine (there are two, but only one was working) fired up and we were ready to go … or not. Now the boat was stuck in the sand as the captain had brought us too far shore to receive the damn dinghy. So what next? call the tugboat? What tugboat? This is Vanuatu. Instead a 20ft fiberglass boat with a small outboard engine was called in for the job. So they threw a line to the small boat, attached it stern to stern and we watched atop the roof deck at the long drawn out process of David trying to pull Goliath off a sandbar. After about 20 minutes the we finally got some purchase off the sand and were on our way. We headed out of Mele Bay after over 3hrs. of fiasco and into the open night sea.
(Me with hands outstretched motioning towards the small boat trying to pull us off the sand and saying, “Only in Vanuatu!” as we all were laughing about the situation)
We, volunteers, assembled on the roof deck, fully prepared with playing cards, dominoes, Scrabble, and of course booze to make the games and conversation more lively. The sea was holding a light chop so we were having a good time for the first couple of hours. Then a squall rolled in and things got a little rough. During a game of dominoes one large swell threw the dominoes all over the place, and one of my dominoes was never to be found again, probably at the bottom of the sea now. The swells got larger and more intense as we were hanging on to ropes and coolers up top as security. Eventually, some of us decided it better to go below to the passenger seats. We assembled in a rag tag fashion trying to find places to sleep where we could. The seats weren’t that comfortable and sleep was a loose term as the swells were really kicking around the boat, and every time you would be about to nod off entirely a crew member would open the engine hatch (to check things) releasing a torrent of engine noise. I’m usually pretty good about not getting sea sick, but the thrashing of the boat was making my stomach cough up the occasional verp (vomit burp for those who are wondering).
I continued on like this for about 8 hours until I was aroused by some commotion behind me. The only other non- Ni-Vanuatu passenger, a French tourist, was asking me and a couple volunteers near me if we know how to deliver a baby. “Nope, no doctors or nurses out of the 12 of us.” A woman heading for Malekula apparently decided it would be a good idea to jump aboard a small boat when she was 9 months pregnant. She was now going into labor, but luckily her water hadn’t broken already. It became clear that the only person on our boat that had ever helped deliver a baby was an older man that had once delivered a baby in a village. I suggested that we see if we’ve got cell phone coverage, and call Brenda, our Peace Corps nurse. Bridgett, one of the PC volunteers, called her and got through. Brenda set us up with a bunch of instructions to make a makeshift delivery area in the galley, and we all set about collecting towels and whatever else was available.
I was cutting up strips of a sweatshirt for something that was needed and damn near lost my lunch when trying to focus on the sweatshirt in a heavily rocking boat. Bridgett and Chris were working with the woman, now surrounded by a tent-like form of clean towels and blankets, to help her out with breathing instructions and also helping her relax. Bridgett and Chris were the two we elected to help the older man with any delivering if necessary, as the galley was pretty small, and more people in the small space would have just confused things. It was a bit tense for a bit as we really were thinking the baby was going to be born on the boat, but eventually the woman’s contractions went down, and the captain agreed to put her at the closest clinic to us at that point, on Ambrym Island.
The woman, at first refused to go as she said told Bridgett and Chris that she trusted them and wanted to have the baby on the boat. To understand the woman’s seemingly crazy opinion on the subject you have to understand a couple things. First of all, people do not like visiting other islands for fear of black magic waged on them from other islanders. When you talk about delivering a baby, with all the possible complications, on a strange island, this black magic fear intensifies quite a bit. Now take Ambrym Island, known as the black magic center and capital of Vanuatu (many believe black magic originated here, and people train in sorcery here), and add that to an already existent fear of black magic and whammo! you’ve got some deep seated fear of delivering a baby there.
OK, now the second reason the woman probably wanted Chris and Bridgett to deliver the baby is that she probably truly did trust them in knowing how to deliver a baby. Even though you may explain that you have no idea of what you are doing, many Ni-Vanuatu will trust that you do just based on the fact that you are white, and have probably received a good education and so on. There is also a lot race inferiority that many Ni-Vanuatu feel and you see it when many talk about it in referring to things in “black man style” vs. “white man style.” Much of this is probably left over from colonial days, and is a very hard concept to refute now matter how much you try, and we try a lot.
So back to the story, Chris and Bridgett convinced the woman finally that the boat was not a safe place to have the baby, and we pulled onto shore in Ambrym just as light was coming into the morning, and a small fiberglass boat met us to take the woman to a local clinic. We later heard that the woman delivered a healthy baby boy in the clinic the next day. Needless to say, we were all glad to hear the news. I think we were also all very relieved that the woman didn’t have to deliver on the boat. Phew!
Pentecost Hooo:
A little later in the morning, now Saturday, we arrived on the shore of Pentecost. The boat couldn’t get too close too shore so we had to lower the dinghy which consisted of two guys throwing the dinghy off the roof and into the water. We all charted a pick-up truck and took a 15 minute ride to our base for the next week in Pangi. This is where we were set to watch the land diving on Monday morning. Once in Pangi, a Erica a PC volunteer’s site (she was to join us later as she was finishing up some stuff in Vila), we met the woman who was going to look after us, Edna. Edna was a very nice lady and very familiar to us as she had spent most of her life in a village on Efate that many of the volunteers there had their training in. We then set up our tent city in their camping area, and had a lazy day of swimming, and hanging out.
Me and the rest of the guys there were allowed to go have a look at the land diving tower they were constructing, now putting the finishing touches on. Women aren’t allowed to see the tower until the day of the ceremony, and they are never allowed to touch the tower. The custom of nagol (pronounced nan-goal, the “nan” like the pronunciation of Indian nan bread) or land diving is only done in southern Pentecost, and is thought to be where people got the idea of bungy jumping. There are only about three villages that do the nagol, and of those three only one still does the diving for custom reasons the other two do it for tourism only. The village where we were going to witness the nagol does it for tourism, but we decided to see it there as it would be a lot cheaper for us to piggy back on a cruise ship day than shell out a big chunk of money for us to see one in the custom village. The basic custom of the nagol (there’s a lot of information besides this) is that the young men jump to ensure a good yam harvest in the coming months.
The tower is built entirely of local materials: local wood for supports, cross beams, and platforms, local rope from vines and tree bark to fasten things, and vines as support lines going off to other nearby tree trunks. There are two types of towers that can be built. The first is a male tower, the kind they built where we saw the nagol. In this tower the tower is built with the tower bowing out from the platforms when you look at it in side profile. Jumpers from a male tower jump from a standing position.
The second type of tower, a female tower (we did not get the chance to see one of these) is built with no bowing out in a side profile and jumpers leave the tower from a squatting position and roll forward.
(picture of tower from front view)
(picture of tower with surrounding area)
(me with the tower to show size and the side profile of the “man” tower. You can see that the tower follows the vertical plane of the tree trunk second from the left of me, and gradually as it comes to the ground bows out more in the direction of the hill slope. You can also see a couple of the support vines well above my head).
After the relaxing day and tower visit we capped off the evening with a few shells of kava.
The next day, Sunday, we did some snorkeling which included trying to locate unsuccessfully, the dugong we saw just off shore. We then decided it would be a good idea to go to church out of respect for the community. We were hoping for a relatively short service but were treated to about three hours of worship. It was a little hard for most of us, and I’m used to the 45 minute speedy service on Pele. After church some of us walked down to the village wharf where they receive cruise boats for land diving. In that area there is a plaque that commemorates Queen Elizabeth’s visit in February of 1974. This visit has a small story associated with it as a young man died during the land diving presentation the village made for the queen. The common belief is that as the queen came at a time outside of land diving or nagol, as its called, season, the vines weren’t strong enough yet, and that’s why the vine snapped and the man died. The typical nagol season is from April until late May or early June.
(Queen Elizabeth’s visit plaque)
We continued walking for a while and Edna, our tour guide for the day took us to a fresh water river spot. The river wasn’t running that full so the best we could do was find a small pool about 4 feet deep to play in. But we had a blast in that small pool! We found vines to swing into the pool, we had water fights, and then Edna showed us some techniques she had picked up from the water music makers of Gaua Island. The woman that do this have traveled internationally to show off their stuff. I’ve seen video of it and it’s very impressive: it’s basically a symphony of water music that the women make entirely with hands and their bodies as they maneuver the water to make various pitches. So we learned a couple ways to make slaps and bass sounds with the water and wore ourselves out with both water slapping and laughter. The sun falling, we left our small river spot with ear to ear grins as if we were magically transformed back to being 8 years old at a fun water hole. What an awesome day that was!
Nagol (Land Diving) Day:
(Liz playing tour guide)
On the day that the nagol was set to go we relaxed about in the early morning and swam, and then readied ourselves for the onslaught of 2000+ tourists coming into the village of Pangi, whose population was around 200 people. Erica, had just gotten back from Vila the day before and she was going to run a booth to sell postcards to tourists as a fundraiser. We watched as the first few groups of tourists came through. The village had their racket down well with groups of children and women singing and dancing in different areas for donations and there were little booths to sell crafts and such. We, volunteers, opted to go to the nagol site so as to get a good sitting place to watch the dives.
We sat up on top of the hill as the villagers said we could, and tried not to grit our teeth too much as we watched some of the actions of a few tourists. There were idiots trying to climb the nagol tower (very taboo), another idiot trying to dance with the custom dancers during the ceremony (also not cool), one woman just started grabbing stacks from a downed shelter without asking, and just a general lack of cultural sensitivity in actions, manner, and dress. Now, I know we, as volunteers, have been here for a while so yes, we know better in some ways, but there are some really innate things we all know about going into another culture foreign from yours and stepping lightly. And it seems that some of these people were just plain brain-dead to this. The problem too, is that it is not really in Ni-Vanuatu culture to speak out directly to people about cultural mishaps they may be making so this stuff just goes on. We, the volunteers, did speak out in a couple instances where it was just ridiculous, but for the most part we tried to ignore a lot of the stuff. It was hard sometimes though.
In some ways it felt like we were at a concert or festival with swarms of people everywhere. Once the nagol started though and we could focus on the diving it was pretty amazing. There were 8 divers in all and each one jumped from a platform of successive height, starting at about 10ft going up to the last jumper at about 40ft. Before each jump and during the custom dancers would chant and dance atop the hill that held the tower.
(Here’s a picture of the custom dancers)
Each jumper has vines affixed to his ankles, and a man, standing lower on the tower, holds the vines in place so that they don’t get tangled before the jump. Before each jump the chanting gets louder and the boy or young man usually goes through a series of meditative and display motions before he jumps. One of the display-type moves involved waving the frayed vines that have been cut off as extra once the vines are secured to the feet, and sometimes a back arch or no hands display on the platform.
(a young man displaying with frayed vine ends held out)
When the boy or young man is set to jump the chanting gets a little louder then quieter when he is right about to jump. The jump is quick. It is more a fall forward than a jump and a well measured vine will make it so the young man grazes his head on the softened dirt below, then snap! the vines break a small piece of wood on the platform, perpendicular to the ropes, and designed to break in order to cushion the jerk a bit. But, the cushion is very little as you can see the whip force the vines put on the body. The person doesn’t bounce back as in bungee jumping, but rather gets jerked back towards the tower by about five feet. Then some other men help the young man to his feet, with a big applause from the crowd. The most impressive jump was the last one as that was the highest jump, and it appeared that the vines were best measured as the young man’s head did graze the ground then his shoulders grazed before he was jerked back to the tower.
(Here’s a picture of the last jumper displaying before he goes)
Injuries, as I found out later over kava, are not uncommon in doing this. Of the five men I was talking to later, four of them said they incurred serious injuries when they were younger. Injuries varied from ruptured spleens to broken backs and other big breaks. Thankfully, there were no injuries the day we watched, but that doesn’t mean they don’t happen. And the village does get a good amount of money from the tourists but I can guarantee you that’s not going to hazard pay for these jumpers.
All in all it was great to see a display of a very cool custom that these people from South Pentecost have probably been doing for at least a couple thousand years. Seeing the dives made me very glad I took part in the trip to go see this. After the dives we ventured down to see some custom dancing that the schoolchildren put on. Liz went and checked out them practicing the day before the cruise boat came and snapped this cool shot of a girl in her coconut husk hat:


(Here’s the kids dancing on the day of the event)
The dance was a lot of foot stamping in lines of children choreographed to move in and out of each other all while a man in custom dress (far right in picture) is keeping time with a wooden tam tam. It was cool to watch, especially when watching the bold colors that the dancers were wearing move in and out of the lines.
By about 1pm all the tourists were now in the water, and the quiet beach we had rested looked a little like Fourth of July in a San Diego beach so most of us found other things to do. Some went to go check out the amazing water taro gardens. Liz, Chris, and I all went down to a point down the way to go snorkel and check out a submerged propeller engine from a WWII fighter plane. It was cool to check out and we also saw the hull of a small ship that had been sunk there about 20 years ago. What really took us for a loop though came when we were walking out to the point and one of the local guys pointed out the inscription that Captain Cook had made in a boulder in the 1700s during his exploratory visits in the South Pacific (sorry no picture, but I’ll try to get the pic from Liz as she took it on her camera). How cool is that?
The following day we all hired a truck to take us to a village that had a large waterfall nearby. So for the better part of the day we hung out in the pools below a 150ft waterfall and jumped off nearby rocks into the pools. (The Waterfall)
In the afternoon we chilled out on a nearby beach, and then headed back to Pangi in the early evening. That night we made some good Indian food from some sauce packets we bought in Vila and later had a camp fire with S'mores and all.
Poinkros Village:
The next day we hired a boat to take us to Poinkros village in the far South of Pentecost. This village is also occupied by a Peace Corps volunteer, Lauren, but she too was still in Vila tying up work stuff. She said we could use her house to crash, and Erica had been there before and knew some of the villagers. There is no truck road to get there, and we heard that traveling along the walking trail is not a good idea with heavy packs. So we set out by sea, and Man! It was rough out there that day. We were just in a little fiberglass boat and there were definitely some white knuckle moments as some of the large swells really rocked the boat. Two hours later we made it to Poinkros in one piece, and greeted the villagers on the beach. We then charged uphill as the entire village is built on steep, rolling hills. This village layout owing to a big tsunami that hit them early in this decade and did a lot of damage to their previous village, centered more on flat land.
(Here’s a picture showing some of the terrain of Poinkros village)
After we got our tents set up in Lauren’s yard and had settled in, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset straight out of Tales from the South Pacific with purples and pinks and oranges mixed in a sky with swaying coconut trees and the rugged Pentecost coastline in the foreground and the profile of Ambrym a ways in the distance.
(The Poinkros sunset)
After taking in the great sunset some of us headed down to the nakamal for some kava. We, who went were treated to a really cool, different kava ceremony where they showed us how they used to use coral stone to grind the kava. Even the new style that they use, ramming the kava in a cylinder, is different than the meat grinders that they use on Efate and Pele so that was exciting to watch and take part in. And the way they served the kava was really cool too, as about 8 men would be working the kava, each on their own small table, and only one man would be the one that would make shells for you during the night. The kava was clean tasting and strong, the nakamal conversation was great, and we all sat back stoned and enjoying our new surrounds.
The following day some of us went down to the playing field to work off the kava from the night before. We borrowed a tennis ball from the school, and I asked a local guy, Moses, Lauren’s host papa, to help me find a good straight stick to use as a bat. We found one easily, tapered it a bit at the end for a handle, and then I taught some of the local guys how to play Over-The-Line, an old San Diego favorite that is like a 3 on 3 way of playing baseball. It wasn’t long before more guys showed up, and we had enough to play reduced squad baseball. They picked up the game quickly and we all had a great time playing ball for a couple hours.
We broke for lunch then set out to a nice river spot that heads out towards the gardens of Poinkros. To get there we took the bush route up and down hills for a while and over some creek crossings
(Here’s Bridgett and Erica (behind) crossing over a creek crossing that was a balance beam constructed by a coconut palm trunk)
After going through some cool garden areas we arrived at our river spot that had plenty of cool places to jump off ledges and into the fresh water pool. One of the local guys showed us how they use places like this to train for the nagol.
(Poinkros man demonstrating the nagol dive form)
After a nice day at the river we followed the river to its nearby mouth, meeting up with some mamas along the way. Moses explained that they had just come from a 3hrs walk in from their gardens and that this is pretty normal. You could see that this was indeed somewhat of a routine by looking at the mamas’ calf muscles. Damn! One of the mamas was straight ripped!
(A picture of the mamas walking over the estuary area where the river meets the sea)
(A picture of the river as seen from the beach)
That evening we had another round of good kava at the nakamal and hung out for a while at Lauren’s place before nodding off. The next morning we said our goodbyes to the great people of Poinkros and departed again by boat, but this time, thankfully, with much calmer seas.
Back in Pangi and the Water Taro Gardens:
When we got back to Pangi there was another cruise boat in for the nagol. I guess they get about 6 per year. We hung around the village, and then hatched the scheme to trade our money to tourists for beer at their tent near the wharf. The tourist boat sold beer and soda but only on the swipey card system for boat patrons. So we, cold beer starved volunteers, traded our vatu for Australian dollars at some of the donation booths and then traded Aus dollars for beer. The plan worked brilliantly and I even had a nice tourist buy me a beer.
Nearby, the string band was getting fired up so we, the volunteers, got our string bang boogey on, and tried to get villagers to dance, but could only get a few in on the action. Then we tried to get the tourists that were waiting in line to get on the ferry boats dancing. We had limited success, but some started dancing, and we were having a good time, and that’s what’s important.
That evening we were going to have a Mexican food night (once again we brought some supplies from Vila), and we made tacos from fresh fish and freshwater prawns caught that day. I was in heaven, and then Liz rolled out a cake she had made for me for my birthday and a bottle of Tequila, Oh My! My birthday was the next day, but we would be on the Fresh Cargo all day so the celebration was set for the night before. And what a great celebration too: good friends, Mexican food, tasty REAL cake, and a bottle of tequila. It was a great cap to an even greater trip.
The next morning Tim and I went to go check out the water gardens before we left. I had heard such adjectives as “majestic” being used by the volunteers who had seen them earlier in the week so I figured I had to fit them in for a peek. We walked for about ten minutes before we reached the gardens and they were truly amazing. The villagers have dammed up and diverted flows so the river flows slowly through the steppe-style, hydroponically grown taro. The steppes and dams are all built of smallish stones and the villagers say they have to reconstruct them after big flows or floods of the river. The benefit though, is no weeding as the water is always running and weeds cannot grow in the slowly moving water. The gardens are really big and the local engineering to make the gardens flow right is damn impressive (no pun intended).
(the river with the water taro steppes on either side)
(one of the dams for the garden)
As we were walking along local guys offered to show us how they harvest the water taro and use the stalk directly as the planting for the next crop.
(here’s the guys a few steppes up from where the shot was taken. It’s hard to see the stone wall steppes through the vegetation of the taro plants)
Going Home and Easter:
The same day that Tim and I checked out the water gardens, the gang that was left (most of us as some had dropped off earlier in the week and Liz was flying back to Ambae) boarded the Fresh Cargo after waiting over 10hrs for the damn thing (We were just about to give up on it when we saw it’s lights coming shore). The seas were even rougher than before and I got a weird fever in the middle of the trip and ended up emptying my lunch into the sea. The good news was I felt great after that. We endured another 13hr trip and made it back to Vila early Easter morning.
While on the boat we made a plan to have an Easter dinner at a PC volunteer, Evan’s house in Vila, and once we got ashore we arranged the particulars and bought the food so we could lounge poolside in the early afternoon at a local resort in order to get our energy back that the boat drained from us. That evening we had a great Easter dinner complete with an Easter egg piñata game at night.
So yeah, that’s about it. I realize that this is a pretty long blog this time but it was a fantastic trip and there was a lot to write about.

February and early March

Just relaxing here on another lazy Sunday… Tomorrow I’ll be headed into Vila so I thought I might as well write a blog. Things have just been starting up again this month as committees and groups are coming back together for this year’s work. The MPA project is going slowly but surely and we are basically picking up where we left off last year: giving results of household surveys back to the villages and developing conservation management plans. We’re planning a big two-island village, forest, and shore clean-up that should take place on Earth Day in April. We’re also going to try to get some of the big environment-related NGOs in Vanuatu to come out to Nguna or Pele in June for a big World Environment Day festival of sorts. I’ll try to keep you guys posted on how those work out. Other than that we’re working on a bunch of other stuff from tourism development to setting up marker signs and bouys for land and sea conservation areas.
The sports project is also going along well. Right now Javi and I are working with teachers in North Efate and their sports organization, NEPSSA, to plan tournaments and activities for the year. The basic plan is to have divisional tournaments, a North Efate Tournament for the division finalists, and then a North vs. South Efate Finals including an all star game for soccer and volleyball. We’re hoping to have at least 4 baseball teams that are able to compete in the North Efate Tournament too, and maybe have a North vs, South Efate baseball championship when the soccer and volleyball finals are going on. A lot of this depends on the teachers and their involvement in the organizing of the tournaments and teams so we are hoping for the best. Maybe all of these will happen before I leave here too (I’m thinking around mid-August).
At the end of this month we, a bunch of volunteers and I, are planning on holding a baseball carnival in Vila to kind of showcase the sport. The idea for it came from Javi as we planned on having another Vila vs. Ekipe match anyway and he figured it would be good to include some carnival-type stuff with it. So we’re going to have some games for kids and youth that test your skill in throwing, catching, and batting with prizes for winners. Javi is working on getting the word out through local papers and radio and we are hoping for a good turnout. The basic thinking is to recruit a bunch of kids and youth from Vila to start playing through showing them some attributes of the game and then showing them an actual game later in the day. Whatever turnout we get, it should be pretty fun.
Another cool thing with the sports project is that we got the go ahead to do a big workshop that Javi and I have been trying to do since around July of last year. The workshop is set to happen in the beginning of May, and we will be giving it to a group of teachers in North Efate. It will be a week-long workshop where we train the teachers basic First Aid (directed towards sports injuries), train the teachers to teach Adolescent Reproductive Health (ARH) in schools, and hold trainings on how to coach and referee baseball and Ultimate Frisbee. We will be working with the Vanuatu Red Cross to do the First Aid training and then we, Peace Corps Volunteers, will do the sports and ARH training. When we first were thinking of this workshop we just wanted to do sports training, but realized we would need to couple it with an activity like First Aid to get it the credibility it needs to go ahead. So very cool that we are going to be able to do this, and it should definitely help the popularity and organization for baseball and Ultimate. Going to be a bit of work, but should be a very worthwhile workshop.
So as I said earlier I’m thinking now that I’m going to depart Vanuatu in August. I was thinking of extending for a few months to close around December, but I’m starting to realize it’s time for me to go soon. Two years is a long time to spend away from family, friends, and your culture. I’m also ready to move on to something new. I have really loved my time here, and I will miss this place when I’m gone, but come the middle of this year I’ll be about ready to go back.
My close of service date is in the end of June, but I think I’m going to extend this for about a month so I can tie up some loose ends with projects, see out the sports tournaments, and maybe run in the Round Island Relay again in the end of July. I’m thinking of then, after I finish my service in late July, spending a couple weeks on Ambae followed by returning to the US. I was thinking of traveling or working in Australia or New Zealand for a couple months after I got done, but now I’m thinking I’m just going to go back. I guess money is probably my biggest reason for wanting to go straight back. I don’t have a lot of it and I’m going to need it to get going again in the US. I’d also like to get back to the US in summer so I don’t freeze my ass off and road tripping will not have to be done through snowstorms.
I guess, generally, I’m thinking of heading back and while making stops (definitely some longer ones with family) along the way work my way West across the country back to California. I’m thinking Cali would be a good place to transition to life America again. I guess once I get back it’s back to work where I can find it and starting down the road of grad school (studying for the GREs, checking out schools, etc.). Many things are uncertain yet, but I’m thinking August is when I’m going back, and the rest I’ll be working on in the next few months. I’ll let you guys know when I have more direction or details of where I’m going to try to stop in the US during the time I plan on road tripping.
A lot to think about and I am just trying to enjoy my time here before I leave, and get a few trips in within Vanuatu. In the beginning of next month a bunch of volunteers and I are planning on going to Pentecost Island to check out the land diving that happens every year at this time. This big event is where local men dive off high towers held only by vines, fastened at their ankles. They do it to ensure a good yam harvest, and it is where bungee jumping originated from (only this is much cooler and more dangerous than bungee jumping). I’m also going to be going to Tanna when my sister, Hannah, comes and visits where we’ll see the exploding volcano and some other cool custom stuff.
But, right now I’m just doing my thing in the village. Working, fishing when I can, and chilling out. Most things are pretty easy going and you get frustrated at others. Like today I grabbed my mouse only to find that a rat had chewed on the scroll wheel. Kind of strange, a rat chewed on my mouse! Ha Ha right? A guy from Pele that now lives in Vila came here, and left behind a weight bar and weights for me and some of the local guys to use. So I built a weight bench out of local wood and an existing sitting bench, and I use smaller weights with the bar to make it a curl bar. For the last month I’ve been able to lift which is nice as something to do and good exercise. Some of the local guys get a kick out of “training” too as they call it. I’m just hoping that the guy from Vila won’t try to reclaim it any time soon. If he does I’ll try to work out a deal to rent it at least until I’m out of here.

(This is a picture of my neighbor, oldfala Tom, flexing)
So as I was writing the last part this big boat, the “Fresh Cargo” just arrived on my island. This boat just started servicing Vanuatu with trips around to some islands in the country. From what I gather they also want to do a little near-Vila tourism packages too, and have chosen my island as a possible site. So today about 30 or so tourists just landed here as part of a trial to see how things go. There is already a day tour in place here, but I think my village isn’t used to getting this many tourists at one time (usually it’s between 4-15 tourists). Best of luck to them.

(This is a picture of the Fresh Cargo landing on Pele)
I think I’m going to walk down towards the boat in a little while just to ask the people that run the boat about charters as we, some volunteers and I, are trying to find out the cheapest way to get to Pentecost in April. The Fresh Cargo came up as a possible option so I think I’ll find out how much they charge.
Other stuff going on…Last Thursday was the national holiday of Chief’s Day so the village put on a ceremony to recognize all the hard work that chiefs do in the village. So my papa, the paramount chief, and Marias, a smaller chief were on hand to receive the ceremony. It started with a church service, then we had a ceremony in the farea or meeting hall, followed by a kava ceremony and food. Now, I believe I’ve blogged before about how drinking kava during the day is not always the best, but I’ll explain again here. When you drink kava you don’t like loud noises (like kids screaming) or bright light (like the sun) so kava is usually enjoyed in the evening. Furthermore, kava can make you pretty tired after a few hours after drinking if you drink during the day, you might as well write off your evening. This is somewhat akin to starting boozing in the morning and being totally useless by about 5pm. OK, so all that being said, one might wonder why someone would drink kava during the day. Well, usually it happens to be part of a ceremony so that the end of the ceremony ends in the custom of drinking kava together. During Chief’s Day such a ceremony took place with kava being served at around noon. Watson made the kava and he happened to make some stuff that kicked the ass of my whole village. I drank a couple shells and felt it “kick” and had to go lay down for a bit. Some people ended up puking, but all who drank were stoned as hell. Naturally we were all worthless come evening and some guys went to go drink again and tried to get me to go, but I had my fair share for the day.
(Here’s me before the kava started whooping me)
It was a good ceremony though, and at one point the chiefs asked me to take a picture with them and their wives so I did and got a couple good shots. I actually got my mama and papa to smile in a picture too by telling them a joke.
(A picture of my mama and papa)

(The other chief, Marias, and his wife Monique)
Not a whole lot new otherwise I think it’s about time for a swim as it’s pretty hot here. I’ll try to write a new blog soon.

The boat ride to town today

Today I jumped on the boat this morning to head into Vila. The sea was a little rough, but nothing worse than I've been on before. I jumped on with a trip headed to a wedding in Vila so the boat was packed with people and things for the wedding (mats, bananas, root crops, etc.) For those of you that have forgotten or may have just started reading my blog, transport boats here are small (about 12 feet long) and are usually powered by small outboard engines (about 25hp. When I say packed I mean about 14 people condensed onto a small boat.
So I get on the boat and we're motoring away for a few minutes when suddenly one of the mamas screams. There is a small snake coming out of the bananas. In Vanuatu there are only two land snakes, neither of which are poisonous, including this small Pacific boa. Ni-Vanuatu, however, are deathly afraid of any snake or lizard. Ok, back to the story, soon all the mamas and a few men are yelling and screaming and running side to side in this small boat. I was probably the only one realizing that this was causing the boat to jerk violently from side to side. It was pure pandemonium. I was really scared that we were going to capsize so I stood up and started yelling for people to calm down and sit down. I put my body between the snake and them and explained to them that it would not bite them. They eventually stopped running about, but were still screaming.
With all the mamas jammed to the front of the boat (snake in back) we made for shore to put the snake in the bush. A local guy and myself got the snake out and we were on our way. The mamas had fun imitating me directing orders at them to "stap kwaet" (sit down, chill out) after the event, during our boat trip. I had a good laugh with the guy next to me as we described how close we all were from getting tossed into the drink. Some of the guys on the boat were being jerks too and throwing pieces of hose and sticks on women and yelling snake. I wasn't very amused. Just another fun transport ride in Vanuatu.
After the snake thing we were motoring for a while when I noticed a small pod of dolphins off the side of the boat. For the rest of the trip we were in the company of three spinner dolphins which was awesome! They were catching a free ride on our light wake.
So short blog here. Just wanted to relay my unusual boat trip this morning.

New Zealand

(Milford Sound)
So I am just getting back to site here after being away for about three weeks. We landed in Vila only to be met with some typical January Vanuatu weather: hot, humid, and rainy. I decided to stay an extra day in Vila to be there for a volunteer’s last kava before he headed back to the US. Briz, the volunteer departing after five years of service, is somewhat of a Peace Corps Vanuatu institution so it will be strange to not see him on my occasional visits to Vila. It was my first time drinking kava in almost a month and I was kind of ready for a shell or two.
The next day I was headed back to Pele. As I was pulling up to shore I saw my house was still standing (always a good thing), and was greeted warmly by people in my village. People kept asking me how long I had been gone as if some large chunk of time had elapsed. I had a few people guess I had been gone two months, and upon me correcting them (3 weeks) they were shocked. It’s nice to be missed.
Not much has changed here and very little news. One shocker was meeting my counterpart on shore. He had shed about 60lbs in the last few weeks. He got really sick while I was gone, and just a couple days ago went to the hospital and found out he has malaria. He has the appropriate meds now and says he’s feeling better. Charley is a big guy so it was really scary seeing him looking gaunt and fairly thin.
Yesterday was my first full day back at home. I finished unpacking things, and storied with people in the village. It rained almost the full day, and people have been saying that it has been raining the whole time I was gone. Glad I left for a bit. Going on vacation during January was no accident as the rain and nothingness drove me nuts last year.
So about the trip… New Zealand was awesome! We started out our trip flying in to Auckland and were greeted by beautiful weather, San Diego style, sunny, mid to high 70s that seemed to follow us for almost the entire trip around New Zealand. I felt a little overwhelmed at first by being in an actual city again. I found myself reading billboards and signs aloud as there was so much to look at. Liz had already got this out of her system as she had just been in the US for a few weeks, but I was a little bit like a fish out of water. A trip to the grocery store was strange as I wasn’t used to seeing so many options. Liz found me staring at the cheese isle, and helped usher me along. You really forget how many options for things you have in the Western world. My caveman syndrome didn’t last too long, and after a day or two I was more or less right back in the swing of things.
Auckland was pretty cool city. Doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of character to it, but there were good things to look at and some good food. I got my good beer, Mexican food, and sushi fix within the day and a half we spent there before traveling to Christchurch. We stayed at a backpacker hostel set in a park that was a quick walk from downtown. The accommodation and general traveler network and info. is amazing in New Zealand. It’s pretty cheap to stay in the backpacker hostels, and they’re kept up well. For the most part we had a nice room with a good size bed for about $35 a night. We mixed the hostel stays with camping which helped save on funds too. A few times we camped at hostels where they have sites for about $10, and you still get the full use of the facilities.
(Auckland, View from near the aquarium)

(A penguin meeting at the aquarium)

(Liz and friend)
After seeing the sites for a day and going to the aquarium (pretty cool but a little pricey for what it is) we jumped on our flight to go to Christchurch. We spent about a day and a half in Christchurch checking out stuff. We rented bikes one day and pedaled around town. The university contributes a lot to the feel of the city, and I liked this city (albeit smaller) more than Auckland. There are also a lot of late 19th century British buildings in the city which gives it some character.

(The Cathedral in central Christchurch)

(Biking around town)

(The beach in Christchurch)
After a full day in Christchurch we rented a car that would be our travel mode for the next two weeks. Driving on the left side of the road was pretty weird at first, but came natural after a few driving sessions. The hardest thing when first driving was judging your placement on the road, remembering you still had half a car on your left as you’re used to being on the left when driving. Some things were weird the whole time though. Liz and I both hit the windshield wipers many times when trying to signal. The knobs were reversed. Another thing that never felt right was seeing a car coming in the oncoming lane from behind a blind curve. Many times it felt like they were coming at you.
We first drove about two hours outside Christchurch to the Banks Peninsula. We did some hiking near a town called Akora and saw some cool views of the Akora sound (fiord maybe?) and the sea on the other side of the ridge. Plenty of sheep greeted us along the trail as it wound through a sheep rancher’s private land.

(View of Akora from our hike)

(On the other side of the ridge is the sea, behind us)
(Sheep and more sheep)
The town of Akora reminded me of a little summer lake town in the US complete with small ice cream and craft shops along its main drag. We camped at a great site about a twenty minute drive outside Akora where a river mouth meets another sound. The campsite consisted mostly of Kiwi families on vacation, and we were a small presence with our lone backpacking tent compared to the compounds some of these guys set up for their long stays.

(Our small tent in a large campsite, Liz modeling)
The place had a small zipline for the kids which looked like fun, but there where tons of kids on it so we didn’t get a chance to go on it. We were saying how something like that would never be allowed in the US. Some kid would hurt him/herself and here comes the lawsuit. We did the zipline that night after a few beers and a bottle of wine. Pretty fun.
From Akora we drove North on Highway 1 through sheep ranches and farmland in route towards a town on the East coast called Kaikoura. Driving along the way before you hit the coast it reminded me of northern California foothills. The scenery was very brown and dry. A little different than California though in that mountain ranges in the background rose steeply and fiercely unlike a gradual transition to the Sierras or California coastal mountains. In Kaikoura we ate great seafood on the beach and checked out a seal colony. There wasn’t a ton of seals (about 10), but you could get pretty close to them.
(Eating seafood on the beach)

(Me and a seal, looks like I just clubbed it)
From Kaikora we headed into Marlborough, wine country. We got a great suggestion from some Peace Corps friends and stayed in a hostel called The Grapevine in the small city of Bleinhem. It was a really nice place set on a creek, and very close to a lot of wineries. There are wine tours by bike offered by an outfit in Bleinhem, and we were going to do this until our friends told us that the hostel also loaned bikes for really cheap and gives you a map of local wineries. We arrived at the hostel at about 10am and the woman who ran the place set us up with a couple bikes, some suggestions, a map, and said we should be able to hit about 3 or 4 wineries.
We pedaled out towards our first winery on a beautiful sunny day. We both drink more red wine than white, but we had heard that this region is really famous for their white wines. Our first stop showed us how really good a white wine could be. We were both used to mostly boring Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc we had tried before, but these wines were spicy and the wineries we visited were using things like passion fruit and other citrus fruits that gave a lot of the wines a great flavor.
At our second stop of the day we tasted some wine and decided to get a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and an appetizer platter while reclining in their outdoor beanbag chairs. Very nice indeed!

(Liz and the nice view from Wither Hills Winery)
(Lounging in beanbag chairs at Wither Hills)

(Liz and friend among the vineyards)

(Down in the cellar)
We continued along tasting good wine as we went, and enjoying the day as we pedaled slowly through vineyard countryside. At our seventh winery (3-4 hah!) we had to call it quits as it was 5pm and the wineries were closing. We got two bottles from that place, one a delicious pinot noir, and headed back towards the hostel. Here we met a strong headwind that came out of nowhere and gave us a good workout getting back. We arrived to the hostel and lay on the bed for a few minutes before attempting anything else. We then made a great seafood pasta dinner and drank it a good bottle of wine purchased earlier. I sat here with a full belly staring out at the creek thinking, “What a great day!.”
After Bleinhem we headed North again along a scenic drive that wrapped a little of the Marlborough Sounds and then we headed West to Nelson to meet a couple Peace Corps friends, Laura and Mckenzie, who had been traveling in New Zealand for about five weeks. We met them, and exchanged stories of our travels thus far. They had been hitchhiking across the South Island and had a few good tales. We found a place to camp, and then set out to go try a local brewery. I had already sampled more than a few microbrews at different places, and was game for some more. We tasted some beer and left with our two liter plastic bottles of the beers we liked. I had never seen this before, but a few breweries in New Zealand let you come with your own two liter bottle and for a discounted price fill it up right off the tap.
(Laura and Me trying good microbrews)
Later we all went out to meet an American the two girls had met earlier in their travels at yet another microbrewery (I was in beer heaven after two years drinking only one kind of beer). We went out to a few bars, and Laura and Liz did a little Karaoke. The next day we all hung out for a bit before we parted ways (they were headed the opposite direction we were), and Liz and I drove up to Abel Tasman National Park in the Northwest. We arrived at our campsite at around 5pm, which meant we still had about five hours of daylight left to explore and hang out on the nice beach. It would seriously not get dark in New Zealand until about 10pm. It was crazy. The campsite we were at was great, and it allowed you to be able to day hike one of the best parts of the Abel Tasman backpacking trail.
The next morning we got up and did a long day hike that took us up to a hill lookout and then dropped us onto the coastal track for a few hours on the way back to our campsite. The coastal trail was pretty amazing. You would skirt cliffs and be on top of ridge lines with gorgeous views of the teal water beaches below and then go through tunnel like parts with dense ferns and old growth trees. The trail dropped you out on the golden beaches from time to time, and at around lunch time we stopped on a good one. We ate, lounged on the beach for a while, swam, jumped off some rocks, and after a while headed on our way again.

(View from the coastal trail)

(A cool rock outcropping on the trail)
After Abel Tasman we made our longest drive of the trip (about 6hrs) down the West Coast to Franz Josef Glacier. Even a longer drive like this was so easy as there was so much to look at along the way. Along the way we stopped and checked out the Pancake Rocks, which is a really cool rock formation set on the coast.

(The Pancake Rocks)
The West Coast was much wetter than the East and everything was green on our trip down the coast. As we drove towards Franz Josef the scenery reminded me of the Highway 101 drive in the redwoods of California. Sorry if there is a lot of California analogies here, but there were many times I almost felt like I could be in California. We arrived at Franz Josef and camped at a backpacker place there. When we arrived we got the bad news that there probably wouldn’t be glacier guided hikes the next day as it had been raining. Boo.
At Franz Josef we woke up later in the morning as we had heard they wouldn’t let people on the glacier only to find out now they were. However, we wouldn’t be able to get on a hike until later in the day. We decided instead to make the hike out to look at the glacier (and not actually get on it) as we had other stuff we wanted to do and another night spent in Franz Josef would make us rush too much through some later stuff. We were able to get pretty close to both the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers on easy walks. It is pretty impressive to be in a temperate, rainy place and be right near a river of ice. Supposedly, Argentina is the only other place in the world where you can do this.

(Franz Josef Glacier)
From the glacier areas we headed South to Wanaka, a small mountain town, for a night before heading into Queenstown. We liked this place a lot and decided we would come here on our way back too. We arrived in Queenstown, “The adventure capital of the world,” in the morning, and Liz headed off to go bungy jumping while I went for a hike that overlooked the city, the lake it’s on, and the sharp peaks that surround the city. I was going to watch Liz make the plunge, but they wanted to charge me a lot just to go watch. So she had a great time jumping off the 4th tallest bungy in the world while I was relaxing atop a large hill with a spectacular 360° view of the place.
The next morning we both went whitewater rafting just outside Queenstown on the Shotover River. It was a good day to be on the river with overcast skies, and the views inside the canyon were really something. We also wound through areas laden with abandoned gold mining equipment which was interesting and not unlike, in some ways, being in the Coloma area in California. The rapids were a little weak, but then again I think I have forever spoiled myself on rafting after my couple trips down the North Fork of the Salmon River in northern California. Those rapids on the Salmon really got the blood flowing. There were a couple good rapids on the Shotover, and we also went through a tunnel only to be met, when exiting the tunnel, with a wave of water that rocked the boat and doused us (the best part of the trip).
After our rafting trip we drove South to the Fiordland. As we started getting closer to Milford Sound (misnamed, it’s really a fiord) sheer rock faces rose quickly from the scenery with countless waterfalls pouring down their sides. This area gets some astronomical amount of rain each year. As we were coming closer to the fiords the rain had stopped and misty clouds were hanging among the mountains. Before we entered the Homer Tunnel, a mile long hole blasted through a mountain, we pulled over to the side of the road to admire the steep cliffs and snow capped peaks.
When we got out of the car we noticed that the tourists pulled over next to us were out snapping shots of a large sized bird. This bird, an alpine parrot called the kea, was very friendly, and was following these people around. The tourists left, and then the keas started to follow us, jumping on our car and checking us out. They’re really cool looking birds: brown with a sharply decurved bill and green and orange colors on their flanks and the undersides of their wings that present themselves while the kea is in flight. We admired the birds for a bit, and decided it was time to go, and when we started towards the car one jumped on the roof and started poking his head inside the car. “Are these birds going to let us leave?” The kea got distracted and started pulling at the rubber around the windshield so we were able to get inside the car. He eventually flew off and we were able to start towards the tunnel.

(Our friend the kea)

(The kea on our car with a nice background behind)
Supposedly these birds are very intelligent and are a bit of a nuisance as they use their strong bills to tear up all kinds of things. In fact, one of Liz’s friends was biking through New Zealand a couple years ago and fell victim to these birds. He locked his bike up for the night only to return to find his tires eaten away. When he asked some locals they replied nonchalantly that the birds must have got it. Little bastards!
So we headed through the Homer Tunnel which was a little eerie as the lights in the tunnel were off as we were not going through the one lane tunnel during peak time. We only realized the tunnel had lights upon returning two days later. “Don’t you think the tunnel is a lot brighter than before?”

(The light at the end of the Homer Tunnel)
We set up our camp and went to get a peek at the Milford Sound. It was pretty foggy, but we could still see that this was a very special place.
The next morning we woke up early and were picked up to go on our guided kayak tour of the sound. As we were getting outfitted we learned the wrath of the sandfly. Those things suck (no pun intended). They bite into you for blood, and like to get in weird areas like the folds of your ears. Once we got on the water they weren’t bad though. There were five two-man kayaks all told and we were split into two groups, each with a guide. Our guide was really good and was full of interesting natural history info on the area.
Our first stop was to get really close to a big waterfall and feel the spray coming off of it. We then skirted around the sound checking out all kinds of stuff along the way. We saw a lot of fur seals continually rolling on their sides (supposed to aid in digestion). We got an unexpected glimpse at a Fiordland penguin which shocked the guide. He had just got done telling Liz and me that the penguins aren’t around this time of year after we had asked our chances of encountering one. He was shocked and said he hadn’t seen one in a few months. This little guy was very fat and having a hard time getting down the rocks into the water. It was so cool to see a penguin in the wild, and we got to watch little fatty for at least 10 minutes. Other things we saw were more birds, a wild bonsai tree, and a crazy fern that looks like a lobed-leaf plant.

(Our fat buddy)
By far the best part of the Milford kayaking was the beauty and serenity of the place. It had been raining before we started kayaking, but while we kayaked it was fairly clear with clouds hanging high on the peaks that wrapped the glacier-carved fiord. The water was very calm and glassy at times, and we had very little wind to contend with. Sometimes we’d paddle up to a rock face that shot up a couple thousand feet in the air and just look up. Amazing! We had a snack lunch in the middle of the sound (fiord), and as we were doing so the sun poked in a bit, and some of the clouds moved away that had obscured the tops of the surrounding mountains like Mitre Peak.



(Milford Sound)
On the way back in Liz and I half surfed a wake wave from a fishing boat coming to port. I say half because we caught the momentum of the wake, but weren’t entirely on the wave the whole time. After the kayak trip we returned to the lodge and had a lazy day as the rain was really coming down.
From the Milford area we headed back to Wanaka to stay a night in a nice backpacker hostel that overlooked the lake and town. We then went to go see a movie at the local theatre, which we tried to do the first time through Wanaka, but the show was sold out. This theatre was called Cinema Paradiso, the name taken from a great Italian indy film I really liked when I was younger.
(Cinema Paradiso!)
This theatre was really cool as all the seats in the small, one-theater building were couches, and there was even a gutted old 40s car that people could sit in. They also sold local beer, homemade ice cream, and many other great refreshments that made this theatre really stand out from the rest. The next day we set out early to return to Christchurch. Had we more time we would have explored the Southeast part of the South Island too in such places as the Catlains, the Otago Peninsula, and Dunedin, but we were short on days. As it was we saw a lot for two and a half weeks.
Our return to Christchurch in the afternoon coincided with the Busker Festival, a large gathering of street performers, so we checked it out. We went to a performance held in courtyard of the local university. For a couple bucks we saw a few hours of great comedic performances by unicyclists, jugglers, prop comedians, and acrobatics from a flexible, portable balance beam supported on the shoulders of two guys.
The following morning we flew back to Auckland and went to the Seafood Festival that was going on that day. There was some good food to be had, but the venue was a little small. Later that evening we had sushi again as it would be the last time in a while for us to get good sushi. The next morning we were back in Vanuatu. As we lined up in the residents’ line the string band was playing. We did a bit of string band dancing while in line, and one woman in front of us motioned that we were in the wrong line thinking we were tourists. We had a good laugh over that one. That lady must not get out much outside of Vila as she should know we were doing the appropriate ni-Vanuatu style string band dance.
That was our trip in a nutshell. There’s plenty of stuff I missed, but those were the highlights. I had a great time and I definitely will be back some day.
Hmm… so…. back in the village. I was going to pull some weeds in my overgrown garden this morning, but then my sister Hannah called and we had a good chat. She is about to buy her tickets to come see me in May and I’m very excited. It’ll be awesome to show her my village and some Vanuatu culture. We’re also planning on going down to Tanna (erupting volcano, plenty of culture, cargo cults), something I’ve been waiting to do until someone came to visit.

More Goings On

Written December 20, 2008

So it’s official now. Taem blong spel has officially begun with the year closing ceremony of the MPA that took place a couple days ago. I still have some work to do here and there, but mostly I don’t have to do a damn thing. I’ve just been hanging out with the village, swimming, and reading. It’s been really nice.
As part of the spel program my village has been hosting a group from a church in Vila to do a combined service, video, and health toktok every night. They’ve been at it for the last couple weeks, and have set-up camp at my host papa’s house. I haven’t really been involved with it previously because I was in Vila to plan the camp, entertaining guests during the camp, and then back in Vila for a couple days to see friends. Well, now that I’ve come back to the island I don’t really have an excuse not to go. It’s also hard to avoid as pretty much my whole village has been going and they are nice and loud with their amplified speakers. The first two nights back I didn’t go, but told myself that I would go to at least one service/ show.
Yesterday afternoon they said the health topic was to be marijuana so I decided this was the day to go. Marijuana lectures in Vanuatu are usually entertaining as they are akin to Reefer Madness-like explanations prevalent in the US in the 1920s and 30s of what the wacky weed does to you. One volunteer once explained that he sat through a marijuana lecture in his village where they said that a woman in Papua New Guinea had gotten stoned and baked her child. Hmmm… Now I’ve heard this happening before, but usually it’s associated with drugs like LSD or crack. Many people in Vanuatu are also convinced that marijuana makes people violent and commit crimes or it’ll just plain make you nuts. One time while riding in a bus in Vila two men, the driver of the bus and the guy sitting shotgun, pointed out a guy walking crooked down the street, swatting at the air, and laughing hysterically. Now, many people might assume this person has a serious mental affliction like paranoid schizophrenia or something. No. Not these two guys. They both proclaimed, “Marijuana” in chorus followed by a shaking of their heads. I, sitting close to the front, was baffled at this reasoning and asked the two guys if they really think marijuana did that to that guy. I got a response of something like, “Of course, I’ve seen many like him that marijuana has ruined there life like that. That stuff makes you go crazy!” I resolved to shut up and not try and fight that battle.
Now, I realize that marijuana is a problem in Vanuatu, and especially in Vila where large groups of boys roam the streets and just smoke all day. But, it can’t be ignored that there aren’t enough jobs or good youth activities to involve these guys. And yes it probably kills their motivation, and doesn’t help the problem of disenfranchised youth, but I feel too often marijuana is used as scapegoat for the reason these youth wander aimlessly. Why would you overuse a drug like marijuana if you had cool activities to do, a good job, or other things to eat up your time?
Anyway, so I went to see some more inflated stories on the wacky weed. No crazy baby baking stories. Just some really suspect ad hoc reasoning of crime rates going up in Vila due to marijuana use. Then the speaker went on to say how it makes you crazy and violent. What was strange too was that he didn’t open the forum for questions afterward. I’ve found that most adult Ni-Vans are very curious about this drug, and love to ask questions and discuss it. That could have been the best part.
Later in the evening, after the whole show was done I was talking to a member of the church about yesterday’s big Vila prison break. This is about the 6th or 7th break of the year, but this was a big one. A bunch of prisoners lit fire to the prison, requiring the police, to have to open the cell doors (as to not burn prisoners alive), and then with doors open about 60 prisoners made a run for it holding knives and big metal pipes they had hidden away. Not a good situation, and some police officers were stabbed in the process. Well anyway, the guy I was talking to said that these guys, being high on marijuana, are what caused the incident, and previous prison breaks. Some might think that inmates high on marijuana might actually keep them from, well, doing anything at all except staring at the wall. Oh well.
Once the health discussion was done it was time for the religion discussion. The preacher giving it had a power point discussion about the beginning of Christianity, its subsequent fall during the Dark Ages, and then its lift back up from enlightened thinkers. The Dark Ages part was pretty gnarly with four or five slides about how Christians were tortured by other people during that time. It was all in English so he read that first, and then translated some of it to Bislama. One of the slides said something like, “They stabbed their eyes and pulled the eyes out of their sockets!” Gruesome yes, but humorous when he misread the slide (in a serious appalled manner), “They stabbed their eyes and pulled off their socks!” Not the socks!! I’m glad I didn’t have anybody else there that noticed it too so I wouldn’t have a reason to laugh at something like that. I could have lost my socks. Wait I don’t wear socks.
He then went on to tell of the evils of the Mark of the Beast. Throughout the show this Beast was a current theme with some fiery lion continually popping up. The Beast, he was convinced was in the form of a religious sect that the maternal side of my family subscribes too. Now, I myself can’t say I’ve ever really been a follower of my maternal family’s religion, but I felt insulted as half of my extended family is in his eyes, “The Beast,” and that’s just not a nice thing to say about someone.
Sorry if this part on religious event seems like a cheek. I don’t mean it to be that way, and I try to go to religious events the community are involved in, but humor helps me sometimes get through long events that usually aren't that engaging to me. Also, I try to be as open as I can to different religions, but it is hard sometimes not to wince, as someone who doesn’t to subscribe to any church, when churches bash each other.
Today I think I’ll take a light day of reading, typing letters, playing BINGO, and maybe some fishing in the evening. It’s pretty appropriate when you think about how damn hot and humid it is. Oh, and yes I said BINGO. Instead of 7 Lock this year the craze is a modified game of BINGO where instead of using the letters there’s just numbers that go up to 90, and you have to get a horizontal straight of numbers to win. There are horizontal rows on your cardboard card with five numbers per row. Every card is 10 cents per round, and many people have anywhere from 2-4 cards going per round. I usually just play one as I’m more interested in just playing. I’ve won the jackpot of two dollars once so far. I like it more than 7 Lock as I feel I am not at an unfair advantage to the mama card sharks like I was in 7 Lock.
Well I hope you all are having a good holiday break. I think I’m going to do Christmas in the village again this year, although Christmas Eve I’m going to try to get into town to hang out with some friends, eat good food, and watch a couple Christmas movies we have on DVD. For New Years a few people are planning to come out to my island for some revelry, but nothing too crazy. Mainly counting down the days until New Zealand! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!!

Spel Time

Written December 19, 2008

I’m not going to lie. It’s been a while since I last wrote one of these. No point in lying as all you have to do is look at the last date of an entry and the date of this one to see that it’s been a while. Have I been lazy? Not particularly. Too busy? Not enough to not have time to write. Nothing to write about? Its Vanuatu, there’s always something interesting going on. What then? I guess I’ve really been inspired over the last few months to do what I need to do and let go of the rest as per the upcoming season: Taem blong spel or “do nothing for two months.” Therefore, blogging fell through the cracks. I apologize. Although, in my defense I’ve located other Vanuatu volunteers who have come down with the incommunicado sickness. I won’t name them, but they exist.
Last year as taem blong spel was approaching I was dreading it. I had only been out at site for a few months, didn’t have much work to do, was still trying to integrate into my community, and now it was time to do absolutely nothing. It was tough. I spent a lot of my time trying to make something from nothing. I would try to start-up conversations with people, but that was a bit of a wash as there’s not much to talk about when nobody’s really doing anything. I tried to get into the 7 Lock games that villagers were playing religiously. Basically, this is a card game that is much like Uno, but for every hand you have to toss in 10 cents, and the winner takes the pot. Now, you would think that there’s not much strategy in a game that resembles Uno, but somehow a couple Mama’s were straight sharks and seemed to always have a nice pile of change beside them.
I played here and there, but me winning seemed like something worthy of celebration as people were shocked with “Way to go white man” looks. So I gave up on my 7 Lock career for financial and pride reasons. Only problem was that this activity consumed everybody. Those that weren’t playing it were watching it. So I became a spectator. This, however, gets a little old after a while as an Uno-type game doesn’t quite captivate like a suspenseful game of poker might.
I would usually watch as much card games as I could take, and then go bury my nose in a book. I killed a lot of books last December and January. I would read until I felt I’d need a break, crawl out of my hammock, and watch more 7 Lock with very limited socializing. Once I felt recharged enough by human interaction it was back to the books again. That was life for a couple months with some spicing up here and there from activities like swimming and drinking kava.
So how does one look forward to this type of thing? Easy: live in Vanuatu for a year and a half. I guess I’ve gotten pretty used to the speed of life here and now it’s the time of year to relax. This may be an occupational hazard when I return to the US. Though, there are reasons besides becoming more like the people that surround me that have made me itch for relax time. My projects have made me a lot more busy than last year, and although we may work a lot less here than we do in the US, the frustrations and obstacles on the job seem to more than balance out the feeling of needing a break. Another reason I feel more welcoming to spel is that I have been here for a long time now, and feel I can fill my time a lot better (with what sometimes I do not know). The last and final reason, and most important one is… I won’t be here for half the spel. Vacation baby! I get to peace out of this sultry stagnate place for 3 weeks in January and go to New Zealand. This in the back of my mind helps a great deal.
In the last few months there hasn’t been anything too eventful that I can remember. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff with the MPA (workshops, meetings, etc.). Javi and I have been doing stuff for the sports project like planning next year’s events and discussing and working grants we will apply for. Another one of my brothers got married recently which involved drunk dancing in the middle of the road and one brother punching the other one. Good times. In fact, the latter happened while we were waiting at the wharf for a boat to go back to Pele. I was talking to a tour operator about the MPA when she added, “By the way what’s going on here? When we pulled up to the wharf people were fighting.” I answered, “No its just a wedding they’re not fighting.” Her: “Yes they were. I saw punches.” I was surprised. “Really!?” When I finished the conversation I went over to one of the guys from my village to find out what happened. I asked who was fighting. He replied, “Tufala brother blong yu.” Turns out my oldest brother punched a younger brother than my brother-in-law came to the younger brother’s defense and got punched as well. I found them all a little ways down the road laughing together, a couple with marks on their faces. “Nice one guys!”
Last week we held an environment day camp for the two islands I work with. About 8 Peace Corps volunteers turned out to pitch in and it was hard to tell if we, the volunteers, or the campers had a better time. We played a lot of games with environmental education mixed into them, there were art crafts, and snorkeling time with a snorkeling scavenger hunt in the end. About 35 kids from the two islands showed up which was a pretty good turn out for this time of year. We focused on the kids that were years 4-6 in school.
The kids especially enjoyed the games, and there were a couple games that volunteers made up on the fly that were a hit as well. For one of the crafts we did a trash-to-treasure activity where kids made Christmas ornaments out of beer cans. When we were planning this a few days before the camp I realized that rounding up that many cans from the island could be hard as many people flatten the cans or burn them in their trash piles. So we downed a case of beer a couple days before the craft activities so we could have enough cans. Yes, we produced trash, but it’s the concept that’s important here. The cans were even green and red, festive for the holidays. When drinking that night to produce the “trash” we liked to remind ourselves, “It’s for the kids.”
The camp went very smoothly, and it really helped to have a lot of volunteers to work it so some people could do behind-the-scenes stuff as other volunteers were doing activities with the kids. We also had a couple MPA staff help out, and they both did an excellent job as well. A beauty part of the camp was that it was a day camp so every night we did not have to worry about the kids or baby-sit. Instead we retired to my house on Pele (the camp was on Nguna), hung out, and made really good food. Then the next day the MPA boat would take us back to the camp.
The plan is to keep doing variations of the camp and at different volunteers’ sites so the camp keeps getting better. It also is a great way to see someone else’s site and hangout with friends in the evening. Javier summed it up well one night when he said how lucky we were to be doing something that’s meaningful in a beautiful place, having fun doing it, and then coming back to hang out with good friends when we’re done for the day.
Sorry I don’t really have pictures of the camp. My battery died early on, but a lot of other volunteers have good pictures, and I’ll post those when I get them.