When anchored in front of Ratua we went ashore at the other island, Aore, where the book says there is an SDA mission, fruits and vegetables and a machine shop to look at. The mission turns out to be a school. A teacher showed us her classroom. She told us there was no produce but to take Island Cabbage and whatever we wanted from her garden. She said come back on Wednesday as the women had a market that day with produce and other goodies for sale. The principal came out to ask us questions about our boat and sailing and give us the low-down on the school. It has 200+ high school students from all over Vanuatu and even a few from the Solomons. Wednesday we went back with supplies for the school and shopping bags to fill with local fruits and veggies, laplap and a donut. The women are mothers of the students; they use the money they get to help pay for tuition.
The market was by a slipway and wharf where men were working on a boat. One of the men was more confident than the others and came over to ask if he could visit our boat. (When you invite someone aboard, like we did Claude, then word gets around and others dare to ask.) Of course, come on aboard. That was Nelson and he came with another man, Wolton. We fed them apples and biscuits/cookies and we had toktok. Nelson was a bundle of questions: how much did the boat cost, what is our religion, where do we sleep, where do we live, how long does it take to sail from CA to Vanuatu, what were our professions, how much does a house cost in CA. Nelson said he was Church of Christ and Wolton was Mormon. I think Nelson must be a former SDA because when we played the iPod for them the song that came up was Soon and Very Soon and he knew all the words and sang along - in a beautiful voice. He asked if we ate turtle and we said no, does he? He said yes, and he eats fruit bat and pigeon, but the SDAs don't and they don't eat pig or sea food without scales. Why don't we eat turtle? Because we like to see the turtles and don't want to hurt them. Do we smoke? No. But he does so we gave him a bit of a lecture. Then we came to the cultural snafu of the day. We showed them the photos of the nagol (land diving) that we took when we went there. They were appalled! I think they were embarrassed that some of their people, nearly naked, would do something as foolish as jump off a tower. Wolton wouldn't even look. We turned it off and showed them the book which Vince made for us with photos of our family. They loved it and wanted to know all the details. They asked for DVDs of movies and we gave them the Star Wars that Troy had made for us. Very happy. After two and a half hours they left. Next day: Nelson came again in his dugout outrigger canoe with his spear for fish and nets. We invited him aboard again. He said he was the owner of Ratua Island and the owner of the Ratua Resort paid him 250 million vatu to lease the island. That is 2.5 million US dollars! What did he do with the money? He put it away and is hoping to buy a ship and start a business. In the meantime, he goes fishing in his raggedy clothes and visits foreign yachties and asks millions of questions. He's really a very happy man and we hope money does not make his life miserable. As he was about to leave, we all could hear a low rumble coming from the resort. He was unhappy about that sound. It happens every day at 5 pm when the resort uses a machine to spray for mosquitos. Does it hurt the birds, we ask. Yes, he said, sadly; that is why he does not like the sound of the machine. We gave him our email and he is going to visit us in California. As he got back in his dugout, he stood up in it and the dugout started going under the sloping side of Sunrise and it swamped. Nelson had to swim, try to keep the dugout from sinking and try to keep all his fishing gear from floating away out of the dugout. Barry, as always, was prepared with block and tackle, ropes and pulleys and a baler and the day was saved. Someone could write a best selling book about Nelson's life. For sure, our interaction with Nelson and Wolton show cultural change at warp speed!
Visiting with Sheryl and Troy
Just before our daughter, Sheryl, and her boyfriend, Troy, arrived we got a leak in our water tank. So when they came aboard the tank was on deck, repaired by Barry and awaiting some strong arms to help get it back in the boat. That was Troy's introduction to Sunrise. They spent four days helping us with a few fun times interspersed. For instance, Sheryl had to take me to the hospital and MD to deal with Malarone (anti-malarial) poisoning. That was a cultural experience! I felt the IV was done in a sterile way but, my oh my, they don't stand on ceremony. Obviously, they are more interested in treating people efficiently and well than in worrying about being sued for this or that. The "room" where I got the IV was just an alcove off the main hall where people lined up to get their wounds (usually feet) treated, inoculations or medicine. By the way, Sheryl is now an RN! No wonder I got such good care. When my symptoms continued after the hospital visit, Sheryl shepherded me to the doctor. For $88 we had an hour consultation and all the supplies to do IVs on the boat. Dr. Chris had stories to tell! He said people come into his office with obvious Hepatitis B. They have spent hundreds of thousands of vatu and months being treated by the local medicine man and when they are near death they come to the MD. They can't believe a doctor can diagnose and prescribe in ten minutes for so little money and so they are very skeptical. After the doctor visit I quit the Malarone, was instantly cured and we were back at sea going to look for the dugong. Alas, no dugong to be found. We went to Pentecost Island to see the nagol/land diving and swim at a beautiful waterfall. We have photos. At a cultural center we saw an old video that a very young David Attenborough made maybe 40 or 50 years ago showing the nagol and life in kastom/custom Vanuatu. When we get back to Ridgecrest, I would like to find and buy that video. Google it. When you see our photos, you might have to close your eyes because no one (except us) is wearing much. On Santo, Sheryl, Troy and Barry went SCUBA diving at Million Dollar Point and at the Coolidge, a luxury liner turned into troop carrier that hit a mine coming into port and sank in 1942. We went to a kastom village, a re-enactment of traditional Vanuatu life, which was done very well. Videos will tell the story. We took a trip up an incredibly clear and blue river to a blue hole where fresh water comes up from the porous stone of the island. We played Tarzan on a rope swinging over and down into the water. We saw copra being baked and we snorkeled near Champagne Beach and we took photos of a very cool spider. We were told yet again how much the Peace Corps is appreciated. We very, very much enjoyed our time with Sheryl and Troy!
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