The big deal about the megapodes and dugongs is that they are both listed as vulnerable to extinction. This is noted in the Lonely Planet so most visitors are aware but, sadly, most niVan in the custom villages are not. To maintain the population of a species, the ancient chiefs had tabus at certain times of the year and in certain critical places. There is a tabu on megapode eggs now but the word needs to be spread. (Tabus in Melanesia are like our hunting "seasons" and regulations. )
We feel very welcome in this village - we now have 50 bananas aboard. Can you put them unpeeled in the freezer and use for banana bread later? Someone please answer, we have no way to google. We also have cabbage, popo (papaya), pamplemousse, mandarins, regular grapefruit, island cabbage, bok choy, snake beans, yams (not like ours), kumalas (sweet potatoes), limes, nuts, taro, laplap and tomatoes. In addition, 2 families made the effort to follow the hens in order to find their nests and find 8 eggs for us. Snake beans are big striped beans and are delicious. When I say big, I mean like the various sizes of zucchini. Of course, all this fresh-from-the-garden produce is delicious.
Today, being Sunday, we went to church - this time AOG (Assembly of God). We were inspired by the prayers and sermon even if we only understood about a fourth of it. There was great singing and guitar playing. (I think I said that Melanesians and Polynesians could teach white people how to sing. However, this afternoon we listened to Handel's Messiah on Sunrise and I take back what I said.) In church the children played on the floor and 2 of the children had real shoes - brand new. The shoes were good because you could take them off and use the laces to tow your shells as you drove your shoes around the floor. They had no real toys but used shoes, sea shells and coins to play with. After, we shook everyone's hand but, fortunately, there were only 24 adults and 15 children this time.
When we arrived in the village for church, we were again impressed with how tidy and well-kept the village is. Everyone was out and about cooking and cleaning. The young children were naked and happy, but when the parents noticed us they ran to get underpants to put on the children. Hey, we like naked! (I'm afraid the missionaries are giving us white people a bad reputation.) We birdwatched while waiting for church which, we were told, would start when we heard the guitars play. Sure enough, the guitars played some chords and everyone ducked into the house to put on their Sunday best clothes, emerged a few minutes later and went into the church.
From Barry: The buildings are constructed differently in this village from what we have seen elsewhere. In this village, the walls are sheathed with horizontal strips of palm wood. Many of the windows have covers that are hinged at the top. We have seen these window covers before in Fiji. In other villages in Vanuatu, the walls are made of woven bamboo strips or woven palm fronds or pandanus and the windows often have a lattice, perhaps to keep the dogs and chickens out. This village had a dirt road passing through and bicycles which we haven't seen before.
It was another beautiful sunny day today. The twin volcanoes of Ambrym over 30 miles away are silhouetted against the sky. It was another terrific day climb the volcano. Tonight, the glow of the erupting molten lava is reflected off the bottom of the smoke or clouds over each of the volcanoes. Awesome! We are here in the dry season. And dry it is. Our boat is so encrusted with salt crystals that it is starting to remind me of Searles Lake in Trona. I am very envious of Brad and Debra on Starlight. They have such a large desalinator that they have a fresh water deck wash-down system. We have to wash our boat off with buckets of salt water. We could sure use a good rain. However, we are so thankful for the modest desalinator that we do have that makes enough fresh water for us to drink, cook, wash dishes and bathe. Life is not only good, it is terrific!
From Lynne: I spent hours the last 2 nights on deck looking at those fascinating volcanos erupting - and the stars, the Milky Way, Venus, Scorpius, the Southern Cross and those 2 bright stars in Centaurus which point to the Southern Cross, the occasional meteorite and the dark, dark shore. When the sun goes down that's it out here in the boonies/whop whops. Except for large areas around the 2 main towns of Vila and Santo/Luganville there is no electricity in Vanuatu. Just try to imagine - virtually no clocks, mostly no watches (lack of batteries), no stoves, ovens, propane or any gas, nor lights, fans, radios, TVs, CD players nor any major or minor appliance. There is nowhere to re-charge your cell phone (called a mobile here) unless you are lucky enough to have little solar panels. No wonder they still communicate with drums and loud hooting. We have seen a few generators in places heavily visited by tourists (like the bungalows near Yassur volcano).
Monday, Sept 2 Yesterday we dinghied along the rocky cave-riddled shore and looked at the underwater reef life from the dinghy. We've spotted large turtles and searched to no avail for dugongs. Today we snorkel the reef, do boat chores and wait here in Foreland Bay on Epi Island for the wind to abate for our trip to Efate and Port Vila.
Birds: White and dark morph Pacific Reef Heron, Pacific Swallow, Glossy Swiftlets, Common Mynah in the village only, Dark-brown Honeyeater (sings like a mockingbird), Metallic Pigeon, lorikeets, and kingfishers heard. Oh, and piglets, chickens, cows and a few dogs wondering around in the village. No cats.
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