Light Speed Cultural Change

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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WW II

We are in Luganville with its World War II history. I so much wish I had recorded or written down my father's memories of his time here. When Japan expanded south towards Australia and New Zealand, America tried to stop them. New Zealand tourists told us America got its butt whupped until they reached the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). Then the American troops were sent to New Zealand to recuperate and New Zealand fed the Americans mutton and good food and gave them rest. That strengthened the Americans and they, along with the Australians and New Zealanders, went back to successfully stop the Japanese advance. Well, that is the Kiwi version. There were all told 500,000 Allied troops in the New Hebrides/Vanuatu. In 1942 Luganville was a city of 50,000 military personnel. The ni Vans still have good feelings about the Americans during that period. They pointed out the airfields, roads, buildings, the Quonset huts and wharves that the Americans built. We visited and SCUBA dived Million Dollar Point where the Americans bulldozed millions of dollars worth of engines, jeeps, bulldozers, forklifts and crates of Coco-Cola into the sea. The Americans had offered it to the Tu-Fella (British and French) government, but that "condominium" declined to pay the miniscule amount the Americans were asking. They figured the Americans would just leave it for free; however, the Americans, infuriated, pushed the whole lot into the sea. The niVans, of course, blame the French half of the government for this. There is no love lost on the French these days in Vanuatu.

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Ratua Island

We are still anchored off Ratua Resort with its $450 per night accommodations in a remote unspoiled location. We eat lunch there usually in order to give them business.
When we arrived the first thing Barry did was go to the resort and ask about the tradional archery that they advertise. No can see, broken. That's OK, we want to see broken archery. Resort person says we can't do archery because it is broken. Barry's grampa genes kick in and he says he absolutely has to see this archery because his grandson is interested in archery. So finally they send the archery guy, Claude, to take us to see the broken archery. He carefully explains that we can't use the archery because it is broken and there are no arrows. This goes on until he caves under Barry's commitment as a grandfather and he shows us the broken bow. We show great interest and encourage him. He explains that he knows how to make bows and arrows because his grandfather taught him. Barry says grandfathers are good for that. Claude describes the whole bow making process, from the cutting of mangrove, to wrapping it in leaves and soaking it, to putting it in the fire. He uses banyan air root for the string. He takes us to see the target which he also made from a cross section of a palm trunk. He said that they had a big group of French visitors at the resort using the archery and one big fat French man broke the bow. He ended up giving us a tour of the facility and part of the island. We gave him 2000 vatu and invited him and his wife, Leoni, a waitress at the resort, aboard for a visit. They were wonderful and fun and I hope we meet them again when Vince's family arrives.
The water is super clean, there are many big turtles, the snorkeling is outstanding. Barry cleaned the prop and we will both clean the bottom tomorrow. Then back to Beachfront Resort to provision, laundry and prepare for Vince, Noelle, Boden and Colby.
As I write Barry is making helmets for Boden and Colby from a coconut. He observed how to do this at the custom village. (A custom (kastom in Bislama) village is a village that keeps the old customs of the ancestor people.)

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Ambryn volcanos

Just passing Ambryn Island with 2 erupting volcanos. All 4 of us very excited! No dugong seen at Lamen Bay but lots of huge turtles.

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S s&s

Sheryl got here safe and sound. We are VERY happy!!

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in Port Vila

June 1, Sat afternoon This is the urban center of Vanuatu. They have laundry here!! I'm so so so happy! Went to a hotel for a beautiful fat filled breakfast to eat with my Malarone. Well, the eggs and tablespoon of ham has fat. Yes, the way to keep the anti-malaria drug from making me feel yucky is to take once a day with a fat meal. The beautiful part of the breakfast was the piles of fresh local fruit.
Our friends' boat broke the mooring line in the night - scary. It went adrift and got tangled up with some other boats and no serious damage was done. We went to bed at 7 pm after sailing 24 hours including all night and we slept through the whole affair.
I think Barry is SO SO smart!! He can fix everything - engines, water tanks, wifi antenna, tow generator, alternators, regulators, on and on.
He went off in the dinghy to dump trash and get more $ out of the ATM and brought back lunch from the local outside marketplace. Leaves, potatoes, manioc, and yams all with a smoky flavor and wrapped in a banana leaf. Barry calls it a leaf lunch - you know, bag lunch/leaf lunch. And it was a bargain because he got it without the chicken wing. He says the chicken feet go to China, the turkey tails go to Tonga and apparently the chicken wings come to Vanuatu. I think Americans just eat skinless chicken breasts. Do you remember when we were in Tonga and the meat market only had lamb flaps (don't ask me), turkey tails and lard? And we were in China with Leo and had chicken feet?
The money here says "Ripablik Blong Vanuatu" and "Long God yumi stanap". I'm not sure about what long means here.

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Volcanos and Visiting

May 29
We went with Tom to kastom village to see kastom dancing and singing. From here to there he kept up a steady flow of information about life on Tanna. Again we picked up and dropped off local people as we went along. Two of the passengers he said were going to nakamal, a kind of town meeting. The nakamal was to solve a problem. What problem? A man and his wife and the neighbor are having a problem and the chief and certain other people (I don't know how they are chosen) get together with the parties and work it out. If the offender doesn't do as decided then off he goes to the police and if he still doesn't comply, it's off to prison. I've never seen or heard of a prison here so the system must work before it gets to that point. Nakamals are an essential part of life here. As I said, it is pitch black after 6 pm. At that time everyone gathers at a clearing with log benches and some plank shelves and that site is also called nakamal. So at nakamal local news is spread, problems solved, kava drunk (men only), produce traded and toktok, all around a fire ring of glowing embers.

Two more men we picked up are football (soccer) players, as is Tom. No kava drinking for them during the season. They are champions in Vanuatu.

The niVans are very industrious and their villages are very clean and tidy. When we pass through a village everyone is raking leaves, putting away, building, repairing, cooking, washing or gardening. We pass many groups of 2 or 3 people harvesting yams, manioc/cassava/tapioca, pawpaw (papaya), banana, island cabbage (kind of like spinach) and fruits and nuts I never saw before. Tom asked them for a sample and gave to us to try - all good. He said on Tanna (no other island) if you pass through a person's garden you can eat whatever you find. At the end, if you see the owner of the garden you tell him what you ate and he says OK no problem. If you don't see the owner then don't tell him. On other islands anywhere this is tabu. There are many huge banyan trees which seem to be a source of pride. He pointed out sandalwood saplings planted in groves which he said are owned by people from India he thinks. He thinks maybe they make sandals from the wood; he's not sure. The sandalwood trees strip the soil of nutrients and then their local crops do not give much fruit he says.

We pass Larry's bungalow. Larry was a Peace Corps person and he did good projects for the niVans. After Larry came Sandra. They stay for 3 years, then leave. Does he like the Peace Corps? Very good; he loves them. Very good. Whenever we ask a question, the niVans spend a few seconds thinking before they answer. Can you imagine - thinking before you speak? And speaking quietly? What lovely people.

We took lots of pictures and videos and when we get to internet we will send. Maybe. If it's fast enough. Or we may make a flash drive and give to Sheryl and she can post when she gets home.

We told Tom we would like some island cabbage. He said come to his house and he would cook some and his wife, Annie, would crack a coconut, he would grate and she would squeeze to make milk. Then we would have milked island cabbage to eat. So at six o'clock we went ashore in the dinghy, found his house in the total darkness, had a delicious dinner of all local foods - pawpaw, manioc, bananas, milked cabbage/spinach, and unmilked cabbage/spinach. They kept apologizing for no meat. They were happy when we said we didn't eat meat. They eat meat sometimes but not once a day and not once a week - just sometimes. Tom explained how his grandfather lived to be more than 100 years old and only ate uncooked local produce. They woke up and brought to us to show off their 5 month old son, Chris. He was very unhappy about the flash camera but mama nursed him and he went peacefully back to sleep. After dinner we all went to the John Frum Wednesday night service which was very pleasant singing, guitar playing and hand clapping. As we walked back to Rubber Ducky (the dinghy) we had to be careful to not stumble over someone sitting there in the night, unseen in the darkness. We could not have spent a more heavenly night out.

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