Thursday, September 2, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Holiday to Tanna
Almost as soon as term 1 finished I was straight on the plane to Vila. My Dad and step Mum were arriving from Brisbane and I was going to meet them. Port Vila is a nice town but it could be any town, in any country in the world. There is nothing special about it. We were just using is as a base to see other island and it is where international flights land. Planes do not fly to Pentecost every day. So after a day or so in Vila we flew to my island. This wasn't a holiday for me. I just tried to show off my school and local villages to my family to try and give them an idea of where I live and work. They stayed at the guest house in the local village of Waterfall. There host, Silas, is the former principal at the school. I knew they would be looked after fantastically well, as all of Silas' guests are. Unfortunately they didn't get to see any land-diving due to the timing of their visit. I gave them tours of the Waterfall, from which the village is named, the school and the next village Melsisi. Unfortunately my Step-Mum had a bad reaction to her antimalarial tablets which hopefully didn't ruin it too much for her. They also got to see one of the cargo ships land on the beach and the chaos of loading and unloading people and cargo tat ensues. After these few days we back on the plane to Vila for an overnight stop before going to Tanna.
Despite being organiser, translator and guide I tried to enjoy Tanna as much as I could. After all it was also my first visit. We stayed at a perfectly nice guest house on the west for the first night and during the day wandered down the beach as long as we could before cutting threw the bush to the road and continuing on into town. Lenekal (black man town) is one of only 4 towns in Vanuatu with 24 hour electricity and was all done by ni-vans. That said there is not much to see. It was full of the same type of stores as in Vila or Santo but instead of having a Asian behind counter they were all run by Ni-Vans, which I guess is something. On the second day after going to visit the market, we were supposed to be picked up by truck and taken over to our bungalow on the east. I got a call to say that the truck had picked people up from the airport and was full. But we could stand on the back, in the rain, for 90mins if we wanted. We didn't. So we didn't go that night. This was a shame as we missed the chance to see the John Frum movement. The next morning the truck did come and took us to the east. When we arrived the bungalows told us they were full! Why did you send the truck then! or mention this on the phone! Anyway, we moved to another bungalows very close to the volcano. S o close you could hear(and feel) it rubble every few minutes. I thought it was cool. The best time to see the Volcano is just before dark and watch until it goes dark. We got settled and then got a truck to the Volcano car park. A short walk from here is the viewing platform. We got a good show! A few people who were watching for their second or third night said this was the best they had seen. So it seems we had some luck at last. We were at the top for a good 2 hours before we went down for dinner. Followed by some singing from local children. The next day we went Hot spring in the morning. This is the beach next to the John Frum village. It is a black sand beach which has a hot river feeding it. The river itself wasn't too great in my opinion. So we had a wander down the beach, we had a few surprises waiting for us. Due to the volcano at various random point the sand/ash got really HOT. So much so that the water could be seen steaming on it. So we providing lots of amusement for the local as we occasionally had to run up the beach away from heat now and again. It made for an interesting walk. After that is back to the airport and off to Vila. the plane did a loop of the Volcano on the way back and you could just about see into the crater which was really cool. Back in Vila there wasn't much to do apart from say our good-byes and have dinner.
The next day my parents left for Australia and I was left to enjoy the delights of Vila. It was good to see them and I hope they had a good time. I know I did.
Despite being organiser, translator and guide I tried to enjoy Tanna as much as I could. After all it was also my first visit. We stayed at a perfectly nice guest house on the west for the first night and during the day wandered down the beach as long as we could before cutting threw the bush to the road and continuing on into town. Lenekal (black man town) is one of only 4 towns in Vanuatu with 24 hour electricity and was all done by ni-vans. That said there is not much to see. It was full of the same type of stores as in Vila or Santo but instead of having a Asian behind counter they were all run by Ni-Vans, which I guess is something. On the second day after going to visit the market, we were supposed to be picked up by truck and taken over to our bungalow on the east. I got a call to say that the truck had picked people up from the airport and was full. But we could stand on the back, in the rain, for 90mins if we wanted. We didn't. So we didn't go that night. This was a shame as we missed the chance to see the John Frum movement. The next morning the truck did come and took us to the east. When we arrived the bungalows told us they were full! Why did you send the truck then! or mention this on the phone! Anyway, we moved to another bungalows very close to the volcano. S o close you could hear(and feel) it rubble every few minutes. I thought it was cool. The best time to see the Volcano is just before dark and watch until it goes dark. We got settled and then got a truck to the Volcano car park. A short walk from here is the viewing platform. We got a good show! A few people who were watching for their second or third night said this was the best they had seen. So it seems we had some luck at last. We were at the top for a good 2 hours before we went down for dinner. Followed by some singing from local children. The next day we went Hot spring in the morning. This is the beach next to the John Frum village. It is a black sand beach which has a hot river feeding it. The river itself wasn't too great in my opinion. So we had a wander down the beach, we had a few surprises waiting for us. Due to the volcano at various random point the sand/ash got really HOT. So much so that the water could be seen steaming on it. So we providing lots of amusement for the local as we occasionally had to run up the beach away from heat now and again. It made for an interesting walk. After that is back to the airport and off to Vila. the plane did a loop of the Volcano on the way back and you could just about see into the crater which was really cool. Back in Vila there wasn't much to do apart from say our good-byes and have dinner.
The next day my parents left for Australia and I was left to enjoy the delights of Vila. It was good to see them and I hope they had a good time. I know I did.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
End of term 1
Its been a while hasn't it. I am now four months in to my year in Vanuatu. It seems to have flown by. Mainly because I am having a great time! I will try to write down my feeling about the last four month, although it will not be easy.
After a difficult start to life here, with the term starting late and the expected culture differences (shock, i think, is a little strong),things have really been going well of late. Work is good and I live with good people. What more could I ask for. I think not having TV, internet, contact with friends and family etc is easier when it is all taken away. I always feel worse just after talking to my family or finding out a football result. It is the brief snippets of life away from Pentecost that make it most difficult. It may difficult to believe but being here everything else doesn't matter. Don't get me wrong if I don't get to watch the world cup (looks about 50-50 at the moment) it will be difficult, because I know it is going on and will get updates on the world service. You don't yearn for what you don't know is happening, if you don't know about it you don't miss it. I take comfort in the fact I don't yearn for too much information and news, this tells me and I am happy with where I am and who I am with. However feeling bad after hearing news is, in a slightly masochistic way, is quite nice. I can't deny that I miss people, and things, despite any contentment I feel with my present situation.
I am a creature of habit and routine. I think that's why I took to rowing with such relish. Once I got into a routine with my lesson planning, teaching, exploring and adventure I was set. I have almost total job security. I don't have money worries. I have no mortgage or rent to pay. My commute takes the best part of a minute and best of all the same is true for my colleagues (which means I don't have to listen to them moan about it to me).
Initially I had no computers, which makes teaching computing hard. I don't actually teach Maths anymore, i teach Physics now. Although given how much the timetable has changed already this term, and the upcoming changes in staff, I may teach more Maths before the year is out. I think I have started to hit my stride as a teacher. Which is good for me and also for my students!
Despite the ni-van influence I am still early for everything, maybe 7 more months here will change that. Although hopefully I will still turn up for lesson, at all and on time! Which is more than can be said for some of my colleagues. On a similar note I also hope I won't leave for three weeks in the middle of term for holiday and not tell anyone when I am coming back. The heat is not an issue anymore. It is hot, all the time, but as long as I don't run to melsisi (and I don't do this too much) it's ok. The one thing I have not taken to is laplap, for the majority who don't know what this is, I envy you! If it's hot and of the taro variety, fine; if not forget it!
The term was 12 weeks long, which is long let me tell you. In England you get half term breaks, not here. I was definitely ready for a holiday.
News on my holiday to come. My computer is having a paddy so the blog I had prepared before has been lost. Hence this is brief and hastily written in an internet cafe.
After a difficult start to life here, with the term starting late and the expected culture differences (shock, i think, is a little strong),things have really been going well of late. Work is good and I live with good people. What more could I ask for. I think not having TV, internet, contact with friends and family etc is easier when it is all taken away. I always feel worse just after talking to my family or finding out a football result. It is the brief snippets of life away from Pentecost that make it most difficult. It may difficult to believe but being here everything else doesn't matter. Don't get me wrong if I don't get to watch the world cup (looks about 50-50 at the moment) it will be difficult, because I know it is going on and will get updates on the world service. You don't yearn for what you don't know is happening, if you don't know about it you don't miss it. I take comfort in the fact I don't yearn for too much information and news, this tells me and I am happy with where I am and who I am with. However feeling bad after hearing news is, in a slightly masochistic way, is quite nice. I can't deny that I miss people, and things, despite any contentment I feel with my present situation.
I am a creature of habit and routine. I think that's why I took to rowing with such relish. Once I got into a routine with my lesson planning, teaching, exploring and adventure I was set. I have almost total job security. I don't have money worries. I have no mortgage or rent to pay. My commute takes the best part of a minute and best of all the same is true for my colleagues (which means I don't have to listen to them moan about it to me).
Initially I had no computers, which makes teaching computing hard. I don't actually teach Maths anymore, i teach Physics now. Although given how much the timetable has changed already this term, and the upcoming changes in staff, I may teach more Maths before the year is out. I think I have started to hit my stride as a teacher. Which is good for me and also for my students!
Despite the ni-van influence I am still early for everything, maybe 7 more months here will change that. Although hopefully I will still turn up for lesson, at all and on time! Which is more than can be said for some of my colleagues. On a similar note I also hope I won't leave for three weeks in the middle of term for holiday and not tell anyone when I am coming back. The heat is not an issue anymore. It is hot, all the time, but as long as I don't run to melsisi (and I don't do this too much) it's ok. The one thing I have not taken to is laplap, for the majority who don't know what this is, I envy you! If it's hot and of the taro variety, fine; if not forget it!
The term was 12 weeks long, which is long let me tell you. In England you get half term breaks, not here. I was definitely ready for a holiday.
News on my holiday to come. My computer is having a paddy so the blog I had prepared before has been lost. Hence this is brief and hastily written in an internet cafe.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Back to Pentecost
In a few hours I leave for Pentecost again. From which point I will no longer have internet access and my blog posts will stop until may. This week in Santo has been really fun I have visited almost all of santo best beaches and saw amazing coral and fishes, I have met millionaires and rode on speed boats and I have also enjoy the last bits of western food I will get for three months. Unfortunately I have not left myself enough time to detail this week in full. I suppose that shows how much I have been doing and also that I spent this morning watching the super bowl. Dave, if you read this, sorry about the colts hope red bull have a better season. I also managed to watch the Australian open final and was odly disappointed to see murray lose in the end despite being a big federer fan. As you can probably tell I have not done much island stuff this week so can't expand on what I have learned about vanuatu and its culture. Although I meet a man who has four wives and 32 children. I am looking forward to getting back to the school and begining the job that I came out here for. I have been endulging with frequent internet use and western meals and going back to Pentecost might be harder than when I went the first time. Hoefully the arrival the students will distract me from any problems I have adjusting or missing home until I no longer have them. Wish me well and I hope everyone in England is well. To those from Agecroft I will be checking the HORR results when I get back to vila, impress me. By the time I go back to vila the premiership season wil be over (almost) and maybe city have made the top four, we will see. Please feel free to update me on sports results and major news it will be much appreciated, text +6785627580 and my skype name is thomasabuckley (although this is for when I am in Vila)
Speak to you all again soon.
Speak to you all again soon.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Few quick photos
Just a few quick photos of my house at Ranwadi and one from Champagne beach on Santo. Santo post this weekend, probably.
First week at Ranwadi and getting to Santo
Good morning from Espirito Santo.
My last blog post was a good few weeks ago and quite a lot has happened since then so I have lots to fill you in on.
One of many small hurdles to over come recently was the issue of the domestic weight limit. Air Vanuatu only lets you check in 10kg of free luggage. My international flight let me have 30kg and I know some of the other guys had this and still had to pay excess baggage. So we were quite worried about a huge charge. We had been told it would be fine if we just explained what we were doing. Despite this we came up with various plans and methods of deceiving the staff at check-in. This included getting one of our ex-pat friends to write up a script in bislama explaining what we are doing and how ‘poor’ we all are. As is usually the case with these things it was not that bad at all. The guy at the desk gave us an extra 5kg each and gave us a reduced charge per kilo of excess, so we only paid about £15 each. Which considering we were each carrying about three times the allowed limit is not too bad at all. Particularly for James, whose check-in and hand luggage combined were about 60kg in total. It was quite a novel experience to be weighted myself along with my hand luggage. The plane we went on was a little small and a bit noisy but I guess it could have been worse. I was disappointed that they have put tarmac on the runway on Pentecost, I was looking forward to a grass landing but you can’t have it all.
We were met by the principal of Melsisi college, Eric, who seemed like a nice man although he doesn’t speak English so I have no idea really. I am the only one in the group who doesn’t understand French. The two girls at melsisi obviously can speak it very well, James’s grandparents live in France so he is also able to understand a good amount and have conversations in French. I haven’t heard Katie and Rhiannon talk much French but they seem to understand a lot of what is said.
We all loaded on to the back of Eric’s pickup and set off for Ranwadi. The ‘road’ that runs along the west coast of Pentecost is northing more than a dirty track. In some places it is quite good, but these places are few and far between. Speeds never exceed more than 10 or 15 km/h. After a very bumpy thirty-minute drive, having forded a few rivers along the way, we reached Ranwadi. Due to what I except will be come a typical break down in communication no message had been passed on to Silas Tabi, the principal of Ranwadi, regarding our arrival and as such he was a little surprised to see us.
We were shown to our homes for the next 12 months and we all a little taken aback. I had been expecting basic accommodation, which is exactly what it is, but I was still left slightly speechless. That is not to the say that the house is unliveable, far from it, I think the reality of the situation and the year ahead hit home at that point. James and I are living together in a nice little bungalow with two good sized bedrooms, a lounge/living area, good sized kitchen and a bathroom with a shower. We have a concrete floor but the rest of the house is made from mdf boards so it should stay quite cool but because we have mosquito netting on the windows, which we are grateful for, the air doesn’t circulate very well and it can become quite sticky inside. The whole place was a mess when we got there. The animal life in the jungle had started to take over again, which I think will be a constant battle through out the year, and there was also quite a lot of rubbish in the house too. I took us about two days to get the house to a position where we are reasonably happy living in it and I’m sure we will do more as time goes by. We have a camping stove of sorts to cook on, there is an oven but it is broken. Apparently the water out the tap, which comes from a well, is drinkable but it just tastes horrible. For this reason we have a rainwater tank behind the house which we use for drinking water. The school site consists of a number of dorms where the children stay, canteen, church, offices, library, staff houses and classrooms. While the staff houses are wooden then majority of the school building are concrete but just as basic.
I spent the next week just adjusting to life on Pentecost and exploring the school, particularly the computing room. I have seven computer in my room but five of them don’t work so my first job was to get them sent to Vila to be fixed, hopefully for the start of the term but I doubt they will be back by then.
There has been nothing to do at the school really. When the kids are not there everything shuts down, not that there is much going on anyway. Apart from the principal there were only two teachers there and in the few days we were there they both left to go back to their island for a bit until term starts. We spent some time visiting the other girls at Melsisi and going down to Waterfall, the local village. The old principal Silas Buli lives in Waterfall and he showed us round and introduced us to his family and took us the nakamal (where kava is drunk). He also fed us a few times and officially welcomed us to the village. He introduced us to the church and also in the nakamal, in ni-vanuatu culture to offer someone kava is to offer friendship. Although I was not overly thrilled about drinking kava, I usually abstain from alcohol, I realised if I was ever to be accepted by people it would be necessary to drink, at least at first. The best way I can describe the taste of kava is pepper water, sorry that should be described as dirty pepper water. It is served in a coconut shell and although you don’t have to it is usually downed. Thankfully this makes it easier to drink as you don’t have to taste it and ideally you try to not let it touch your lips. The immediate effect is to make your mouth and tongue numb. Drinking kava is usually followed by some food. This is a good idea. The effect on the rest of the body is noticeable after about 20 mins, depending on how many shells you have. Kava is narcotic and acts as a muscle relaxant. You generally feel quite relaxed, your eyes and limbs feel heavy, and your eyes become sensitive to light and your ears to noise. If you don’t over do it it is actually quite a nice feeling, although we have been warned that if we want to come and drink a few shells we should arrange to sleep in the guesthouse at waterfall, as we won’t be able to walk home!
The consensus was that while exploring Pentecost would be very nice it would be very difficult and potentially troublesome until our bislama is a little better. So we decided to head for Santo instead. Luganvile on Santo is the second city of Vanuatu, while Santo is the biggest island. Initially we thought there was going to be a boat going to Santo in a few days but the schedule has changed and we would have to wait a week to 10 days. Life on Pentecost was little dull but we soon got into a routine. James and I would get up go over the girls for breakfast, always breakfast crackers. We would busy our selves for the morning; I would usually play on the computers seeing what Simon had left me interspersed by minesweeper or FreeCell. I did have some vague ideas about making lessons plans and I did start a scheme of work but nothing too serious. Then back to the girls for lunch. In the afternoon I would maybe read a book or carry on with what ever I was doing in the morning. I could go on but it was not very interesting to do so I doubt it will be interesting to read about.
All in all we were all pretty keen to leave Pentecost and get away for a bit until term starts. We all got packed up on Tuesday and waited for the boat which we were told would be coming in the late afternoon to early evening. We went down to the beach to meet it and only then did the principal tell us that we needed to buy tickets in advance! He said he would talk to captain and see if we could get around it. We couldn’t. The mood was somewhat deflated and we didn’t really know what to do next. The next morning at breakfast we were still a little stunned and wondering how we where going to get to Santo if at all. I was just looking out into the distance and happened to see a boat on the horizon, when the principal told us it was going to Santo we quickly grabbed our bags, still packed from the night before, and ran for the boat. We had to take a small speedboat out to get to it and climbed aboard. Tourists or westerners do not normally visit these cargo boats so we got a few funny looks when we hopped aboard. There were a good number of ni-van as passengers and fair few crew too but the majority of the ship was set aside for cargo. Only once we got on board, on Wednesday morning, were we told we weren’t due into Luganville until Friday morning! Conditions on board are what you would expect really, there was a bench running around the bridge where you could sit during the day (and sleep during the night), food was provided three times a day. Breakfast crackers and tea (black of course) in the morning and the same rice, noodles and tuna meal the other two times. The boat took so long because it stopped at every village on route. Apparently all you need to do at night is light a fire on the beach and the boat will stop. After covering the rest of north Pentecost we then went up the west coast of Maewo and then across via Ambae to Santo. During the day I didn’t find it too bad, there were lots of nice things to see and it was always interesting to see what was unloaded and loaded at the stops; be it just cement and barrels or people with their furniture and bedding to livestock and rain water tanks. Sleeping was a different matter though; floor space became a premium as it got dark, the sides of the boat where a little low so there was always a concern that you might roll off in the night, therefore positioning was crucial. I found it difficult to get any proper sleep but got a good number of hours both nights. I even tried sleeping on the roof of the bridge on the second night as it was empty and reasonably safe but the rain put an end to that idea. I saw so many wonderful things on the boat it made it so worthwhile and made up for any bad sleeping conditions. During the crossing from Pentecost to Maewo we had a small pod of dolphins swim along side for a few minutes, this was certainly a high light. Just getting to experience what life for the vast majority of ni-van was a priceless experience. Less than 50% of ni-vans go to high school, a lot because they can’t afford it, even though it only cost £100 a term. The plane from Vila to Pentecost cost £75, the islands most the children come from will not have direct flight to Pentecost and would have to go through Vila, therefore most of the children at Ranwadi will have got there by boat. By chatting to fellow passenger and seeing many villages and many islands I feel I have a better understanding of ni-van culture and the ni-vans themselves than I ever could have got from an hour flight.
Now I am here in Santo and I plan to enjoy it. I wasn’t as bored in Ranwadi as some people and I found the food much more palatable than others. That being said I will be glad to have some western style food and be able to eat something that hasn’t come straight from a can. Will try and give an update of what I got up to in Santo before I go to Pentecost on the 08/02.
My last blog post was a good few weeks ago and quite a lot has happened since then so I have lots to fill you in on.
One of many small hurdles to over come recently was the issue of the domestic weight limit. Air Vanuatu only lets you check in 10kg of free luggage. My international flight let me have 30kg and I know some of the other guys had this and still had to pay excess baggage. So we were quite worried about a huge charge. We had been told it would be fine if we just explained what we were doing. Despite this we came up with various plans and methods of deceiving the staff at check-in. This included getting one of our ex-pat friends to write up a script in bislama explaining what we are doing and how ‘poor’ we all are. As is usually the case with these things it was not that bad at all. The guy at the desk gave us an extra 5kg each and gave us a reduced charge per kilo of excess, so we only paid about £15 each. Which considering we were each carrying about three times the allowed limit is not too bad at all. Particularly for James, whose check-in and hand luggage combined were about 60kg in total. It was quite a novel experience to be weighted myself along with my hand luggage. The plane we went on was a little small and a bit noisy but I guess it could have been worse. I was disappointed that they have put tarmac on the runway on Pentecost, I was looking forward to a grass landing but you can’t have it all.
We were met by the principal of Melsisi college, Eric, who seemed like a nice man although he doesn’t speak English so I have no idea really. I am the only one in the group who doesn’t understand French. The two girls at melsisi obviously can speak it very well, James’s grandparents live in France so he is also able to understand a good amount and have conversations in French. I haven’t heard Katie and Rhiannon talk much French but they seem to understand a lot of what is said.
We all loaded on to the back of Eric’s pickup and set off for Ranwadi. The ‘road’ that runs along the west coast of Pentecost is northing more than a dirty track. In some places it is quite good, but these places are few and far between. Speeds never exceed more than 10 or 15 km/h. After a very bumpy thirty-minute drive, having forded a few rivers along the way, we reached Ranwadi. Due to what I except will be come a typical break down in communication no message had been passed on to Silas Tabi, the principal of Ranwadi, regarding our arrival and as such he was a little surprised to see us.
We were shown to our homes for the next 12 months and we all a little taken aback. I had been expecting basic accommodation, which is exactly what it is, but I was still left slightly speechless. That is not to the say that the house is unliveable, far from it, I think the reality of the situation and the year ahead hit home at that point. James and I are living together in a nice little bungalow with two good sized bedrooms, a lounge/living area, good sized kitchen and a bathroom with a shower. We have a concrete floor but the rest of the house is made from mdf boards so it should stay quite cool but because we have mosquito netting on the windows, which we are grateful for, the air doesn’t circulate very well and it can become quite sticky inside. The whole place was a mess when we got there. The animal life in the jungle had started to take over again, which I think will be a constant battle through out the year, and there was also quite a lot of rubbish in the house too. I took us about two days to get the house to a position where we are reasonably happy living in it and I’m sure we will do more as time goes by. We have a camping stove of sorts to cook on, there is an oven but it is broken. Apparently the water out the tap, which comes from a well, is drinkable but it just tastes horrible. For this reason we have a rainwater tank behind the house which we use for drinking water. The school site consists of a number of dorms where the children stay, canteen, church, offices, library, staff houses and classrooms. While the staff houses are wooden then majority of the school building are concrete but just as basic.
I spent the next week just adjusting to life on Pentecost and exploring the school, particularly the computing room. I have seven computer in my room but five of them don’t work so my first job was to get them sent to Vila to be fixed, hopefully for the start of the term but I doubt they will be back by then.
There has been nothing to do at the school really. When the kids are not there everything shuts down, not that there is much going on anyway. Apart from the principal there were only two teachers there and in the few days we were there they both left to go back to their island for a bit until term starts. We spent some time visiting the other girls at Melsisi and going down to Waterfall, the local village. The old principal Silas Buli lives in Waterfall and he showed us round and introduced us to his family and took us the nakamal (where kava is drunk). He also fed us a few times and officially welcomed us to the village. He introduced us to the church and also in the nakamal, in ni-vanuatu culture to offer someone kava is to offer friendship. Although I was not overly thrilled about drinking kava, I usually abstain from alcohol, I realised if I was ever to be accepted by people it would be necessary to drink, at least at first. The best way I can describe the taste of kava is pepper water, sorry that should be described as dirty pepper water. It is served in a coconut shell and although you don’t have to it is usually downed. Thankfully this makes it easier to drink as you don’t have to taste it and ideally you try to not let it touch your lips. The immediate effect is to make your mouth and tongue numb. Drinking kava is usually followed by some food. This is a good idea. The effect on the rest of the body is noticeable after about 20 mins, depending on how many shells you have. Kava is narcotic and acts as a muscle relaxant. You generally feel quite relaxed, your eyes and limbs feel heavy, and your eyes become sensitive to light and your ears to noise. If you don’t over do it it is actually quite a nice feeling, although we have been warned that if we want to come and drink a few shells we should arrange to sleep in the guesthouse at waterfall, as we won’t be able to walk home!
The consensus was that while exploring Pentecost would be very nice it would be very difficult and potentially troublesome until our bislama is a little better. So we decided to head for Santo instead. Luganvile on Santo is the second city of Vanuatu, while Santo is the biggest island. Initially we thought there was going to be a boat going to Santo in a few days but the schedule has changed and we would have to wait a week to 10 days. Life on Pentecost was little dull but we soon got into a routine. James and I would get up go over the girls for breakfast, always breakfast crackers. We would busy our selves for the morning; I would usually play on the computers seeing what Simon had left me interspersed by minesweeper or FreeCell. I did have some vague ideas about making lessons plans and I did start a scheme of work but nothing too serious. Then back to the girls for lunch. In the afternoon I would maybe read a book or carry on with what ever I was doing in the morning. I could go on but it was not very interesting to do so I doubt it will be interesting to read about.
All in all we were all pretty keen to leave Pentecost and get away for a bit until term starts. We all got packed up on Tuesday and waited for the boat which we were told would be coming in the late afternoon to early evening. We went down to the beach to meet it and only then did the principal tell us that we needed to buy tickets in advance! He said he would talk to captain and see if we could get around it. We couldn’t. The mood was somewhat deflated and we didn’t really know what to do next. The next morning at breakfast we were still a little stunned and wondering how we where going to get to Santo if at all. I was just looking out into the distance and happened to see a boat on the horizon, when the principal told us it was going to Santo we quickly grabbed our bags, still packed from the night before, and ran for the boat. We had to take a small speedboat out to get to it and climbed aboard. Tourists or westerners do not normally visit these cargo boats so we got a few funny looks when we hopped aboard. There were a good number of ni-van as passengers and fair few crew too but the majority of the ship was set aside for cargo. Only once we got on board, on Wednesday morning, were we told we weren’t due into Luganville until Friday morning! Conditions on board are what you would expect really, there was a bench running around the bridge where you could sit during the day (and sleep during the night), food was provided three times a day. Breakfast crackers and tea (black of course) in the morning and the same rice, noodles and tuna meal the other two times. The boat took so long because it stopped at every village on route. Apparently all you need to do at night is light a fire on the beach and the boat will stop. After covering the rest of north Pentecost we then went up the west coast of Maewo and then across via Ambae to Santo. During the day I didn’t find it too bad, there were lots of nice things to see and it was always interesting to see what was unloaded and loaded at the stops; be it just cement and barrels or people with their furniture and bedding to livestock and rain water tanks. Sleeping was a different matter though; floor space became a premium as it got dark, the sides of the boat where a little low so there was always a concern that you might roll off in the night, therefore positioning was crucial. I found it difficult to get any proper sleep but got a good number of hours both nights. I even tried sleeping on the roof of the bridge on the second night as it was empty and reasonably safe but the rain put an end to that idea. I saw so many wonderful things on the boat it made it so worthwhile and made up for any bad sleeping conditions. During the crossing from Pentecost to Maewo we had a small pod of dolphins swim along side for a few minutes, this was certainly a high light. Just getting to experience what life for the vast majority of ni-van was a priceless experience. Less than 50% of ni-vans go to high school, a lot because they can’t afford it, even though it only cost £100 a term. The plane from Vila to Pentecost cost £75, the islands most the children come from will not have direct flight to Pentecost and would have to go through Vila, therefore most of the children at Ranwadi will have got there by boat. By chatting to fellow passenger and seeing many villages and many islands I feel I have a better understanding of ni-van culture and the ni-vans themselves than I ever could have got from an hour flight.
Now I am here in Santo and I plan to enjoy it. I wasn’t as bored in Ranwadi as some people and I found the food much more palatable than others. That being said I will be glad to have some western style food and be able to eat something that hasn’t come straight from a can. Will try and give an update of what I got up to in Santo before I go to Pentecost on the 08/02.
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