Vanuatu Village Life Cultural Demonstration

Once it was light out we could get a better look at the bungalows. The floor is covered in woven floor mates, the kind that we watched the lady make on Waya Island. The frame is large bamboo rods. The interior layers of walls are made up of thin bamboo stalks lashed together. The exterior layers of walls look to be similar to the woven mats on the floor. The roof is palm fronts with a relatively tall pitch. The roof extends over the porch. The roof fits snugly at the corners where the roof is lowest, but there is a big gap between wall and ceiling in the center of the little hut. This provides good air ventilation, and with the roof extending so far beyond front walls, no exposure to rain. We have seen this style of construction even in modern buildings all over the south pacific, particularly in the Marquesas. The beds have a mosquito netting over them that you can put down to protect yourself from bug bites. There is a small gas lamp at the bedside.

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The restrooms are separate buildings that are shared by a few of the rooms. There is a small stall with a toilet and a basin with soap and water. There is a second stall with a shower. If you are looking for first world luxuries, you probably wouldn’t like it too much. If you are looking for a unique experience in a picturesque setting, this is the place for you.

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Breakfast was at 07:00. They served Continue reading

Active Volcanoes and the John Frum Sing Along

Continuation from yesterday”¦.

“¦we could see the red sparks shooting up through a huge hole in the ground. The sparks landed on a ledge around the hole, glowing brightly. In the first photo you can see the edge of the peak we are standing, the ledge the molten rock lands on, and the hole the lava and smoke comes from. The second photo is dark, but gives you perspective on distance, although this is just the ambient lava flow, not one of the many big eruptions we will see later. Hopefully, you can get a sense that we are not standing all that much higher than the lava fallout ledge.

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From the scattered rocks around, it seems that once in a while they make it beyond the ledge up to where we were standing. What amazed us is Continue reading

Tour of Efate, Vanuatu Part 2

Continuation from yesterday”¦..

“¦We were completely surrounded by the villagers, each of us having several weapons pointed at our necks and chests.

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After a very long minute, the villagers spontaneously ran off down the road. We were told to have a seat on a bench. The villagers reappeared and danced several dances for us. The dances were different from anything we had seen before. Most of the group was in neat rows and danced in place, using their weapon as a prop. They all wore ankle bracelets of toasted nuts in the shell, which made a maracas-like rattling sound in time to the music as they moved their feet with the rhythm. There were a few lead dancers who danced all around and through the group mimicking animal movements. Each dance was for a particular animal. In this photo you can see the man mimicking a bird to the right. The music was rhythmical percussion instruments, with the dancers all singing along in a deep bass. The music was powerful.

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After the dancing we were led Continue reading

Checking into Port Vila, Vanuatu

We were up again at 07:00. The information we had downloaded said Yacht World would help us with the check in process, and they opened at 07:30. We got them on the radio a little before 08:00. They told us to sit tight and they would bring the quarantine officer to our boat around 09:30.

Port Vila bay has two small islands in the center of it. This is a scan from a postcard

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The quarantine anchorage is located Continue reading

Passage from Lautoka to Port Vila, Vanuatu

Much to our dismay, the customs guy contacted us yesterday afternoon to let us know he would be out of the office until 10:00. We needed to check out right at 08:00 if we were going to make it to Port Vila before dark on Monday. This really messed up our plans. Should we leave late in the afternoon and come in on Tuesday morning instead? We have a friend who was already in Port Vila waiting on us, and we hated to make him wait yet another day.

On the dock in Denaru we met another cruiser who was also going to go to Lautoka to check out at the same time we were. He said he would give us a dinghy ride in and out of customs. Without having to deal with the dinghy, we could well be on our way by 10:30. We decided  Continue reading