We got down to Aneityum on Saturday and were in awe at the view coming in. Aneityum doesn't have its own air strip, so instead, you land on Mystery Island (a small island off the coast) and boat over to the big land. These pictures do small justice, but Mystery Island is surrounded by a huge living reef which makes for fantastic snorkeling! We were immediately hit with waves of white - white tourists, that is. Cruise ship day! Because of Mystery Island, Aneityum is a popular destination for cruise ships. I won't go into the pros and cons of cruise ship and tourist impact on a small developing country (let alone, a remote island within this country) but it was definitely an experience to observe the flood of white man in this tiny space. The mamas from Aneityum will come over and sell their goodies - beautiful handmade gifts and sadly far too much foreign made souvenirs. Plenty of Australian tots leave Mystery with cornrows and sunburns while the adults throw ridiculous money at all the wrong trinkets but! Mama financial independence is something that cannot be put down as long as its managed well - something that the three Aneityum vols are trying to help out with.
Jen's mama dressed us with kastom leaves and gave us fresh lobster for lunch. We swam and eventually headed back to the main land to settle in at Jen's place. We had a great night and went to bed early to prepare for the hike to Umej!
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| hello reef! |
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| landing strip |
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| draped in kastom peace leaves |
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| lobsta snacks with jen and laura |
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| white sand, white tourists |
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| jen and mama faena |
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| aneityum, view from mystery |
On Sunday we began our trek to Umej, Vanuatu's southernmost village and Brittany's home. The hike takes about 3 hours and winds you around the coast of Aneityum. The sun was extra hot which, we were told, beats the muddy, slippery rain. We walked along rocky, coral, and white sand beaches and climbed hills that provided breathtaking views. We filled up our water bottles at a fresh spring and enjoyed plenty of shady breaks. One funny thing about Aneityum is that it's covered in pine trees, originally planted to protect the sandalwood and coconut tree plantations. The paths are scattered with pine cones and needles and some of the views looked like a good ol American trail, minus the tropical reminders.
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| path to umej |
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| tree fort city! |
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| umej village |
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| crossing river ivanjamp |
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| i spy |
Before we crossed the river into Umej, we stopped at this tree fort house and its inhabitants invited us in for a bite to eat. They served us a treat Jen, Laura, and I had never tasted before! This is surprising because most local foods in Vanuatu are cooked pretty much the same, so something fresh is always welcomed onto the pallets. The dish in front of us was a pawpaw stuffed with coconut milk, cooked in an earth oven. It was like a jumbo papaya eclair! It was delicious and the papa explained to us how to make it, definitely a treat I'm bringing back to Ambae for the fam.
After a tasty explosion in our mouths, we headed to the river Ivanjamp, which feeds into the ocean and is the entrance to Umej. We crossed it, swam for a bit, and headed into the village. We were greeted by Brittany's wonderful family and immediately felt at home. We settled in and joined the community in some games of volleyball while the sun set. They held a welcome ceremony for us and we drank some kava. Umej is ples blo kava (place where they drink a lot of kava) so it was fun sharing this tradition with them. Nowadays most places in Vanuatu use a mincer to grind kava, but every island has its traditional preparation methods. On Ambae they grind it with a special stone and on Aneityum they chew it. During training I tried chewing it with my host family and it was just as difficult as it sounds - if you know the taste of kava, it's unlikely that you want it permeating your mouth while you grind it down with your teeth! Of course I'm only speaking for myself and maybe others who haven't grown up with this kastom. Because in Umej they love chewing it. And Brittany has taken on fasen blo Umej because she's right there with them on that one!
The next day we lazily woke up and Jen headed back to anaculut to get her life back in order after being away so long. Laura, Brittany, and I jumped into the Ivanjamp and spent most the day swimming and relaxing. When afternoon rolled around we joined her auntie for our own kava-chewing experience.
I haven't mentioned yet that Brittany totally thrives in Umej. She's their first peace corps volunteer and they adore her. She's a perfect fit for this remote village because she's such a laid back chick. And more importantly, she's a tank blo kava. That girl can drink! And she loves chewing it, too. A perfect match for the Umej community.
So we went down to the river and began chewing the kava. Your mouth floods with saliva but they insist that you not swallow, unless you want an unhappy bel. So Laura and I attempt to be useful, but it was short lived! We spit out our small contributions and ate some wash em out fried fish while our numb mouths thanked us for aborting the mission.
Eventually they squeezed out the chewed kava and we all took a shell. This specific kava, locally called glisan, is extremely strong. Kava is usually pretty thin, but drinking this was like chugging whole milk. I immediately yacked after shell 1, which has never happened before! Too thick! I tried a shell 2 and 3 later on, but was 3 for 3 on throwing up. An impressive record indeed. I think I took one gulp of the third shell before it returned to the ground where it came from. Laura was in the same boat! While Brittany was chewing and drinking all night...
We danced for a while and went back to her aunties house to cook some fish (Jen left us with her Old Bay, so we spiced it up a bit!) and danced summor. These people were machines! Totally kava drunk and shaking their booties all night! Laura and I paid our Umej dues by dancing past exhaustion, but at one point my eyes were closed and I was just swaying back and forth, trying not to pass out. Apparently this is a common occurrence, another reason why Brittany the night owl is absolutely at home in this vibrant village.
We finally went to sleep and woke up late. I went on a beach walk and we eventually began the journey back to anaculhat. Quite a long hike back! We arrived just in time to beat the rain and were greeted with more shells of kava. Good grief! So we drank in Jen's kitchen with her mama neighbors and passed out early.
The rest of the trip was great! I spent one whole day sneezing and sick, but really unsure of the cause. We spent some time at Charlotte's site and she took us on a hike through the pine forest. There's a big pine tree preservation project on Aneityum and the whole place is covered in them! It was definitely a funny change of scenery from the overgrown jungle oasis sweet home Ambae. Other than that, we hung out, sewed up some dresses with Jen's mama and taught her how to make hemp bracelets to sell at her stall. At our last kakae with the family, her mama gave us an Aneityum style basket and matching skirts, so those were a mustwear for the flight to Tanna! We ate a delicious meal of local food and fresh blue fish. Laura and I were lucky to have Jen's mama and papa look out for us and make our trip down to Aneityum extra special. On Saturday we returned to Mystery Island and hopped on a flight to Tanna!
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| jen's digs |
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| charlotte's mama's shell polishing station |
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| charlotte's home |
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| couscous, the best island pup ever |
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| adios aneityum! the matching chicks are off to tanna land |
Tanna was a great adventure. We stayed with our best buddy Dave in Lokotai. Lots of laughs and delicious meals in his little rat home. We painted a map of Tanna on his school and had plans of holding a Camp GLOW/BILD with his community at the end of the week. The rain tried to spoil our time, but it only half worked. The Peace Corps had us down on standfast (stay where you're at!) because of the tropical depression sliding past our neck of the woods, but luckily that didn't stop us from getting back to Vila in time for my flight home! It almost did though... canceled flights, worsening storms, flooded roads, etc. While we got drenched in the back of a truck on the way to the airport, all Laura and I could do was laugh at the ways of the universe. The bumps in the road were already there, but now add all the other elements and you've got some flavor in your day! Air Vanuatu put us up in a fancy shmancy resort for the night and we got food vouchers, so really no complaints from this end. A wonderfully bizarre trip I'll never forget! Happy to have started this new year with good company and bumpy, flooded roads! Here are the only shots I got of Dave's place:
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| the entrance to dave's |
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| davey! |
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| laura with her thrilled face on |
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| poo brain wall art |
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| other fancy wall decor |
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| really showcasing his decoration abilities |
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| typical vanuatu carry on |
