We must give you an introduction into some of the Vanuatu intricacies we have been told/read/learned about as they are much different than what we had experienced thus far throughout the pacific islands.
— History- the French and British fought over Vanuatu for hundreds of years and until very recent (1980 to be exact) Vanuatu became an independent country. With that said, there are still divided practices depending on if that village was dominated by either the French or the English…. Or even cults (look up the Cargo Cult…it’s is specific to Tanna Island).
— Bislama- is the national language which is a mix of English, French, and local tougne….it is similar to “pigeon talk” in Hawaii. There are 35 different languages spoken on Tanna Island alone. Many villages have their own local language so communicating with each other from different villages could be an issue but they all understand each other somehow. Most villagers speak their local tougnue rather than Bislama. But it is clear that most villages speak multiple languages: English, Bislama, sometimes French, and all the surrounding village languages they communicate with. These people are super intelligent…I can barely speak English!
— Hospitality- is a very sensitive and delicate social relationship with lots of rules….it’s like hospitability is like status/class to them: The more you give the higher rank you are. For us visiting other pacific countries, we are used to gifting small gifts when we see fit but here in Vanuatu….gifting is complicated! It’s best to keep the attitude and perspective that we are THEIR guests in their villages and gifting to just 1 person could be served with consequences . Trading is different…..as long as each party feels the exchange is equal. We have traded more here in a few days than all other countries combined! Pots, cooking utensils, T-shirts, coffee, milk, tinned cans of meats, rope/line, small gifts for children and wives. We are being very cautious of this particular culture, even though we pay cash for a tour of the village etc., we don’t just hand out stuff, we always accept what is being offered in return…which is hard for ME : )
— Money– is not “really” important to them…at least in the remote villages. They build their houses out of natural materials, there is usually a village garden so food is free. There is cell service but no electricity. Little solar panels are everywhere and there is generally 1 generator that is run for an hour or so in the evening for electricity. Money earned generally goes to a village fund to make purchases for the villagers as a whole or to help families send their children to secondary school in Port Vila.
— Kindness- is taught as part of the “Tanna” way. We were told by Tanna Island’s own director of cultural relations whom we met on the truckride back to the boat to Port Resolution as he caught a ride home. Literally “kindness” and acceptance is part of the upbringing of the children….we definitely experienced this!
The Village – After a good night’s rest, we woke up to another vessel coming into the bay. It was SV Tucan, a custom aluminum catamaran (hence the name…get it?).…we told them the scoop about clearing in: We needed advanced approval to make landfall and clear into the country at Port Resolution. The officials are on the other side of the Tanna island and have to drive hours on a dirt road to get to us to check in. Frank had spoken to Stanley at the yacht club and was told the officials couldn’t come to Port Resolution until the next day and that we were ok to go ashore. So that is what we did!
We took a tour of the village after obtaining permission from Stanley, the guy who “runs” the yacht club and we assumed was the chief of the village. We were kindly escorted to Stanley’s abode and met his beautiful daughters. He then walked us to the center of town and told us we could walk to the beach on the other side. On the way to the beach, following a dirt road, we almost passed through a cleared area where 2 men were sitting. They quickly got up and told us we couldn’t be there and that this space was “sacred” and we needed to take a separate path around this cleared area. We were a bit surprised but of course followed him to the path around. We deeply apologized for disrupting this space but asked the nature of the space. His response totally made sense: There is a ritual here in Vanuatu called Nakamal. This is where MEN ONLY drink Kava. In southern Vanuatu the traditional method of preparation involves chewing the roots, then spitting the resulting paste into a container. Current methods involve preparation in rams (in which kava is pounded in a section of pipe), meat-mincers, and mechanical grinders. After grinding the kava is mixed with water and sieved before serving. Basically, women are not allowed in the Nakamal…so we walked around : )
We were all invited to have a few sundowners and dinner aboard SV Tucan: Captain Baz (short for Barry), Julie or aka Jules and Gordon (both crew).
Mt Yasur – We had arranged with Stanley (the yacht club guy) to go see Mt. Yasur, the active volcano on the island. It was expensive; $25 usd/per person for transportation to and from the tour center and then another $100 usd/per person for the actual tour (bring Vatu – Vanuatu money..they don’t take other currencies or credit cards). Two separate villages “own” the rights to the volcano and have obviously done a great job commercializing it. However there are politics behind it all. We assume these 2 villages have a great say in what goes on around the island or near the villages that could reap any benefits from infrastructure the tourism has brought to the volcano. With that said, Stanley was very keen to make sure we had the money to pay for the tour (SV Tucan didn’t have enough cash but said they would go to town and get some and pay the next day) and stated that if we couldn’t pay, “they” wouldn’t be happy with him. We assumed “they” were the 2 tribes and would know that Stanley sent people who could not pay and that might not be a good thing for Stanley and his village… We also heard that the Vanuatu government “dislike” Tanna island, probably because they don’t get any proceeds from the volcano…therefore villages on Tanna fend for themselves a bit more. This is all hearsay, no one has confirmed it…
Despite the politics and expense…my gosh…it was a lifetime experience that is hard to articulate but here I will try:
All photos here are courtesy of Ivonne (SV Another Adventure) as my phone took a swim and all was lost. Thanks Ivonne again for sharing : )
Not sure what can top seeing an active volcano for the first time…but after the tour, we all arranged to have dinner in the small village at Leah’s place. She was all ready for us when we arrived at 7pm for dinner with our own beer and wine. We had no idea what to expect…but pleasantly surprised with the local cuisine and especially for only $8 usd. It just got better! : )
The next morning, Frank, Ivonne and I decide to take a tour of the steam vent we would watch while at anchor. We were greeted by curious kids who helped us pull in the dinghy and a lovely lady, Sheila. Sheila is from another village who’s “range” includes this steam vent and they are trying to “commercialize” it like the volcano tribes have done with the volcano. In her village, the women rotate who ‘mans’ the beach for possible tourist to come see their steam vents. Shelia told us any money earned in her village goes to a fund in which they send children off to school. The schools in the local villages are free but only go to about primary level. If a family wants their kids to go to secondary level, they have to pay lots of money for the child to go to Port Vila. Something I don’t think happens very often. Remember people trade here…time for something so we all offered her something as we didn’t have much cash to give.
All photos here are courtesy of Ivonne (SV Another Adventure) as my phone took a swim and all was lost. Thanks Ivonne again for sharing : )
That evening, SV Henrietta sailed in and then there were 4 boats. Michael on SV Henrietta is also headed to Indonesia and on the same rally as we are… We planned to head out the next morning so we invited everyone over for dinner, Slow Flight style, A/C and all! Everyone got a little tipsy and stuffed with Trevor’s baked pasta. I wish I had my photo of everyone.
We were told later the officials were at the island of Anatom and would not be able to check us in until the following Monday and to proceed north to Port Vila and clear in then if we like….AWESOME…we didn’t have to pay the extra cash for the officials to come to us…how cool is that?!
The island of Erromango up next….