Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Kava
Tried kava on Thursday evening (3rd). We'd built it up far too much beforehand and got ourselves all nervous about what it would be like and what effect it would have on us. It's essentially a root that's related to the pepper plant and it's ground into a powder and added to water. It has natural hallucinogenic properties and women are not officially encouraged to drink it (they have to be invited). It looked like a bowl of dirty dish water and I made the big mistake of smelling it beforehand which was disgusting. You then have to down the whole bowl in one - ugh! It tasted vile - in fact, just like dirty dish water. A few seconds later your lips and tongue go numb, followed by your throat. Apparently after a few, you get really sleepy and numb all over. We didn't wait around any longer to find out!
Tanna: 4th - 6th December
Got on tiny plane that only held 15 people and made our way to Tanna which is an island further south (thank God we had Kiwi pilots!). Luckily we had arranged a transfer to our bungalows as there were no buses or taxis or anything! Expecting some kind of van, we ended up climbing into an open ute and had to sit on a narrow piece of wood in the back for 2 hours along with horse saddles, a spare wheel, a load of veg and a few other random locals. A few market stops, more local pick-ups and a puncture later, we arrived at Jungle Oasis Bungalows - definitely a jungle, not so much of an oasis. All 5 of us decided to share a bungalow and I got a double bed - yippee! Fairly comfy beds but the sheets were dirty and our mozzie nets had more holes in them than a colander. We did have a flush toilet though (outside in a spider-ful hut although only spotted one and the other girls counted 10 - yikes!) and a fixed running water shower (freezing cold but still, fresh running water - except we had no water whatsoever on the Sunday - boooo!).
Went up to the volcano, Mt Yasur, which was very cool. We got there while it was still light but when it got dark and you could see the red lava in the crater, it was amazing. We sat for ages watching it explode, making a tremendous boom every 5 minutes or so. This is one of the only places in the world where you can get this close to the rim - obviously very dangerous and scary - but super exciting.
In bed by 9pm again - it's always the young uns who flag first - but then 2 of them were up all night with sickness and the squirts so we packed them off to a clinic in the morning which was apparently filthy and they stayed in bed all day. The other 3 of us went on a day trip to some local sights. I tell you, I'm going to sue the Lonely Planet for their Vanuatu book - it lies! It makes things out to be so much better than they actually are. This is the first time I've been disappointed with what they say.
Went to a nambas village first which was hilarious. This is where the tribes do a native chant and dance wearing the traditional "nambas" which is a penis sheath made out of pandana leaves. There were loads of seats but only the 3 of us there and we paid about GBP8 for the privilege of a 5 minute prance about and then we watched them make a fire out of dried wood.
We then carried onto Shark Bay which I think would have been amazing if it had been sunny and a low tide. You stand on a cliff overlooking a bay full of reef sharks. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and high tide so the water was really dark. We saw quite a few but they were hard to spot and looked like moving rocks!
We decided then to go to Port Resolution for a civilised lunch, maybe a cocktail and to stock up on bottled water and some pharmacy stuff. The LP description had implied that it was a small town with a few restaurants with bars and a snazzy yacht club. Bulls***! It was like a deserted village of mud huts. We saw 1 restaurant which was a tiny hut and padlocked up. We met 1 lady the whole time we were there and she said everyone else was sleeping (Why? Because they were so tired from doing absolutely sod all?). We asked her if there was anywhere we could get a drink so she took us to a store (well, the only store in the village) which was the size of a cupboard and pitch dark inside. It had 7 bottles of pop, a few cans of mackerel, some instant noodles and a few lollipops and that was about it. So much for cocktails and a relaxing lunch! What a disappointment!
Next stop were the hot pools which ended up being the highlight of the day. Boiling hot pools right on the edge of the sea - so hot you couldn't touch them. The locals were cooking veg in them. We followed a lady up a treacherous path (of volcanic sand) to a sheer drop with a vertical ladder made of dodgy bits of stick and held together by vines. Made it near the bottom to find a boiling pool of bubbling water that kept exploding and splashing dangerously close to our ladder. The amount of steam was amazing - free facial! Made it back to the sea and ate the pumpkin they had cooked in the pool.
So, that was our exciting day trip to civilisation!
The next morning we were intending to leave at around noon but one of the guys told us we would have to leave at 9am as the weather was bad, the car was already unsafe (great!) and it already had a flat tyre. So we allowed 6 hours to get to the airport! Made it halfway when there was an almighty bang. I thought we were being shot at, especially as a load of people started to manically chase the car but then it transpired that the front tyre had blown so one of the guys blew it up with a tiny football pump! Somehow we got to the airport with 4 hours to spare so we asked the guys to drop us off at a nearby guesthouse as the airport wasn't even open! What a great decision. We ended up at quite a nice place that had a flush toilet (and soap!!) and a pretty decent menu for lunch - heaven!
I have to say, I'm really glad I went to Tanna to see the volcano but would probably recommend that people do a day trip as there's not much else there, it's even more rural than the village we're living in (which is hard to get more rural!) and the people REALLY smell!!! We were relieved to get back to Moso where we had a welcoming committee waiting.
- comments
Mum I think Lonely Planet say they are somewhere but are actually in another place completely!!! You will laugh about it some day and you will think it was a wonderful experience, which it was if you are honest, how many people get the chance to experience these things??? Hopefully things will improve. xx
Viv bloody hell, forgot all about Kava, you're right dirty dish water from a coconut shell that's been sieved through a dirty garment (dread to think what), and obviously tried once, instantly forgotten until now.