VANUATU: Gaua and Vanua Lava

BOOM!!

Boom chuka boom chuka boom boom BOOM!!

We came to Gaua for the water music, an extraordinary tradition practiced here and only here. Women stand in the surf slapping, scooping and pounding the sea, creating almost unbelievable tones. We feel music as much as hear it, and this felt magical.

I only took two photos (and some video clips, but they can’t be included here) and I already used one in the Vanuatu Snapshots blog entry, but I’ll repeat that photo here—along with the encouragement for readers to search online for Gaua water music and see the phenomenon for yourselves. Online footage might have several “dancers” and flashy costumes, but seeing these three strong women come down from their day’s work in the garden and change into their traditional mat clothing, then walking with them to and from the surf site, was a lovely bond that we treasure.

I wish I had photos of the industrious Gaua residents carrying large loads on their backs: women with huge bags of produce slung on poles over one shoulder, sometimes with a baby slung over the other; men with long heavy stacks of wood balanced on their backs. I didn’t want to interrupt them and I never take photos without asking permission, so those will have to be memory pictures (and for you, imagination pictures!).

I did get photos of their houses, which are of a slightly different style. It’s hotter in that latitude, so they have more open spaces in the walls then use long draping leaves to keep the rain out of the openings.

Once again, we played for the local school;
this one had the biggest "clanger"
we'd seen anywhere!

Art checking a defective solar regulator

As a special treat, we arranged to have lunch
the village’s “bungalow” (guest house)--
quite a spread of fruit, vegetables and chicken stew

All chicken here is “free range”, meaning they go get one that’s out wandering around. Unfortunately the meat is so tough as to be inedible, but the broth was delicious! (Want to take bets on whether or not we ate the foot?)

VANUA LAVA

Strong winds drove us from Gaua sooner than we wanted, and we hid at Waterfall Bay (yes, another Waterfall Bay) on Vanua Lava for several days. It was an ideal location and became another one of our very favorite places—this time for the lovely family that lives close to the anchorage. We found Nemo (the snorkeling was fantastic), enjoyed the gorgeous twin waterfall, and had fun playing music for the tiny villages.

By far the best part, though, was being welcomed by the “one big happy family”--their words, and completely accurate. John Star was especially generous with his time, proudly showing us their copra (coconut palm) plantation high in the hills, their prolific gardens below, and the bat caves nearby. He helped us climb to the top of the waterfall, where he caught a river prawn in his hand and showed us how to break open a small husk on a rock to eat the nut inside.



Our long sturdy ropes are valuable to us, even the older ones, but when John Star said he needed a rope to keep track of his cow and he spent an afternoon spearing river prawns for us, we were happy to trade one of our long lines for his catch. 

 

Free range chickens everywhere
(free range until they meet up with a slingshot, anyway)

Laundry is done in freshwater streams

"Bush toilet" (outhouse) on the far left

Kids playing with Art's ukulele case
(I had my eyes on the children, and later noticed I caught part of Chief Peterson playing Art's ukulele in the background)

And two closing images:

Gaua and Vanua Lava are part of the Banks Islands, in the far north of the Vanuatu archipelago. We had made our way gradually north up the eastern islands, and now it was time to turn around and head south, this time down along the western islands. Because of the long distances and stronger weather in the Banks, they are off the route for most cruising boats. How fortunate we were to have had the time to visit these unique places!

VANUATU: Pentecost and Maewo

Naghol, the land diving ceremony, takes place in three locations at the south end of Pentecost Island for a short time each year to ensure a successful yam harvest. Witnessing this spectacle was high on our agenda, and it was indeed amazing. The previous post had some photos of the jumping and background information; here’s a bit more.

Preparation includes digging up the earth beneath the tower. Vine lengths are adjusted carefully, but the spaded ground provides a softer landing in case a vine is slightly too long and the jumper lands on his head. 

Checking vine security at the top...

...and vine length at the bottom

Tying vines around a jumper's ankles
(photos of jumping appear in the post entitled Vanuatu Snapshots)

And the charming child at the start of this post was one of the dancers.

With only 8 guests attending, experiencing this ancient tradition felt intimate and powerful.

Continuing up the west coast of Pentecost, we stopped briefly at Waterfall Bay. Barter is more common in outlying villages than cash, and we traded a fishing knife for a guided walk (guides are required) to the beautiful cascade.

The path passes through the community garden; this gate keeps pigs and cows away from the root vegetables. Deciphering Bislama, the sign reads “when you open the gate to go swimming, please you must shut the gate”.

Visitors always attract playful children!

Art skipping stones

and enchanting a brother and sister
by juggling tree nuts

Loltong, our last stop on Pentecost, was hosting the island’s soccer tournament when we arrived.

Like sporting events in the U.S., this one had food stalls (though the menu of fish and rice would probably not be as popular in the States)

A man prepariung kava for the evening's events
(generally consumed only by men)

Kava roots used to be chewed
prior to soaking them in water for the "brew",
but now they are ground in a meat grinder
(there's something to be said for progress!)

Women preparing root vegetables--primarily taro and cassava--
for dinner

We landed our dinghy at the remains of an old wharf and hiked with our instruments up to a primary school to play for them. They thanked us by gathering lots of pamplemousse (grapefruit)—our favorite fruit, and it lasted for ages (fortunately, since they gave us so many!).

When we left the wharf an older man holding a toddler was there, with several other people nearby. I asked the man if they were his family. Smiling, he said “Yes, but in Vanuatu, we are all brothers”: a statement both beautiful and palpably true.

MAEWO ISLAND

The west coast of Maewo Island has one outstanding anchorage, both in terms of beauty and safety. We greatly enjoyed the small bay and village of Asanvari, and ended up staying several days; in retrospect, it is still one of our favorite places.

Everyone appreciated our music immensely, asking us to play several times, and in return invited us to attend a special feast to celebrate the installation of the new chief. We felt immensely honored. Photos would have been inappropriate (to say nothing of difficult in the near darkness), but sharing communal food unearthed from a pit lined with rocks—with leaves as plates, and without utensils—in that setting was a deeply memorable experience.

Nakamal, or community center, where the feast took place

Along these steep wet coasts, waterfalls are plentiful

This generator was supposed to provide electricity for a "yacht club" for visiting boats, but neither the generator nor the club was operational. Specialty items like generators and solar regulators don't come with tools or maintenance training, so when they stop working the local owners are often at a loss. Art helps whenever he can, and managed to fix part of this generator.

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Playing with Mama's canoe,

before she spends the late afternoon fishing

Linda helped us up and down steep muddy little paths,

to show us their 'water garden':
taro roots carefully tended in a diverted stream bed

In every village we visited, people are summoned to school and to church
by clanging on an old gas cylinder 

Playing for an avid audience:
students, and everyone else in the area who heard something
they'd never heard before and came running
(photo taken on my camera by 4th grader Max)

This young girl, trying to look formal for a photo, is in typical attire: a skirt but no shirt, a woven bag (used for holding snacks—usually cooked roots—and carried by everyone, regardless of age or gender), and a small bush knife. Even toddlers use knives; who knows when you might need to whack a vine out of the way, or lop off a piece of fruit?

We were reluctant to leave such a peaceful and beautiful place…

Vanuatu Snapshots

Internet has been as scarce in Vanuatu as we expected, and our time in Luganville (which not only has electricity, but a couple of cafes even have something called wifi) was cut short by weather. More stories and many more photos will follow, but for now all I can upload are a few of our favorites.

We wanted to get to Pentecost Island in time for their land diving, which ceases in June. Fortunately we made it, and the experience was truly awesome. The above photo is a land diving tower under construction; it is made entirely of vines and bamboo poles.

Women and girls preparing to sing and dance near the bottom of the tower

Some of these boys, trained by the elders,
will jump from increasingly higher levels

Last words and a blessing...

...prior to leaping towards the earth

Encouraged after a successful jump,
the grazing of his head on the ground ensures a bountiful yam harvest

Typical village scene

Large and heavy loads are slung in bags on poles over the shoulder; this is the standard way to transport food and fuel (and almost everyone carries a bush knife, including young children)

A deeply memorable highlight was the "water music" on Gaua Island.

Using just their hands and bodies,
women create extraordinary tones and rhythms in the sea.
Like the land diving tradition passed from fathers to sons,
this feat is passed from mothers to daughters.
(Editor's note: this is worth checking online for a video)

On the island of Espiritu Santo, we took a dinghy trip up a jungle river that ended in a "blue hole".

Art playing Tarzan on his 64th birthday

Our experiences in Vanuatu are even more diverse and enthralling than we expected, so we're looking forward to being able to share more later!