Losalava, Gaua Island, Vanuatu - w/ pictures
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 15 Aug 2008 23:31
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14:12.408S 167:34.118E
Note: This version has pictures
attached.
We escaped out of Lakona Bay with no further canoe
encounters and safely anchored between two giant reefs off the village of
Losalava on the north side of Gaua Island (picture 1 - our boat anchored in
Losalava Bay). Soon after we arrived, we deployed the dinghy and headed to
shore on a quest to deliver Jonathan Johnstar's soccer shoes, shorts and
t-shirts that we had brought from Lakona Bay per his mother's
instructions. The usual welcome party was waiting for us on shore as we
approached - this time it was a teenager named Christopher, a bunch of smaller
kids and a few women. As soon as we set foot on the black sand, we told
Christopher that we had something to deliver to Jonathan at the primary
school. 'Oh yes, Jonathan,' said Christopher, 'he was here waiting for
you, but had to return to school.' Waiting for us? How did he know
we were coming with no phone service on the island? Don and I decided that
it must have been a smoke signal or something.
Christopher asked if we knew where the primary
school was. We explained it was our first time
in Losalava. 'No problem,' he said, 'I will take you. But
it's a fifteen minute walk, is that ok?'. We've run into questions like
this before....maybe because we live on a boat the people think that we don't
like to walk or don't have the stamina for walking. In any case, we always
smile to ourselves when asked if it is ok to walk. Along the way we
learned that Christopher was from the neighboring village, had finished ten
years of school (that was all the nearby school had to offer, although it is
starting to add higher grades now) and is hoping to attend the new agricultural
college in Luganville on the big island of Espiritu Santo next year. In the
meantime, he told us he hangs around the village, works in the garden and likes
to read books in both Bislama and English. We got the feeling that guiding
us to the school and back was a diversion Christopher was happy to have.
We trudged through the bush on a muddy track and
at one point crossed a small stream via a 'bridge' made from three tree trunks
laid side-by-side. Christopher practically danced across the trunks in his
bare feet and Don had no trouble, but for me it was like walking a tightrope
over a chasm. It really wasn't that bad at all, but thirteen months on a
boat makes for extreme clumsiness on land.
The primary and secondary school grounds looked
well kept, as did the surrounding gardens. As we approached the
primary school, Christopher instructed one of the younger students to
fetch Jonathan for us. During this whole event, we noticed that no
last names were ever used. It was just understood that we were
looking for Jonathan and everyone knew exactly who he was. As we
waited for Jonathan to appear, a large group of kids surrounded us, quietly
staring. We fidgeted, felt self conscious, smiled and said hello and they
smiled back a little and some of them whispered a greeting. We recognized
Jonathan immediately when we saw him on the edge of the clearing even though we
hadn't met him before. He was the spitting image of his older brothers -
beard and all. As he came closer to the assembled group, we could tell
that he was completely mortified by all the commotion and attention. When
we smiled and introduced ourselves, he barely raised his eyes to meet ours and
didn't say a word. We handed over the soccer gear and then we all stood
awkwardly. We said a few things to him about his family and how much we
enjoyed Lakona Bay and he said nothing. After a few more awkward moments
standing amidst the giant group of quietly staring kids, Don and I looked at
each other and said, 'Ok then, I guess we'll go back!'. Christopher took
the hint and said he would take us back. As we were leaving, the
embarrassed Jonathan did mumble a quick thank you as he turned to go. Poor
guy. Nothing like a couple of old white people crashing your school
and causing a commotion with a message and a package from your
mother. How embarrassing for a teenager.
On the way back, we asked Christopher to take us to
the village and introduce us to the chief so we could pay our respects and ask
proper permission to anchor in the bay. We did tour the village, but the
chief was nowhere to be found. Oh well, we tried. This village was
also purely traditional with only thatch huts like those in Lakona Bay, but the
general atmosphere was more prosperous. Probably the two nearby
schools and medical clinic had something to do with it. We thanked
Christopher for his help and offered him a t-shirt for his troubles. He
seemed pleased and promised to bring a canoe out with some fruit for us
later.
True to his word, Christopher showed up a few short
hours later in a canoe with his two younger identical twin brothers, Gerry and
Terry, and a basket full of grapefruit and passion fruit. That brought us
up to a total fruit count of fifteen grapefruits, four passion fruits, an
entire stalk of bananas (with 50 or more bananas), and the unidentified prickly
green fruit we received in Hog's Harbour (which by the way we did identify as a
soursop with the help of a tropical fruit guide we have on
board....unfortunately, this identification was completed too late for the
fruit...it had pretty much decomposed by the time we cracked it open -
oops). All in all, we are pretty sure we have enough fiber on board to
keep us going for a while.
Christopher asked if he and his brothers could come
on board. We said yes and led them to the cockpit where we chatted for a
while. Well, at least we chatted with Christopher, his 8ish year old
brothers sat quietly starting up at the rigging, occasionally stealing glances
at Don and I. I was wearing shorts - a big taboo in Vanuatu where women
are not supposed to show their thighs - but I figured hey the boat
is our turf. Now and then Christopher would have a whispered
conversation with his brothers in Bislamic. He asked them several times if
they were ready to go and they simply shook their heads no, and continued to
stare around. Probably they were hoping for an invitation to go into the
cabin, but we didn't offer - still a bit paranoid about unwanted guests that
might be left behind. Christopher did tell us that the village in Lakona
Bay has a radio, so they were able to call the school and let Jonathan know we
were coming with his soccer stuff. Shoot, and we thought smoke signals
really existed.
We gave the boys one kid-sized notebook each and a
set of colored markers to share. They seemed to think this was fabulous
and broke into the plastic bag to check out the goods almost immediately.
They discovered that the notebooks have a multiplication table on the back cover
and thought the idea of using it to cheat at school was a good one. Great
- now we are accomplices to a ring of cheating children in the Vanuatu
school system. After a while longer, the kids finally decided it was time
to go (and maybe finally decided the invitation to go below was not coming) and
they loaded back into their canoe. Picture 2 shows Christopher and his
brothers in the canoe. One of the twins is holding up the bag with the
notebooks and pens in it and all are wearing giant grins. Very cute
kids.
We spent one quiet night in Losalava and left the
next morning for the town of Sola on Vanua Lava Island (the next island to the
north), but the weather was ugly, probably making for a rolly anchorage near the
town, so we called an audible and headed to Waterfall Bay on the west side of
Vanua Lava instead. More on our Waterfall Bay adventures in the next
entry.
Does anyone need any bananas? If not, it
looks like another marathon round of banana bread is in our
future...
Anne
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