Back on my island my only form of transportation is speed boats (fiberglass boats with a motor on the back). Yes, I have two legs and am able to walk but the paths can be scary and everything is at lest an hour's walk away and trying to walk to the bank or post office is a bad idea. Thus, I use boats to get everywhere: the bank, the post office, the air port, and some other villages. In general I take a boat ride every other week. Due to the frequency of boat rides, I have expierenced some pretty intersting trips.
The Time I Thought For Sure That I Was Going To Die:
One day I went to Pangi, the village where the post office and bank are located. The trip there went very smooth and was uneventful, in fact I don't even remember it. However, on the trip back to my village things got interesting. We had a full, full boat of maybe about 20 people or so. The ocean was getting pretty rough. We were being tossed around, some saltwater was splashing over the sides of the boat and the possibility of capsizing was a reality. It was about 5:45 in the afternoon, so the sun was going down and it was getting pretty dark. To this day I don't know how the boat driver could see where to go, the boats don't have lights. As if all of that wasn't enough, it was also raining. So we had water coming down on us and splashing over the boat. I could tell what was sea water and what was rain because whenever I got splashed by sea water it was warm (no, I was not peeing my pants). This trip I went with another volunteer who sat in the 'hull?' of the boat, the part in front where you can sit on the floor of the boat under a little shelter. I was sitting in front of her on a seat of the boat (a 2 x 4 plank of wood). She said that she could tell when we were about to get hit by a wave because I would flinch and squeeze my eyes closed. I don't think there was any part of my body or clothes that stayed dry.
The Chicken:
Just recently I took a boat to the airport. As I was getting on the boat at my beach someone hands the driver a chicken. Chicken transport is a fairly popular occurance as are gifts of chickens. Usually they will tie up the chicken's feet so that it cannot move around the boat. We start on our way and head up the coast of the island and the driver and his assistant catch a fish. So we slow down to reel in the fish and unhook it from the line. We start to speed back up when all of a sudden there's a chicken flapping on my right side. It scratches my arm as it falls onto the floor of the boat. The next thing I know the assistant is lunging over my seat to catch the chicken so it won't escapse. Only in Vanuatu can you be attacked by a chicken while in a boat.
The Longest Trip of My Life:
A few months ago I decided to head to Ambae. Ambae is another island not too far away from Pentecost (my place). However, to get to Ambae you have to be in the very north of Pentecost and then you can cross between the two islands. I live in the very south of Pentecost, in fact the most southern village on the island. Pentecost is a very long skinny island so the trip from my village to the north took about 7 hours in direct sunlight with the smell of motors and gasoline. Not such a boat load of fun. I can't even begin to calculate the gallons of sun block I used. The crossing between islands took another 2 hours. I will say that the crossing was not a rough as I was expecting, I've definitly experienced worse, but I had two of my sisters with me and they are both afraid of the ocean. The boat driver we had to make the crossing was terrible and my sisters yelled at him often. The trip wasn't all bad (at least it wasn't raining) and the redeeming qualities of the trip were 1) we did eventually reach Ambae and 2) I have now seen the entire west coast of my island (and it's beautiful of course!).
Those are a few of my stories. I'm sure I'll have more to come!!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Adventures of The Runaway Chinese Bag
So first up, some background: Here in Vanuatu we have thick plastic bags called Chinese bags (there is a very large Chinese population in the capitol, I don't know if the bags got the name because they brought these bags with them or if they got the name because you buy them primarily from Chinese stores). Anyhow, EVERYBODY uses them and they are very popular with us PCVs (Pease Corps Volunteers). In fact one of the first things we received from Peace Corps was a huge Chinese bag filled with important stuff like sun block and bug spray. Chinese Bags come in many different sizes, giant Chinese bags (like the one in this true life story) are about 2 1/2 ft tall and 1 ft wide. Very awkward to carry.
The Story:
I had just gotten back from town and I had my backpack, my duffel, and my giant Chinese bag. I start walking toward my hill with all of my bags, stopping often because they were a bit heavy and hard to carry. A few of my students saw me and came running down their hill to ask if they could help. I handed off my duffel and we headed up my hill. I decided to make two trips and left my Chinese bag at the bottom of my hill and went up to unlock my door and put my other bags down. I took a little break at my house then went back down my hill to grab my bag. I hoisted my bag onto my back and started up my hill. At about half way I decided I needed to take a break and half dropped half set my bag on the ground. Well it decided, at this point, to rool down the hill. It took me about half a second to decided to just let the bag go thinking that if I was to run after it I would break my neck or arm; and surely the many bushes and coconut trees would stop the bag or it would run out of momentum. However, this did not happen. It decided to roll all the way down the hill, scaring a pig when it finally landed at the bottom. At this point I decided to sit down and rest before going down AGAIN. During my rest I was trying to decide whether I wanted to laugh at the situation or cry. I did neither. Luckly three of my students were watching the activities (rolling on the ground laughing I'm sure) and came running down their hill to fetch my bag and carry it to my house. I was extremely greatful. I gave them bubbles for being awesome.
The Story:
I had just gotten back from town and I had my backpack, my duffel, and my giant Chinese bag. I start walking toward my hill with all of my bags, stopping often because they were a bit heavy and hard to carry. A few of my students saw me and came running down their hill to ask if they could help. I handed off my duffel and we headed up my hill. I decided to make two trips and left my Chinese bag at the bottom of my hill and went up to unlock my door and put my other bags down. I took a little break at my house then went back down my hill to grab my bag. I hoisted my bag onto my back and started up my hill. At about half way I decided I needed to take a break and half dropped half set my bag on the ground. Well it decided, at this point, to rool down the hill. It took me about half a second to decided to just let the bag go thinking that if I was to run after it I would break my neck or arm; and surely the many bushes and coconut trees would stop the bag or it would run out of momentum. However, this did not happen. It decided to roll all the way down the hill, scaring a pig when it finally landed at the bottom. At this point I decided to sit down and rest before going down AGAIN. During my rest I was trying to decide whether I wanted to laugh at the situation or cry. I did neither. Luckly three of my students were watching the activities (rolling on the ground laughing I'm sure) and came running down their hill to fetch my bag and carry it to my house. I was extremely greatful. I gave them bubbles for being awesome.
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