Ulcer update: Your prayers are appreciated as the ulcer is nearly closed over - only a few more days of changing the dressings regularly and wearing surgical stockings.
It’s the trip, not the destination! It was great to have my sister (Liz) visit a couple of weeks ago. One reason being it was a good excuse for us to get out and about and do some of the tourist stuff. One adventure was a trip Wusi village. I’d had it in the back of my mind for a year or so, it’s just the getting there as that is not easy. Wusi is a very remote village halfway up on the rugged west cost of Santo. Accessible only by a 12 hour walk from the end of the road or a 2 to 3 hour precarious journey in a small dinghy up the dangerous coastline, from the end of the road. We took the dinghy option.
Over all - the destination was not the highlight - it was the actual trip, the getting there and back that was such an experience, it was fun, new, scary, wow, weird, friendly, beautiful, breathtaking, and real-good-to-get-back-in-one-piece sort of an experience!
First was the Ute trip to the end of the road. One of the current Bush Mission students, Ps Marshall Ray (of the Protestant Church), drove us the 2 ½ hour trip to the end of the road to a village called Tasiriki. Early on the Saturday we jumped into Marshall’s Ute and oh………what a Ute. The deck was tied on by one piece of rope (or the deck would tip up); there were no windows (so when it rained we got wet); the windscreen wipers were not there (so when it rained Marshall stopped in a creek to wash the screen for our 2½ hour trip back in the dark); the radiator leaked and did not have a cap (so when passing through a creek Marshall would refill the radiator and a spare water bottle); there was only one headlight (it had to be switched on from the outside by twisting a few wires and giving the fuse a bit of a shake, at least the headlight worked!); some of wheels would come loose (every now and then Marshall would get out and tighten the wheels), the starter motor did not work (Marshall never turned the ute off until we got to the end of the road and then he parked it back up the hill a little); and then there’s them breaks, Marshall stopped at one village in the middle of nowhere and replaced a break drum part he had left at this village previously. The part had no break mechanism inside of it but at least it meant the wheel stopped coming loose. I asked Marshall how many breaks were working and he replied one on the front and one on the back.........no worries!
On arrival at Tasiriki we asked around for a dingy and skipper for hire. After waiting two hours a 5meter dingy turned up (had a 25hp outboard) and we set off in the ocean up the rough West Coast of Santo. It was a highlight to see the coastline, with villages scatted along here and there, (some that Talua students come from). On the hills, halfway up certain ridges in the jungle we could see smoke rising where people were no doubt clearing new gardens. Along the coast, in places there were beaches with the occasional dugout canoe pulled up above the high tide mark, other places sheer cliffs with nowhere to land.
We were fortunate because our boat was the fastest one based at Tasiriki and that meant only a two hour trip. Some boats take up to four hours for the journey, we past two other dinghies that were also heading north. None of us wore lifejackets, we were exposed out the ocean and yet it was just a normal journey. After two hours of hugging the coastline (most of the time) we arrived Wusi.
Wusi is just another village, but very dry compared to anywhere else in Vanuatu. Why go to there - it is the only place in Vanuatu where they continue to make clay pots the traditional way. So we spent time watching a pot being made. Clay is gathered from land near the village - an alluvial plain. There are no potters wheels spinning, just the shaping of the clay into a ball by hand, then hitting the clump onto ones knee to get the basic pot shape, then using a bamboo spatula to create the rest of the pot including patterns and decorations. They leave it to dry for a month or so before red coloured clay (found high in the mountains) is used for colouring. Then it is time for the firing process in a earth oven. For this a heap of wood it burned to heat up rocks in a hole (like a NZ Hangi), the pots are place in the hole on top of the hot rocks before being covered with a heap of Bamboo - the Bamboo ignites, there is a huge fire and the kilning process is finished. We purchased a number of pots, had a bite to eat and then began the intrepid journey back to Tasiriki.
The trip back was into the waves and therefore more uncomfortable. When the waves were at their biggest I did turn around to gage the expression of the driver, and he had a huge smile and gave me the thumbs up. Obviously this was normal weather although Liz and Vivienne thought I was trying to drown them and Connie was freaking out for a while until Vivienne turned counting the bigger waves into a game. Simon, William and I just enjoyed being "out there", as well as the rugged coast and feelings of remoteness, we saw a Turtle swimming by and flying fish with one in mid air for a over 30 meters. It rained a bit of rain. When we got back I lifted up the fuel tank it was empty - the driver judged the amount of fuel needed to the last drop! We were all smiles and a tad relieved.
After that it was the return 2 ½ hour drive in the dark to home. On the way we stopped at Marshall’s village so I could take a family photo for them. In some ways the ute trip was just as dangerous and eventful as the dinghy trip. The road was incredibly rough, at times the wheels spinning and slipping flat tack to get us up a steep section of the “main road”, there were river crossings, ford crossings and careful monitoring of on coming vehicles with only one headlight shining - in fact if you see one headlight over here, it means a ute, not a motorbike. We also stopped for each oncoming vehicle to talk to the driver, this is the custom whether on foot or in a vehicle, to exchange where one has come from and where one is headed.
In all a memorable day with the journey being the highlight rather than the destination.
Tuna! The other tourist activity we experienced during Lizz’s visit was game fishing - we went out for an 8 hour charter. It was a tad rough at times - one of us managing to spray the skipper with vomit, he was working at the stern of the boat when the seasick person was leaning over the side halfway up being sick, the wind spraying the skippers. But in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the day, catching plenty of fish that we brought back to Talua for all students and staff to have a good feed that night. All of us caught fish with a total of 11 Yellow Fin Tuna (one was 18kg), one Mackerel Tuna, three big Barracuda, and a Mahi-mahi. I also hooked up a huge Marlin - I couldn’t believe how hard it was to wind in with my arms were getting tried. After several minutes winding the Marlin was off again, with plenty of line going out further and further. I started again bringing it in when some of the others in the boat saw it jump out of the water about 500m away (just like on the fishing programs on TV), then the line broke, right up by the trace so perhaps its own sword cut it, that's what the skipper seemed to think - he lost his $150 lure. It was a great day!!! At one stage when heaps of fish (including Yellow Fin Tuna) were having a surface feeding frenzy, we saw a very big Shark enjoying the easy prey, its fin poking out of the water as it swam around. Later we also saw a pod of Dolphins - they were smallish so we think they were Hector Dolphins - they swam with us for a while.
Add to all that - Liz being is a top chief - she cooked us up a treat that night!
Mate its hard work working for the Boss.
Boss bless
Jon
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