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| Losalava Anchorage |
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| Chief Mika & Grandson |
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| Lake Letas & Mt. Garet |
Some unruly weather was predicted, so we chose to go back to Losalava on Gaua (the site of the Bamboo Band post), this being the most protected anchorage in the Banks. There was a so-so cell signal here, so we could access the internet and Skype, but only from the airport, a half-hours walk away. Did that walk quite a few times this week.
Met one of the local chiefs, Mika Moses, close to the airport — I should mention that the airport, as all in Vanuatu except Port Vila, consists of a grass strip and a tiny, unattended cement building. We arranged to have Mica’s 11-year-old son, Jason, guide us on a hike the next day up to Lake Letas, high on the flank of the volcano here — pretty much all the islands in Vanuatu have volcanoes — and the largest lake in Vanuatu. We were also invited to a birthday party afterwards for Mika’s first grandson, just one year old. The first birthday is a big event here — huge party well into the night, friends and family from all around, lots of food and kava. Robyn baked a cake to bring, and found some baby clothes in our stock of trade goods as a present.
The morning dawned with foul weather, so we just wandered up to the airport to beg off with Jason. That done, we sat at the airport for a while using the internet. Mika came by to chat. We discussed politics and the difference between parliaments and the American system. Quite the challenge in Bislama. Then we all went up to his house for lunch, where we also presented the cake and baby clothes, not expecting to just hang around all afternoon waiting for the party. Mika wanted us to return at four o’clock, though, for kava. Didn’t seem appropriate to refuse, so I resigned myself to killing the afternoon. We walked further up the road for a while, then back to the airport for more internet. Having a couple of hours yet to kill, we went in search of a cup of tea. There is a small guest house next to the airport, so we tried there. We weren’t one of their guests, but they are such nice people. Had a nice chat with the woman there while we drank our tea. Also met one of their guests, a film producer from Britain.
This is bizarre. A reality show in Britain was recreating the open-boat voyage of Captain Bligh, where, after the “Mutiny on the Bounty”, he and his few loyal crew rowed and sailed a small, open boat from near Tahiti to Indonesia, with very brief stops in Fiji and Vanuatu. This was one of the most spectacular feats of small-boat navigation and seamanship in the by-gone age of sail, when “ships were wood, and men were iron”. Well, Bligh and his men had no choice, but these fools volunteered. Actually, there were over a hundred thousand volunteers. It doesn’t seem like any of them had any clue as to what they were asking for. Well, the producers were trying to do it right, with an accurate boat replica, and starting with the same food and equipment that Bligh had. After weeks at sea, they landed only in uninhabited places, one in Fiji and then near here on Gaua, so as not to have any contact with the modern world. They even had to forage for food and water at these places. We did not meet any of “Bligh’s” crew, of course, but we did meet a number of the film and support crews. The show should air in Britain (and on the internet) next February or March.
Back at the guest house, it was now four o’clock, so we walked back over to Mika’s house nearby. Amid the preparations for the evening’s party, Mika prepared kava to drink with us. This is a bit more elaborate than cracking a few beers, with quite a process of grinding the root, mixing with water, squeezing and straining, and multiple repetitions. Finally, he hands us each a cup, which we drink in the prescribed non-stop manner. Kava doesn’t do much for me, looking like dirty dish water, and tasting how I imagine the same would. But it’s the social thing here. We have drunk kava a number of times, and always gotten away with only one cupful. This time, Mika handed us each a second cup. Oh well, down the hatch. I might also mention that the sanitary conditions make one wonder about the whole idea, but “when in Rome …” Vanuatu kava is stronger than in Fiji or Samoa, and Gaua kava is one of the stronger strains in Vanuatu. We still had the half-hour walk back to the dinghy, and it was getting near sunset, but we did manage to get there and back out to the boat.
We had rescheduled the hike for the next day, but Jason was tied up with a school project, so Mika guided us instead. Almost three hours uphill through the jungle to the lake, fifteen minutes sitting on the shore, than over two hours back down, with the half-hour walk on either end. I could have done without it, but Robyn was hot to go, and it did turn out to be a good experience. At least, I can say that now that I’m clean and comfortable back on Mintaka. The lake was beautiful, and we had a great view across to the volcano.
Almost time now for the big festival at Lakona Bay, around on the west side of Gaua, so that’s our next stop.
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