10/24/09

Wow lots to report since my last post. It is now the end of the 6th week of training and I'm beginning to show signs of senioritis. It doesn't help that I just got my first real taste of Vanuatu and Peace Corps life with my visit to Justine last week. For 4 weeks we were kept in the small rural village of Emua so I was beginning to feel a little cabin fever. Its crazy to think that in no time I'll have to be spending three to six months at a time in such a very rural setting. Anyhow last Sunday we got to get out of Emua to visit some other volunteers. Getting around Vanuatu is no easy feat let me tell you. There are 83 small islands spread out over a space the size of California and not all of them have airports. Including Maewo the island where Justine lives. Well they have a landing strip but it hasn't been mowed in a while so we flew to Ambae and rode in the back of a pickup to Lolowai house while singing the Indiana Jones theme song and ducking to avoid branches. At Lolowai we took a boat, a very small aluminum boat that had by the will of god washed up on the property of our boat driver. A dinghy if you will that the 8 of us crammed onto to take out on a journey across the Pacific Ocean. Well it was only a two hour boat ride but it scared the bejesus out if me (queue Gilligans Island theme song). The sea was really rough and it was rainy and cloudy so much so that at one point we could see neither Ambae nor Maewo. I remember thinking how crazy it is that our little dinghy is like a little speck in the middle of the Pacific and how screwed we'd be out there without food or water. . . Then the engine died. The boat driver looked a little concerned as the waves pushed our boat around and crashed over us. He picked up the gas tank and shook it as if it were very light and close to empty. Then he worked on getting the engine going again. After a frightening 5 minutes of imagining us all drifting about the ocean for the rest of our short lives, the engine started backup and the driver proceeded to stand up and look 360 degrees around him for a sign of the islands. He asked us if we wanted to go back but since we didn't know which way back was, we went forward in the hopes that an island would reveal itself to us. And after several nerve wracking minutes it did. Phew, I thought, we're halfway there.

Luckily life on Maewo isn't nearly as stressful as traveling to there. Maewo is a beautiful island full of waterfalls. There must be a river or creek or spring every half mile coming from the mountain. It's so green. After our harrowing journey across the ocean it was really nice to get all cozy in warm clothes and catch up with Justine. She's doing good by the way. She only has 8 more months here. She's applying to grad school now as we speak here in the same room as me. Then she's off the China for three weeks. I'm so jealous.

Anyway Maewo, on the second day we went to Big Water. And it was pretty big alright. It's a huge waterfall that cascades down the hill. It must be 50 meters wide and of course has more opportunities for cliff jumping. I didn't jump this time; I'd had enough after Saama. I thought that after jumping once I wouldn't be as frightened but having that gut wrenching fear fresh in your memory actually makes it harder to jump. So I jumped off he 40 foot cliff at Saama twice and I couldn't bring myself to do it again at Big Water. It was a gorgeous place and I'm glad two in our group were brave enough to leap.

The next day I shadowed Justine at the RTC and we ate diner at Sandy's house which was the best aelan kakae I think I’ve had so far. Water taro with aelan cabbage (which is really like spinach) and tons of strong coconut milk. The strong coconut milk is sort of like creamy cheesy sauce. It’s so good but it’s a lot of work to make. We each probly ate 2 coconuts worth and there were 10 plates. So that means mama carried, broke, scratched and milked 20 coconuts. Lots of work but so worth it. Sandy’s family also made hand ground kava. They used a grinding stone and coral to beat it to a pulp. It was much fresher and therefore a bit stronger than the stuff on Efate. Plus at least it wasn’t masticated by young boys like on a lot of islands.

The next day we went for a wokabout to visit the dispensary/ healthcenter/ birthing ward. A woman had just had a baby there 10 days before. The poor woman! The baby was too big and she had to be cut to fit him through. And all she had was Tylenol For the pain. Then we went to meet this brave woman and her new baby. She was so sweet and we all stood around cooing at her baby for a while until it was almost awkward heehee. Then we went walking about looking for some swimming holes to bath in. We hiked up the river in our flipflops trying to be careful not to step on all the water taro planted close up to the river. When we found the swim holes we decided to hike up a bit further just to see. As I hiked up I came upon a huge waterfall whose beauty was unreal to me. I was astounded by its beauty, literally breathless. Which was magnified by the fact that I had know clue that I was about to happen upon a magnificent natural feature. None of us had any idea we were about to stumble upon a 100 foot tall 10 foot wide waterfall. I’m beginning to understand why people believe in the magic here. Unexplainable natural forces are everywhere; volcanoes, cyclones, earthquakes, waterfalls, giant caves. It’s out of this world.

Oh yes and another magical place on the island that we didn’t actually get to but saw from the boat on our way out was the moon’s cave. It’s called that because the moon was born there before it came out into the sky. Yes the moon is from Vanuatu, don’t laugh. It looks big enough to drive a ship into and it has a round entrance and is the source of a deep fresh water spring so that even though it flows into the ocean you can swim in cold fresh water.

Hey so here’s my address if you want to send me treats!

For letters send them to:

Stephanie Blaufarb

Peace Corps Volunteer

Lamap Village

C/O Lamap Village Post Office

South Malekula

Vanuatu

South Pacific

For packages still send stuff to:

Stephanie Blaufarb

Peace Corps Volunteer

PMB 9097

Port Vila

Vanuatu

South Pacific