11 August 2014
In case I haven’t mentioned it before, everyone refers to Malekula as “the dog” because the shape roughly resembles a dog sitting down. However, I think it more so resembles a babyy Tyrannosaurus rex so I will always refer to it as such.
On Sunday, 3 August, my brother (from malekula who currently lives on Santo and works for my uncle Peter transporting copra) picked me up from Kate and Bryan’s and brought me over to meet my Uncle Peter and Bubu (grandma). We storied (talked) about my life and family in the US, how I was liking Vanuatu, and my plans for my service. My Uncle Peter is a very smart man. He moved to Santo when he was 17 and started driving a taxi. He drove the taxi until he had enough money to buy his own, and then continued to drive until he had enough money to buy a truck. He drove the truck for charters and transports and once this truck had made him enough money, he sold it to pay one of my brothers school fees to attend university in Fiji, and then bought another truck. After he made enough money he sold that truck and bought a flatbed camion and stated transporting copra. After saving enough money he bought a second camion and eventually a third. Now he owns three camions as well as a truck and every couple of years a different one of my brothers goes to live and work on Santo driving one of the camions. This is great because the money to be made is significantly more on Santo than in the village and, in the words of my sister is law, it gives her months at a time where she can be free. My brothers aren’t controlling or abusive in the slightest but when there is a man in the house there is just extra pressure to cook a good meal and wear your hair just how they like it. She can also go visit her family whenever she wants without feeling like she is leaving him behind to cook for himself.
Anyway, after story-ing and eating for an hour my brother drove me to the airport and (after capitalizing on some surprise free wifi) I was on the twin otter for my 18 minute flight back to Malekula. That night I stayed in town at the house of my friend Sara’s host family. Sara’s host mama is pretty much a mama to all peace corps on Malekula and she is always happy to have us stay. The next day I decided to take a little side trip before ending my mini vacation. Jon had just proposed to his girlfriend visiting from the United States so I went over to his site, Lambubu, to spend the night with them.
Lambubu is an interesting site because it’s not really in a village but on a large Australian owned coconut plantation. There are families from all over Malekula and Vanuatu that all have different local languages and cultures but they come to live on the plantation because the money can’t really be beat. The three of us drank some kava with Jon’s host papa and then had Laplap with his host mama and the next day I was back on a truck to Lakatoro so I could finally head home that afternoon. The truck left Lambubu around 7 and drove down to Lambubu Bay to pick up cargo from a ship moored there. When we got down to the bay the ship wasn’t quite read for us so everyone hopped out of the truck and the driver went back up to the village to see if there were any other people waiting to go to Lakatoro. At first I was annoyed by the delay but I sat down on the jetty and started writing a thank you letter to Maria Clara for yet another awesome care package. When I looked up I saw the ship looking so small agains the large mountains behind and so peaceful in the early morning sun reflecting off the ocean. It was beautiful and reminded me again of just how lucky I am to be here.
The truck came back, the cargo was loaded on to the truck and we we were off to Lakatoro. Kelsey’s boyfriend had just gotten to Vanuatu and they had both landed in Malekula that morning so we had lunch with some other volunteers at the market before heading home. I usually go to town on Fridays so being there on a Tuesday was really a treat compared to the business and crowds of Friday pay day. Jasmine had also landed that day and was headed back to her site, Womol, where I went for IPSS so we all got a truck together. There was only one other man on the trucks so it was quite a comfortable ride. On the way to stopped at a few road markets to make last minute vegetable purchases, dropped Kelsey and Bilal off in Almelvet and arrived in Matanvat around 4:30–earlier than I’ve ever arrived before. I convinced Jasmine to stay the night with promises of a steak dinner and mulled wine and she very willingly accepted. She has been my first, second and only visitor because I’m quite a ways out but I really enjoy entertaining so I’m really thankful for her. The next morning she was off for a 2.5 hour hike up into the bush and I was back to work with only a week left in the term.
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