blitz and lasagna go south - aneityum

Immediately after leaving Pete at the international gate I headed over to the domestic terminal to board my flight to Aneityum. Way back in June of 2014, Alison and I bought tickets to fly to Tanna and Aneityum. Originally we were booked to go in October but as time went on we realized we didn't want to skip town during the last term at school so rescheduled for January.

First we were off to Aneityum, the last island of Vanuatu. Aneityum does not have an airport so instead you have to fly to Mystery Island, a sliver of land slightly north that is home to the airport and vending areas for local Mamas to sell souvenirs to tourists that come off of cruise ships. To get to Aneityum you first have to fly from Port Vila to Tanna and then Tanna to Mystery Island. Flights only go to/from Mystery Island on Tuesday and Saturday so you stay for a few days or you stay for a week. We were staying for a week.

We were also flying with Jen who is a volunteer on Aneityum on her way back from Vila. When we landed we were greeted by the other two volunteers on Aneityum, Charlotte and Brittany, as well as Jen's host family. Charlotte and Jen both live in Anelcahaut (pending spell check) and Brittany lives in Umej, a 2.5 hour hike to the last village of Vanuatu. Jen's host mama sells hand sewn clothes to tourists who come off the various cruise ships that anchor off of Mystery Island multiple days a week during the south pacific summer months. We brought all of our things over to her stall and she gave us simboro and two big lobsters for dinner. I've certainly never been welcomed to a new place with freshly caught and steamed lobster before. We said thanks and grabbed our swim clothes to change into and headed to the beach.

After a short swim we ate our delicious meal on the beach and just relaxed for a couple hours until it was time to get the boat back to Aneityum. It was a weird scene on Mystery Island. It is absolutely beautiful, there's no way to argue that, but the presence of all these white people is odd. It's great that there is so much business generated so in terms of helping the local economy things are good, just a new dynamic I'm not used to.




Another thing I wasn't used to seeing in Vanuatu was pine cones. I jumped when I saw this just sitting in the sand on Mystery Island, as I was surrounded by coconut trees. Throughout the week I eventually got used to walking on dried pine needles and was brought back to good times in fall in New England. Aneityum had pine cones and pine needles because there is a large timber facility on the island and therefore acres and acres of pine trees in the middle of Aneityum. Yet another great income generating source.


We hopped off the boat and were greeted by Jen's sweet dog named Cous Cous, which is the name of a local bird. We settled into Jen's house and then went for a swim in the big river not far from Jen's. Another thing that Aneityum has, in addition to pine cones, is water. They have massive rivers that flow strongly into the ocean. I love swimming in the river, especially when we jump in, get out, soap up and then jump back in to rinse. Back at Jen's we cooked dinner and went to bed to gear up for our hike to Brittany's village, Umej.

When we woke up the next morning it was raining, to say the least. It was raining oh was it raining. We had a lazy morning but as the rain settled down we got ready to trek to Umej. Now, this is a hike Brittany does often, like anytime she wants to go to the bank or post office, or when she wants to eat chocolate. You can take a boat but it can cost you 8000vatu ($80), or you can take a beautiful hike that takes you on the beach, across rivers, on top of large, hot, black rocks, through the bush and down steep hills. Obviously we chose the latter and had a great time.

There aren't any trucks on Aneityum and therefore there are no roads so walking along this long and semi treacherous path is the way to go. With friends its not bad at all, especially once you get to the fresh spring for a refreshing drink. Brittany does this by herself all the time and Jen and Charlotte do frequently as well. They're three tough gals. When we could finally see Brittany's village in the distance we were relieved and quickly found ourselves at a big river crossing. However, right before the river Brit suggested we go check out this tree house so we did and were welcomed into the home of a sweet couple and two cute kids. They gave us some good food and drink and we storied and speled before continuing our journey.


After we left and crossed the river we were in Umej and excited to be. We relaxed in Brit's house for a bit before going over to her family's house for kava and kakae. We walked over to an exciting game of volleyball which we promptly joined while the kava was being prepared.

Now, kava in Umej is different that other kava. Many people say its far stronger than other strains of the kava root and they even have a special strain called glisan (glee-san). The first night we didn't drink glisan, we had another kind that was absolutely strong. We had an informal kava ceremony with Brit's host famly, drank and storied for a few hours before it was time to sleep. It takes a special person to be in a site like Umej, not because its dangerous because its not, but because its just so remote. She doesn't have cell reception and I already told you about her transportation situation. She's got it tougher than some but she handles it like such a champ and she does so so confidently and genuinely. Its amazing. I'm really happy for her that she has a community she's happy in and one that loves her so much.

The next day we woke up and enjoyed some kato and tea for breakfast before we headed over to the river to swim. We went to a special area of the river called Ivanjamp (ee-van-jump..i think) where you can jump off a ledge into a deep part of the river. Of course we brought our showering supplies and got as clean as river water that people were washing fish in could get a person. Of course we also got to have fun with the GoPro.


When we felt sufficiently clean we were making our way out of the river when a woman gave us about 5 fish on a rope. We said thanks and made plans to cook it up as wasemaout for the kava later. We had made plans with one of Brit's antis to drink kava together that night but wanted to spel first so we went to Brit's house for a short nap. Our short nap turned into a longer sleep and we weren't able to fry the fish up before the kava but did so later on after a few shells. Now, here is when I'll talk about glisan, the super kava of Umej. There are various ways of preparing kava - using a meat grinder, ramming it, grinding it with a stone or chewing it. On Aneityum, they chew. Alison and I wanted to have the full experience so we helped chew the kava but quickly realized its horribly disgusting and made us feel sick. Brit on the other hand was chewing away like a seasoned pro. Once it was done I was back to a state of being well enough to drink a shell but as soon as it got close to my mouth I felt a little different. As I started drinking I realized how thick it was and how big the shell was. I got it down but it didn't stay down for long. I threw up immediately after my second shell and again the one after. It's crazy that my body didn't start yelling at me to stop trying but I was really trying to be respectful and participate. Eventually I just started taking a little bit of the shell and dumping the rest. As a man of Umej told me, it's alright to dump it into the ground because it came out of the ground in the  first place. Alison was right next to me getting sick so at least I wasn't alone.  Brit again, just drinking like a champ next to us and leading the dance party. Another curve ball - Umej loves dancing. We danced in a circle until about 11pm when we had to be done. We got back to Brittany's and promptly crashed in bed and slept soundly except for a rat that was going crazy near our heads!

The next morning we geared up for the trek back but decided to take things slowly because, as Brit failed to mention, glisan is two day kava which means, can you guess? The effects last into the next day! Luckily Alison and I had puked out enough to dodge the two day effects and Brit is just a boss who was ready to take on the hike to Jen's. We took our time going back to Jen's and were glad to be able to rest a bit on arrival. Later that night we had a little mamas kava group and, as sick as I was the night before, I was not able to participate much. It was still fun to hang out though.

The next day we did some planning for Jen's library which just got hundreds of books donated from a cruise ship visit and then made some great black bean tacos for lunch. In the afternoon we had a sewing lesson with Jen's mama when she helped us make clothes for ourselves and others. She helped me make a skirt and a matching one for smol Laura obviously. After sewing we used the left over black beans to make black bean soup and settled into comfy mode for Gone Girl and sleep.

Jen's mama makes really nice dresses that she sells on Mystery Island but we wanted to help her expand her options by teaching her how to make bracelets with beads and hemp. We settled in with supplies Jen was able to grab in Thailand and within no time she had the hang of it. Such a crafty woman. Later we took a stroll over to the store to buy some snickers and supplies for pizza. It was raining pretty hard on and off so we went to a wedding briefly - mainly to get some delicious cake and shake hands with the new bride.

The next morning we had quite the surprise when Brit told us that there was a woman who wanted us to go on her tour so she could practice for her tourism business. We said sure and went out to the beach to start. This woman, Agasi, was demonstrating to new tour guides how to guide tourists though a cultural village tour. Agasi spoke very clear english, made great eye contact and confidently led us through a tour of her own home and culture. I felt weird about going on the tour at first but I soon relaxed and really enjoyed it. I also learned a few new things.

In the afternoon we went on another adventure, this time with Charlotte as our tour guide. Charlotte took us on a hike on top into the pine forest. It was incredibly beautiful and when the ocean was hidden you just felt like you could be in so many different countries. This is something I have loved so much during the travels thorughout Vanuatu I've been doing - all the islands are different in terms of plants, foliage, fruits and landscape. Its fun to see and be able to identify clear differences between my island and others and feel a distinct appreciation for each different place.

After our hike we got ready for a last kakae (good bye dinner) with Jen's host family. Throughout the week we spent lots of time getting to know Jen's host family so it was hard to say goodbye. They prepared an amazing meal of laplap, fish, vegetables and amazing sauces. We took turns giving thanks for our ability to visit Aneityum and enjoyed some really, really good food.

Mama Faina and her adopted norther Vauatu whitemen

Jen's mama, the kind woman she is, made matching skirts for Alison and me (as well as matching ones for Alison's niece in the states and smol Laura) and gave us custom baskets from Aneityum. I love being surprised by the selfless kindness of so many people I meet in Vanuatu.

whale and whaler

On Saturday morning we were up at 6am to get ready for our flight to Tanna. Alison and I packed up all our stuff and we all headed over to Mystery Island to way for our plane. As we were waiting for our plane we made one last round of the stalls to shake hands and say thanks to all the mamas we met during our stay. We were about to get on the plane when Jen's host mama told us to wait and she ran away to get something. When she came back she had a big basket in her hands. She handed it to me and told me to put all my stuff in it because the one I had been carrying around was bursting at the corner and looked like it would fall apart any second. I was so overwhelmed with thanks. I had been carrying that basket since August and of course overfilled it regularly so I wasn't surprised that it was breaking. It was just such a kind thing to do. Mine was definitely still strong enough but the thought that they just want to take care of me made me feel real great. They were also excited to have my old basket so they could learn style of woman Malekula so things worked out perfectly.

After another round of thank yous and hand shakes we headed out to the plane, climbed in to the back seats and as soon as the cruise ship tourists and their big cameras had cleared the runway we were off to Tanna for some best friend volcano time.

Jen with her host sister at Mystery Island airport