Pete in Vanuatu - Ambae

After a great few days with warm showers, cold drinks and friends Pete and I headed to Ambae to stay with Alison for a few more days of island life. The flight from Santo to Ambae was only about 20 minutes but the landing on Ambae is less than pleasant. The airport is right by the ocean so the wind is extra strong and landings can turn a confident flyer into a neurotic one. Luckily we landed safe and were with Alison trying a new fruit called a nandao and jumping into the truck back to her site. Ambae is much smaller than Malekula and very mountainous (due to the valleys created by the volcano that sits in the middle of it) so we had a bumpy ride over to Quantuneala Primary School.

After we got to her house we pretty much went right down to the ocean which is just a short walk through the woods behind Alison's house. She doesn't have a sand beach behind her house but various bigfala stones to cross to get to an area good for swimming. The rocks create a small pool with a barrier to the wide ocean outside. One of the first things I realized about Ambae was that it's actually really close to another island called Maewo. When we were swimming we could see mountainous, massive Maewo off to the east not too far off. This is different than at my site when you look out and for hundreds or thousands of miles all there is is ocean. We swam around for awhile and a group of kids joined us for awhile too. Here's a video of Garai jumping in the water!

After our swim we went back to Alison's host family's house for the most delicious simboro I've ever had. Simboro is grated root crop rolled into big island cabbage leaves then steamed with coconut milk but Alison's mama takes it to the next level with onion and garlic. Unfortunately we had already started preparing our own feast so we only ate a little bit while we drank a little kava with her host mama and papa. Alison's host family is the best. Absolutely some of the kindest people I have met in Vanuatu.

After kava and smol kakae we went back to Alison's for our gnocchi and meat sauce feast and then headed to bed. The next morning we went on a walk over to a black sand beach not far from Alison's house. We went over there not planning to swim but as it was pretty hot and the water looked oh so refreshing we ended up jumping in with our clothes on. It was very worth it. After we dried off for a bit we headed back to Alison's to make lunch.

After a numbawan taco feast we got ready for our hike up to Lake Manaro - the lake at the top of the volcano on Mt. Lombenben. A truck from the village of Ambanga came to pick Pete and me up at Alison's school around 3pm. The ride up to Ambanga was about 45 minutes, most of which we spent climbing a steep road. Once we arrived we had to walk about another 10 minutes uphill to the guest house we were staying at. The guest house is run by a man named Paul and his wife and their daughters family. They set us up in a little house and brought dinner over to us.

The next morning we were up at 6:30am to begin our hike up to Lake Manaro. After a quick breakfast of bread and tea we were off with our tour guide Selwyn and three of his daughters between the ages of eight and fifteen. The trail was more difficult than we were expecting but do-able because of the fact that we had perfect weather. We didn't feel a drop of rain for 4.5 hours - which is when we arrived at the lake on top. We had stopped a few times along the way (one time for this nutrient break for peanut butter tortillas) but 4.5 is what we had been expecting. Needless to say we were relieved to reach the top.

We went into the lake, which was cold. It was also just colder up there in general of course so after a short swim we went back to where we could lay down and relax for a bit until the trek back down. Since the mountain is so high up it actually touches the clouds. This creates what people refer to as a cloud forest. The lake was also experiencing its "dry season" which lasts 6 months out of the year and creates a low tide. So all this green/brown is covered up the other 6 months out of the year and you can't walk out this far.


It was raining on and off but the most important thing is that it started sprinkling just as we entered the area of the lake. Back at the guest house (4 hour hike later) Paul told us that local custom follows that when it starts sprinkling rain right as you enter that area that means that you are people who came with respect for the area. When we got back to the house we were greeted by congratulations and hot, fresh kato (doughnuts downgraded). They were delicious. Paul, of course, wanted to drink some kava to celebrate because he is a known man blong kava. It was nice though we drank with Paul and Selwyn, ate fried baby shrimp, sugar cane and of course, kato and storied for maybe an hour. Then it was time to head back to Alison's so we trekked down to the truck. A little while later we were back and Alison's, exhausted but ready to make the curry we had been talking about for days.

The next morning we woke up early and went up to Alison's host family's village. Since both her parents are teachers they mainly live at the school but since it was school break - and they have a wedding coming up - the family was gathered up in the village. Luckily we took a truck up because Pete and I were pretty beat after our 12 mile hike the day before. When we arrived we were asked if we wanted to go to a wedding, of course we said yes. It's like Pete and I were secretly challenged to attend as many weddings as possible in 17 days. So, we walked over to wedding number three, found seats in the shade and were handed a leaf filled with hot rice, fresh beef and cabbage. Perfect.

We snacked a little and soon enough a custom dance started. At first it was only men dancing but eventually women joined in,  the crowd got larger and this guy started walking around to everyone holding out shots of some whiteman drink concoction (I believe it was cheap whiskey and fruit juice). After a little while longer Alison's anti told us that we could dance if we wanted to so, of course we joined in - Pete joining the men, Alison and I joining the ladies. Immediately after we joined in we were showered with baby powder and wrapped in three different pieces of calico. We probably danced for 20 minutes or more until we were finally ready to sit down, It was incredible how many olfala were able to dance the entire time, no breaks!

Next came the exchange of goods. On Malekula, weddings are all about yams, mats and money. On Ambae, weddings are mainly about mats, then more about mats, a little more about mats and also about pigs. I have never seen so many mats in my entire life. There were just multiple huge mounds in the middle of a big field. Eventually, all the women went into the center with even more mats and unrolled all of them to create a literal mat mountain. It was incredible. After watching these mamas work their mat magic it was time to get back to the house and eat some of mamas simboro!

After two plates of simboro and some storian we started making our way back to Alison's school - along the way stopping at a few different nakamals to drink some kava. A kava crawl if you will. Eventually we made it back to the school and made even MORE simboro and Alison's papa killed a chicken for dinner. We had a little more kava, an amazing meal and great storian and then said good night and went down to the - read this clearly - hot springs down at the beach. Alison has fresh hot springs that flow into her little ocean cove that create hot tubs when they fill up in the different pools. We had wanted to come down the night before after we had finished the hike but we were just too tired though. Tonight was different. We grabbed our snickers and settled into the natural hot tub and really relaxed. It was beautiful being in this natural pool at night hearing the ocean to one side and almost total silence to the other. Eating a snickers while doing so makes everything the best, too.

Eventually it was time to go so we could get up early to pack up Alison's house and get to the airport for our flight to Vila. The morning was full of moderately frantic packing and rat proofing of the house but in between we made a quiche to share with Alison's host family for breakfast. I love quiche and I love sharing recipes that are easy and completely do-able in the village bush kitchen. We enjoyed the quiche together - with Alison's host papa swearing he was going to make one the next day because he love it so much - said thank you for a wonderfully special experience on Ambae, and piled into the truck to the airport.

Papa Ishmael and Mama Jennifer

A couple hours later we were on a layover in Santo and shortly after we were all the way back in Vila after two fully weeks of me dragging Pete all about and having a grand adventure. Oh, and it was also New Years Eve. Happy New Year!