Advertisement
Published: November 12th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Set Camp
Thanks REI for making durable and lightweight. Travelblog July 2009 Part 3
On our first day in the Pareo Valley our team split forces. One group headed up the steep North side of the valley to survey the villages there while another group stayed on the valley floor for the villages there. Another group yet stayed with our newly laid camp.
The hike up the North side of the valley is a very steep climb. The distance as the crow flies is less than 6 miles, but you’re also moving from sea level to well over 2000 ft in elevation. We knew better than to carry full packs on the hike so we kept things light and carried only water and other necessities.
Reaching the first village up the mountain gave us one of the better experiences of the week. I’ve eaten a lot of pamplemouse in Vanuatu, but the most juicy, best tasting pamplemouse I’ve ever had came from this first village up the Pareo Valley. Kerena is the name of the village where we had our first stop and the few people present were more than welcoming. Kerena: home of Vanuatu’s best pamplemouse.
The next group of villages up the valley form
Kid magnet
All the little kids loved Nick. the ‘Salolope Group.’ They are Lowa, Woke, & Woji and it is here that the Tarwalapa School and Aid Post are located. Last year a Project MARC team camped here for a clinic day and night. When asked, we were told that the last whitefellas to come to the village was MARC’s team last year.
After some brief phone calls from a precarious location atop a tree stump (the only place in the village where one can get cell service), our team headed further up the valley to the village of Paki. This second length of climb was a bit steeper, but definitely more scenic.
The village of Paki was sparsely populated but we did run into a few people for survey. It was also here that we found a pregnant mother in need of acute medical attention. It became quickly obvious that she needed a higher level of care than the West Coast of Santo could provide. She needed to get the hospital in Luganville as fast as possible, yet here we were at the top of a mountain quite far from any road that might take her there.
We agreed to pay the price of
A Patch up job
Mike did some first aid on the demolitions crew. Many people worked all day in preparations for the Independence Day festivities. a boat ride to Tasiriki and the following truck ride to the hospital from there, if only the village could get the mother to the beach at Pareo. The woman could barely walk, and the men present could not carry her. The men finally agreed to take the woman to the beach but would have to wait a day or two for more men to show up. The MARC team was grateful for the help from the village and we all agreed to meet on the beach in a day or two.
Since the day was getting on, the team headed down from the summit after collecting some of Paki’s infamous orange lemons (they look exactly like ripe oranges in every form, except they taste exactly like ripe lemons). After surveying the Salolope village group we climbed further down the mountain and returned to the Pareo Beach. Unfortunately there was a casualty for the day: Nick Ripp’s camera was killed by my clumsiness in a handoff.
That night we had some very high winds and strong rain on our little camp at the beach. It was nothing that our REI gear couldn’t handle, but it did make of
Our Entourage
We usually had a pack of kids with us in camp, just hangin' out. a rather sleepless night. Another problem of the rain was that the mountain trails would be too slippery (or even washed out) to travel.
On our second full day in Pareo we took a day off to dry out. There were several ‘rain delay days’ worked into the schedule so it was only appropriate that we take one here. It was also on this day that one of our team members voiced his thoughts of leaving the expedition early.
On the dry 11th day of our expedition our group split again. One team headed up the South side of the valley while another stayed on the valley floor at our camp. If a water taxi were to happen by, the beach team was to flag it down for the woman from Paki…if she were to show up that day.
The hiking team for the day was guided by a very friendly woman from Pagacheev. As we hiked to the villages of Woji, Pagacheev, Ponanir, and Lovacao we were educated in many things pertaining to life in the jungle. At the stop in Pagacheev we had to wait for several men to show up. During the wait we
Meal time
Members of the team would rotate cooking duties. were showed how to weave baskets from palm leaves, how to harvest and open green coconuts, among other things. One of the teams favorite activities was the collecting of ‘Nawoos,’ a pulpy nut which grows very high up a large tree.
When the men failed to show up in Pagacheev our team helped our guide carry a few goods down the mountain and into the valley. It should be mentioned that our female guide was capable of carrying more on her shoulders than all four of our male team members combined.
Upon our return to the beach it was discovered that the pregnant woman from Paki had made it to the beach, but that the surf had been too rough that day and so not boats could land. It was also discovered that the people of the village would not allow the woman to go to the hospital because the local Kastom Chief had declared the ailment a ‘curse from a neighboring village,’ which meant that it could not be the tuberculosis that it appeared to be.
For lodging, the woman was put up in a guest house with extremely close quarters that housed over 45 other
Tarwalapa School
Here's Nick and Mike outside the Tarwalapa school. The last white people to come through here was the last Project MARC team. people from villages up and down the coast. There were several guesthouses being constructed in Pareo Village because the regional Independence celebration was to take place there. People from all the villages on this section of the coast would soon be descending on Pareo for the week of festivities. A soccer field was being cleared, and stalls/huts were being erected all over the village. This event can be compared to the Olympics in the any major city. There are massive public works projects in the village for the event and much construction takes place.
On day 12 it was time for us to leave the Pareo Valley. It was also time for the Project MARC expedition to lose one of its volunteers. Nick Lenskyj departed early with a personal guide on a hike all the way to Tasiriki. In the mix up of the departure, a large sum of money (meant for patient transport) came up missing. It was a bit disconcerting, but I’d like to thank Alanna Kolberg for offering the services of her ‘search and retrieval’ skills.
The hike from the Pareo Valley to the Sulemari Valley is mostly along the beach, but there are some
Trip to the South Valley
Our guide was stronger than the four of us combined. hilly sections at the start and an exciting cliff face before reaching the sand. Overall, the hike was breathtaking and sweat inducing. There was a stop for green coconuts and rest before heading on to the Sulemari Dispensary.
Nurse Helen runs the dispensary in Sulemari and is a wonderful woman. Her husband (another great guy) was absent for the month, but she had no trouble hosting our entire team by herself. It looked as if our stay in Sulemari would be one of the more luxurious stops along the way.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.059s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0297s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb