Knowledge on Vanuatu

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Well, I think I'm a little burnt out on travel. I just don't care about getting out and seeing things anymore. We missed the bank today and as a result we have roughly $20 between the two of us for the weekend. I guess a little belt tightening will be in order.

It's a little strange that my southern hemisphere adventure is winding to a close, but I'm not sure I would want to go back next year especially when I think of what might have been. The whole Noosa situation just crept on me. It was almost instantaneous and I can't believe I'm still thinking about it now. I'm just tired of being on the road. I can almost see the end and I am trying to fight off going into "counting the days" mode.

But hey, this is a travel journal so lets talk about Vanuatu and the South Pacific because in reality it is a fantastic tropical place. The moonlight in Vanuatu has a magical quality about it. It seems to linger tangibly in front of you. It feels almost like you can reach out and grab hold of it in your hand. It is really quite something to see. Today my friend and I tossed the Frisbee around the big field. As late afternoon turned into dusk it felt Zen like in the soft South Pacific light. There was a cool breeze coming from the sea and the Frisbee just floated along the wind like it had a soul of its own.

After last night's Christmas gathering my friend and I partied with some of his Ni-Van friends. He has more Ni-Van friends than any other ex-pat and they consider him to be a black man like them. The night was just crazy. With loud music, dancing, Fijian rum and broken glass. On Vanuatu the men and women party separately. Then if they want to get together. They do this thing called "creeping" where a guy will go stand outside a girl’s window and if she's interested she'll let him in.

Anyway, here is what I learned from talking with them. They love Americans. However, they are not as fond of Australians who they apparently don't interact well with them. This probably, I think, has something to do with the Aussies viewing the Ni Van as being like Aborigines and all the baggage that it brings. The Ni-Vans revere America as the nation that saved their independence and saved them from Japanese colonization. On a different subject Frederick, a really down to earth Ni-Van, said that he thought that Vanuatu should get back to their own culture, rather than rushing to embrace western culture, saying that Ni-Vans didn't really know how to handle the western ways and culture.




Note: My Vanuatu trip directly follows The Aussie Diaries. These entries come directly unabridged from the journal I carried around with me on my first post-university adventure to the southern hemisphere. They are a bit on the rough side. Also, I will reorganize and add more photos when I finished putting in all the other Vanuatu entries.


added april 10, 2006

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Photos

Standing under palms
An easy life on Santo

Matevulu
From the big field you could see the ocean that surrounded the land.