Vanuatu is weird and wild and wonderful and I don't know where to begin. First, some administrative details. I can be reached through the Peace Corps address I'm mentioned before, but letters can be sent to me directly on Epi. I'm not supposed to put my address in this blog, but ask around and someone will have it. If you'd like to save on postage and cut out a week or two of mail delivery time, however, you can send an e-mail message to volunteer@vu.peacecorps.gov with my name and island in the subject line. The person who checks that in-box will print out the letter and include it with my other mail. Please send me a letter, but be sure to include a return address so I can write back.
I will be in Port Vila until Saturday, February 19 and internet access will be spotty at best. After the 19th, it's back to Epi where there I have no internet, no electricity, and slow moving mail. If you have a question or just want to chat, now's the time. If you're trying to call me, however, know that my mobile phone was lost in the salt water when Jared and I capsized the canoe near Laman Bay, but that's a whole different story. I'll have a new Digicel phone soon and I think the same number.
It is likely that I will be in Port Vila for a week or two again before the end of the year, probably in late August. Just like now, though, I'll spend most of my time either attending to things at headquarters or running around Vila trying to take care of business before going back. Sorry I haven't been more communicative on the log, but I'm going to try to remedy that this week.
John Karp pointed me to some videos of the island. The first is a video of landing at the Laman Bay airstrip: http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=-9019154185975805492# If you haven't landed in a small prop plane on a muddy patch of grass snuggled between the ocean and a forbidding wall of coconut trees, then you haven't known the terror of landing on Epi. Fortunately the airport agent is good at keeping the wire fence mended to that cattle don't wander onto the runway.
The second video is a compilation someone made of scenes of Epi. It's not mine, but it will show you where I live. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tai0sOAnQEM
The music you here at the beginning is some of the ubiquitous string band music beloved of everyone else in Vanuatu. I'd like it too if I didn't have to hear the same dozen songs over and over again. The Chinese family that lives across the alley from my motel room was playing some classical Chinese music last night and it was such a relief to here something different.
The video starts with a landing at Laman Bay airport followed by a little tour of Laman Bay. Yes, they water in the bay is that blue. Sometimes, people catch tuna out there.
There's a picture of an outrigger canoe that looks just like mine at about the 1:10 mark.
At 2:06 you can see what the road looks like on a good day. Now, during the rainy season, there are big holes in it.
At 2:24 you can see one of the many nakamals dotting the island. Most villages have one.
At 2:38 there's an expanse of wide beach leading to a piece of landing jutting out. I think that's the same beach I trekked across with Marco, Robinson, and Michael in order to catch a boat to Ngala during out November business trip.
At 3:00 you can see some of the coral I see when I go fishing in the canoe. This video doesn't give a good idea of how colorful the coral can be.
At 4:15 notice how close the houses in the village are. Most of the villages seem that way because we're all hemmed in by the steep hills.
The last video is a tourism promotion video from Shefa province. This is a "cleaner" view of Epi, but it's close enough to real life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj8chB9ryVo. I don't live in a situation that is at all similar to the tourist bungalow depicted nor do I eat food that looks like that. The view is the same.
I'll try to post more pictures soon.
Daniel
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