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Lamen Island
On Valesdir Black Sand Beaches looking out at Lamen Island
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July 31, 2000 Amy and Joel's house was about 50 yards from the beach. We walked through the school grounds to get to their house. The school consisted of three cement buildings, a flag pole, and a oxygen tank they used as the bell.
School Grounds for Lamen Bay Primary School With no running water, to take a shower (In Bislama shower is called Swim) you heat your water over a fire and then put the boiling water in a bucket full of cold water. The warm water is then poured over you with a cup as you stand in a small metal covered closet. At night we brushed out teeth under the Milky Way. Since there is no residual light from towns the sky is amazing clear. You never realize how beautiful the stars are until you stand were we stood. |
Amy and Joel's House, Kitchen is on the left next to the house. Amy's house, as seen above, consisted of two rooms. The living room and bedroom. The kitchen, seen below and to the left of the house above, consisted of a fire area and propane tank that fueled the stove top. No refrigerators, or running water on the island. Apparently you would be amazed how long mayonnaise can last outside a refrigerator.
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August 1, 2000 We woke up around 0600 since the sun was out around 0500 (no daylight savings time in Vanuatu). It is dark at 1730 each night and sun break at 0500 every morning. Zero, my dog I adopted and feed while I was there was, sitting at our door. We had breakfast along with Zero and Amy took us on a tour of the Westside of island.
That night we went to the Kava Bar. Apia picked us up and we walked through the darkness arriving at the Kava Bar. The Kava Bar consisted of a small shack with a man with a flash light standing in front of a bowl of muddy water. Kava is a root grown and ground up with a meat grinder, it is then added to water. It numbs your tongue and relaxes you. It is custom to buy Kava in coconut shells and then walk out into the darkness and drink it. You drink Kava in the darkness because the taste is so bad you do not want people to see your face; or so you can fertilize the grass, like I did.
Kava tasting
Copra cooker We snorkeled during the day and took a tour of the eastside of the island. Along the way we saw a copra set up. Copra is another name for Coconut that has been cooked for three days. It is amazing some of the customs on this island, which I have noted in the following Link, Lamen Island Customs. That night we were treated to a custom dinner by Apia and Loma. Basically Loma prepared us a meal of pig soup, lap lap, sacaro, island cabbage, rice and noodles. Lamen food does not have much spices and is very bland and root-like tasting.
Canoeing across the Pacific Ocean. |
Along the way we ran into many children. These two children were playing with the popular children's toy, a machete. Amy showed us her kinder garden room and then we went over to her family friends, Loma and Apia, house. There we were treated to lemons, grapefruit, nuts and popo directly from the tree. Geoff played volleyball with their kids and I played soccer with some other kids.
Once we had our Kava experience we had some money left over and bought everyone in the area a round of Kava. Only spending $7.00 USD money we made a lot of people happy in addition to paying for Amy, Apia, Geoff and my drinks. The next day we were known as the "Nice white man pay for Kava." August 2, 2000 Woke up around 0600 and Amy made us eggs and bread. Feed Zero lots of crackers, this dog was in heaven because the way the locals treat the dogs around here can bring you to tears. Kids throw rocks at the dogs, stone the dogs to death, run after them with bow and arrows, and the list goes on. There is no purpose for dogs here. The locals thought I was crazy petting the dogs. Do not understand this culture because they are strong Christian followers but do not see dogs as God's Creatures. YAHH!
Custom Dinner prepared by Loma August 3, 2000 Our day of departure had a slight change of plans. When we woke up Amy went to find out about the boat to take us back to Epi to catch the plane. However, a lady on Epi (born on Lamen Island) had passed away, at the age of 140 is what we were told, so they were transporting the body to Lamen Island and the boat was not going to be ready. Amy then went to find Apia and we had to find a canoe to paddle over to Epi. It took us over 45 minutes to canoe across the ocean, quite an experience. Once on Epi, we dropped off our stuff and checked in at the airport. We wanted to snorkel and see the sea cow but since there was a death on the island Amy thought it be best we held off. Maybe next visit. Our plane arrived on time, amazingly and we said our goodbyes to Amy and Joel. Thanking them for a wonderful honeymoon experience. |
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