So we arrive. Tanna Island in the Vanuatu group.

Nice place. Nice people. English spoken widely and everyone greets you as you go by. The World Cup soccer matches are a huge deal here. Both with the Europeans in the ARC and the locals. The kids make flags out of whatever they can find and run around cheering for their favorites. And they really know who’s who on all the teams. No idea how. There is no TV or Internet here. Cell service yes, but the rest is like a throw back 100 years. The village is very simple. Thatched huts. No electricity or running water in most of the huts. A couple of cinderblock buildings for school. Very poor but very content. I kind of envy the simplicity of their existence. They share in everything. Paradise really.

One HECK of a volcano!

So we did the island tour. We were curious as to why it takes 3 ½ hours to get to the other side of the island where the airport is. And we found out. It’s basically a one lane dirt, potholed, 4 wheel drive path. And that’s the main drag. The only road in fact. 12 of us in a pickup truck for the tour Bouncing along getting the crap beat out of us. Visited a village for a rather contrived touristy dance show. Then on to the volcano. Having visited a couple before my expectations were of a smoking hole in the ground and some noxious fumes. Wow was I wrong. We hiked up the cinder pile and stood on the rim looking down. No railings, no path, no signs that say you may or may not live through this. The sounds coming out of the volcano were incredible. Like a giant belching steam train. The concussions were felt in your chest. We were there for a couple of minutes soaking it in when it started to erupt. Blowing magma hundreds of feet into the air. Glowing, shape changing, globs of very liquid rock. I’ve seen it on film before but this was up close and personal. Every 5 minutes or so another eruption and another fire show. When I get some fast wifi I will post a video or two. We were so close it filled the cameras frame without zooming in. The heat felt like standing by a nice campfire on a cold night. I could have watched all night. A spectacular fireworks show. Then back in the truck for an hour long beating back to the village where we beach our dinghies.

No zoom. Its that close. 

The view as we left Tanna. At night it sets up a glowing fireworks display that must be incredible to see. Seems rather precarious. The hillsides will vent steam on some days but not others. It seems a little unstable. Wishing the best for them.

The following night was a gift exchange. The ARC has kind of adopted this village. This is the 5^th or 6^th time they have come through here. The village elders had provided a wish list of items. Cookware, school supplies, etc.. Each boat brought a pile of items. The roof and floor for the school were donated by ARC members. This year it’s a dorm type housing structure so they can house additional teachers for the school. They need 5 grand and are ½ way there. I think we will make sure they fill that pot. The gift exchange was a formal affair. Co-Hosted by the Chief and the ARC representative. We introduce ourselves and our crews and bring our gift pile forward. Then the village comes in with theirs. A couple thousand pounds of produce in hand woven baskets. And some other hand woven crafts. Not to mention the 100+ hand made woven hats they gave to every ARC sailor. We now have two huge hammocks of fruit and vegetables for our trip to Australia. Then a dinner put on by the village. Local foods. Pig, goat, fish, dozens of vegetable and fruit side dishes. I have no idea what all I ate. Had a great time and the kids sure had fun. They are big on dancing here. Must have been 200 people all jumping and dancing around. Local fellows playing their two chord songs. Really cool sight. Just a bunch of people enjoying each other’s company. From two completely different worlds. And literally from all over the world.

Kids are the same all over the world. Which is to say, awesome. This crew was a hoot.

I brought reading glasses with me and have trucked them ½ way around the world. I had about ½ dozen in my backpack and sat down with a couple of the older women to see if they might be able to make use of them. The younger people all speak English but a lot of the older villagers do not. I was kind of getting the message across when a local fellow sat down and offered to translate. Got them set up with a couple of pair and they seemed rather pleased. Then the translator, Nelson, asked if he could see a pair. He was about my age I would guess. I didn’t think to ask if he could use a pair. He tried out a pair and could read the fine print on a water bottle. He had a very large grin on his face when he was able to do that. He immediately called over a couple other villagers whom he knew to have the same issue and I ran out of glasses pretty quick. Later on that night I got a message from shore via VHF that Nelson had 6 more women who needed them.  Before we left Bob and I took in the remaining ones that I had. 14 pairs. And some sunglasses they also had been asking about. I paid 60 cents a pair for the glasses at a surplus shop. And it made a difference in someone’s life. Next time I will bring 100 pair. Or more. I know by morning word had spread to the next village. I leave it to Nelson to see that they get distributed fairly and I’m sure they will. They have a tremendous sense of sharing and community there.

Tanna was a very memorable stop for us. The people and the volcano were incredible. The closest interaction with local indigenous peoples of the trip so far. And from here forward it gets more civilized so that might have been the best and final.

Off to Port Villa, or the big city, where I doubt we will have this kind of interaction. We'll see.

M