3/17/20
We had an early morning flight to Port Vila. At the airport in Tanna, we boarded the plane at Alex and Ellie had flown in on. We gave them a hug as they got off, chatted a bit, and gave them a grapefruit that we had drawn on. We took a bus to our guesthouse. We settled in, then took a bus to the Mele Mele cascades. Unfortunately, Vanuatu is in a drought, so they weren't as spectacular as normal, but we still enjoyed it. You walk up little cascades and past beautiful blue pools, and then after 1 mile you reach the big waterfall with a nice and refreshing swimming hole. We sat there in the pool for a while, then hiked down, swimming in some of the other beautiful pools.
After the visiting the cascades, we walked to the beach opposite Hideaway Island. As it was low tide, we actually waded through shallow water to make it to the island. The island has the world's only underwater post box, though we didn't visit it because of my ears. Back at the other beach, there was a cool restaurant, and we decided to have our special vacation night out. We had sunset cocktails (me a Nambawan--chocolate, kahlua, baileys, coconut; and Elisha a sour drink). Then we shared a wood-fired seafood pizza.
3/18/20
We had a delicious fruit breakfast, then took a bus to the other side of the island and then from there took a boat to the little island of Nguna. Our plan was to hike to the top of the volcano on the island. We followed a singletrack trail (the island has no vehicles) and arrived at a village. We weren't quite sure which way the trail went from there, so we asked around. A lady told us her husband could point the way. He turned out to be the chief--Chief Maraki.
He guided us up a shortcut trail that he himself had made, but as we went up, followed by 4 of his dogs, he had to cut branches and plants away with his machete. It was hot and sweaty, but on the way up, we came across a downed coconut tree. It had fallen in the recent tropical storm that had passed near by. So Maraki cut them open for us, and we quenched our thirst. We also carried one each up for the summit. Instead of a summit beer, we had summit coconuts! When we got high enough, there were no trees and the views (and breezes) were amazing. We could see some really cool looking jagged islands in the distance and also beautiful turquoise lagoons below.
On the way back down, Maraki was "grocery shopping"--picking up island cabbage, papaya, and firewood. He even picked up a baby mandarin tree to have me plant in his garden. He told us we were the 1st Americans he had ever met and was very happy to meet us because of what the American army did to protect Vanuatu during WWII. He called me his son and gave me a nickname of Tatou. He's a musician (you can find his stuff by searching xmar & vanuatu on youtube). He invited us to have lunch with he and his wife Mari. She made delicious lap lap and a platter of fruit and some cooked vegetables with coconut milk. Maraki showed us his garden and sent us off with a whole bunch of fruit from his garden (papaya, grapefruit, mango). He has a huge garden, and he said he gives all the extra food from it to widows in the village. He and his wife were truly kind people, and we were so lucky to have this experience.
On the bus back to Port Vila, we got an email that our Air Vanuatu flight had been pushed a whole day forward. We had no idea why and by the time we got to Vila, the Air Vanuatu office was closed, and it would be closed the next day due to it being election day. Which reminds me that all the campaigning with people packed in trucks and dancing to loud music as they drove around had been quite interesting during our whole time in Vanuatu. We had dinner at a noodle place by the ocean.
3/19/20 Election Day
Today was supposed to be our last full day in Vanuatu, but with our flight pushed forward to tonight, it was our last day. We still had time to go explore a beach and see a blue hole, but then we cancelled all plans b/c Elisha was feverish and feeling sick. Vanuatu had reported no cases of Covid-19, but still.... (As of today, 7 April, there are still no reports of Covid-19 in Vanuatu)
We then faced a moral dilemma. Do we take our flight today and get out of Vanuatu or not fly like we are supposed to do if you feel sick? In the end, since she wasn't coughing/sneezing, we decided we would be super cautious and go because we didn't want to get stuck in Vanuatu where it would be hard for us to self isolate and where medical care isn't the best. Plus, again, Vanuatu was reporting no cases and NZ wasn't considering Vanuatu to be a risky destination. In the end it was a good decision b/c as you will read later the flight we took was the last out of Vanuatu to NZ and our 2 friends who didn't make it on our flight are still actually stuck on Vanuatu and are going through the cyclone right now. They were supposed to be repatriated with a charter flight from the US government a few days ago, but the oncoming storm delayed the flight. We did up changing our flight from Christchurch to Denver for 2 weeks later so that we wouldn't fly that long route sick. But it was already a decision we had been thinking about making as we were thinking that New Zealand would be a much better country to be in than the US during such a crisis.
We had a last meal at Island Time Burgers then went to the airport. The people at check-in didn't know why the flight was pushed forward, but while in security, we got texts from 2 different groups of Kiwi friends saying NZ was closing its border to all foreigners at 11:59pm that night, so that answered why we were pushed forward. Our flight was to arrive to Auckland that night at 10:45pm. Our flight was full of Vanuatu guys who were getting back to NZ for fruit picking, and they were all coughing. When we landed in Auckland, all the Vanuatu guys put on face masks, and many put on gloves--they were worried about NZ!
We had an early morning flight to Port Vila. At the airport in Tanna, we boarded the plane at Alex and Ellie had flown in on. We gave them a hug as they got off, chatted a bit, and gave them a grapefruit that we had drawn on. We took a bus to our guesthouse. We settled in, then took a bus to the Mele Mele cascades. Unfortunately, Vanuatu is in a drought, so they weren't as spectacular as normal, but we still enjoyed it. You walk up little cascades and past beautiful blue pools, and then after 1 mile you reach the big waterfall with a nice and refreshing swimming hole. We sat there in the pool for a while, then hiked down, swimming in some of the other beautiful pools.
After the visiting the cascades, we walked to the beach opposite Hideaway Island. As it was low tide, we actually waded through shallow water to make it to the island. The island has the world's only underwater post box, though we didn't visit it because of my ears. Back at the other beach, there was a cool restaurant, and we decided to have our special vacation night out. We had sunset cocktails (me a Nambawan--chocolate, kahlua, baileys, coconut; and Elisha a sour drink). Then we shared a wood-fired seafood pizza.
3/18/20
We had a delicious fruit breakfast, then took a bus to the other side of the island and then from there took a boat to the little island of Nguna. Our plan was to hike to the top of the volcano on the island. We followed a singletrack trail (the island has no vehicles) and arrived at a village. We weren't quite sure which way the trail went from there, so we asked around. A lady told us her husband could point the way. He turned out to be the chief--Chief Maraki.
He guided us up a shortcut trail that he himself had made, but as we went up, followed by 4 of his dogs, he had to cut branches and plants away with his machete. It was hot and sweaty, but on the way up, we came across a downed coconut tree. It had fallen in the recent tropical storm that had passed near by. So Maraki cut them open for us, and we quenched our thirst. We also carried one each up for the summit. Instead of a summit beer, we had summit coconuts! When we got high enough, there were no trees and the views (and breezes) were amazing. We could see some really cool looking jagged islands in the distance and also beautiful turquoise lagoons below.
On the way back down, Maraki was "grocery shopping"--picking up island cabbage, papaya, and firewood. He even picked up a baby mandarin tree to have me plant in his garden. He told us we were the 1st Americans he had ever met and was very happy to meet us because of what the American army did to protect Vanuatu during WWII. He called me his son and gave me a nickname of Tatou. He's a musician (you can find his stuff by searching xmar & vanuatu on youtube). He invited us to have lunch with he and his wife Mari. She made delicious lap lap and a platter of fruit and some cooked vegetables with coconut milk. Maraki showed us his garden and sent us off with a whole bunch of fruit from his garden (papaya, grapefruit, mango). He has a huge garden, and he said he gives all the extra food from it to widows in the village. He and his wife were truly kind people, and we were so lucky to have this experience.
On the bus back to Port Vila, we got an email that our Air Vanuatu flight had been pushed a whole day forward. We had no idea why and by the time we got to Vila, the Air Vanuatu office was closed, and it would be closed the next day due to it being election day. Which reminds me that all the campaigning with people packed in trucks and dancing to loud music as they drove around had been quite interesting during our whole time in Vanuatu. We had dinner at a noodle place by the ocean.
3/19/20 Election Day
Today was supposed to be our last full day in Vanuatu, but with our flight pushed forward to tonight, it was our last day. We still had time to go explore a beach and see a blue hole, but then we cancelled all plans b/c Elisha was feverish and feeling sick. Vanuatu had reported no cases of Covid-19, but still.... (As of today, 7 April, there are still no reports of Covid-19 in Vanuatu)
We then faced a moral dilemma. Do we take our flight today and get out of Vanuatu or not fly like we are supposed to do if you feel sick? In the end, since she wasn't coughing/sneezing, we decided we would be super cautious and go because we didn't want to get stuck in Vanuatu where it would be hard for us to self isolate and where medical care isn't the best. Plus, again, Vanuatu was reporting no cases and NZ wasn't considering Vanuatu to be a risky destination. In the end it was a good decision b/c as you will read later the flight we took was the last out of Vanuatu to NZ and our 2 friends who didn't make it on our flight are still actually stuck on Vanuatu and are going through the cyclone right now. They were supposed to be repatriated with a charter flight from the US government a few days ago, but the oncoming storm delayed the flight. We did up changing our flight from Christchurch to Denver for 2 weeks later so that we wouldn't fly that long route sick. But it was already a decision we had been thinking about making as we were thinking that New Zealand would be a much better country to be in than the US during such a crisis.
We had a last meal at Island Time Burgers then went to the airport. The people at check-in didn't know why the flight was pushed forward, but while in security, we got texts from 2 different groups of Kiwi friends saying NZ was closing its border to all foreigners at 11:59pm that night, so that answered why we were pushed forward. Our flight was to arrive to Auckland that night at 10:45pm. Our flight was full of Vanuatu guys who were getting back to NZ for fruit picking, and they were all coughing. When we landed in Auckland, all the Vanuatu guys put on face masks, and many put on gloves--they were worried about NZ!
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| juggling coconuts on the summit |
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| refreshments on the summit |
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| Chief Maraki |
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