May 20, 2011
Amazing…. Today I woke up at 6:30, ate some breaky, (only to find out later that there was BUGS in the cereal I ate…..) and headed down to the sport hut. At the hotel there was a list of activities that were free for the guests to do, and the one for today was to kayak around the island… So I went down at 7am, which is where I met Kensly. Kensly works at the sport hut at the Holiday Inn. It was only me there, but he was still keen to take me, so out we went. I wanted to bring my camera along, but he said it would definitely get wet, and I should leave it behind… I ran up to the front desk to leave it there, which is where I saw my first HUGE Vanuatuan spider…. (YUCK!) It was massive! So when I saw it, I shrieked a bit, and pointed it out to the two front desk workers. They book looked at the spider, looked back to me, chuckled a bit, and went back to work…. I was like “umm you are just going to leave it there??” and they said “yeah, it won’t hurt you”. It was so nasty, I was so freaked out by it, but it was so interesting that they were so incredibly calm about it! Anyways…. went back down to meet Kensly at the Kayaks and out we went… It was amazing; the water was like glass, still as ever. Everything was so quiet and peaceful. I got a tour around the small island that the hotel owns, and also back by some houses. It was a lot of fun.
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| Here I am, out on the Kayak! |
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| Here is myself with Kensly! |
Even though I went on the trip to learn about the island, I learned so much more!!! Talking to Kensly I found out that he was 24 years old and from Ambrym, which is one of the smaller islands of Vanuatu. His island is known for the carvings, which is pretty cool. His island also has volcanoes that tourists often like to see. I learned that he grew up “living free”. His family had no money, but it wasn’t needed. They ate everything they grew, and they made their house in the land, with the land. They had cows and chickens that they raised and butchered for the meat. I asked him how he got to the island we are currently on, Efate Island. It was amazing to hear that he actually would collect coconuts, split them open (which is a LOT tougher than you would think…), and then carry them to the markets to sell.. He did this long enough to get the money so he could take a ship from Ambrym to Efate. How amazing is that?? He has never been anywhere else in the world, but he would love to see Australia. I just find it so amazing. Kensly then asked about me and my life growing up. He asked if I was able to “live free”. I replied with “no”, and he immediately responded with, “oh, you grew up in the city?”. I found that so interesting, the image that he must have had of the United States. I then explained that no one can “live free” in America, as you need money for everything, if nothing else the property that you want to live on.
I also got to learn about Kensly’s life. There are four children in his family as well. He said that it is part of their culture to have arranged marriages. WE talked about why he didn’t think that was fair, and I also learned that Kensly is a Christian, and goes to church in Port Vila. We also talked about school, and how they do actually have university in Vanuatu, but it doesn’t sound like it is very common to go to.
I loved learning about Kensly’s life as a Vanuatu citizen, it was wonderful – but my adventure for the day didn’t stop there. Philip came along also! Philip is another worker at the hotel. He is a bit older than Kensly, and I am not exactly sure which island he comes from. He loves to have a good time, and was so keen to have Julie and myself making us try Kava. He was fun to have, and was a lot of fun to be around as well. Having so much fun Kayaking in the morning I rented another kayak from Philip and went out. I wanted to make it to the ocean, unfortunately that didn’t happen, but it was a great time! I went far enough to see some of the houses of the people. I could see what Kensly was talking about, they were made out of anything and everything – and were not much at all. My favorite part was when I went by about 5 kids. They were along the shoreline, and they spotted me right away. The kids were between the ages of 1-6 probably. They were so excited to see me, all jumping and waving at me. They even started to sing!!!! It was so great to see. I really wanted to stop and say hello, but I figured that would seem a bit odd, so I continued on.
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| Here I am with Philip!! |
When I got back to the beach, I decided to do some shell collecting. While looking for shells, I noticed this HUGE starfish that was very brightly colored! It was the most amazing creature I have ever seen! It was so large, larger than my hand, and it was red with black spikes. I took a picture and ran up to the sport hut to ask Philip what it was called. He told me that it wasn’t poisonous and that I could pick it up… So Philip took me down by the beach again and we picked it up. It was so neat… It was so heavy, but so neat! The black thorns sticking out were so sharp, but it was such a beautiful creature! What an amazing thing to find!
After a long day kayaking and collecting shells at the beach, it was time for us to head up to our room to grab something to eat. On our way, a lady who worked at the hotel stopped us. She asked if we would be in a photo with a customs officer for a competition. I said I would, thinking it would only take a few minutes. I was then introduced to the customs officer (Simon), and the two people with him. I learned that the photo would be entered into a competition that would be participated in by many countries around the world!!! So it was a bit bigger deal than I thought, and before I knew it, a real photographer came in…. I couldn’t believe it, I am not very good at acting, and I am surely not a model! After an hour and a half of photo taking and laughing (mainly laughing), the photographer was finally satisfied! It was such a great time – Simon had such great humor (which was surprising since he is a customs officer).
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| Here we are, Simon, the photographer, and myself... I was supposed to act like there was something illegal in my bag.... and I was supposed to be scared. Simon continued to make me laugh! |
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| Simon and I, posing for the photo yet again! |
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| :) It was a lot of fun... :) |
It was a wonderful day today! I wouldn’t change any of it for the world! I am so lucky to be here and to have met so many great people and learn so many wonderful things! J I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings, but for now, goodnight!!!
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