The Third World

We have a few sets of friends that we know have traveled through third world countries, but for the most part, most of the people we know have not. Until a few days ago, we hadn't either. Sure, we've been to some places in Mexico and even the United States that seemed like they may have been third world, but trust me when I say that they are not even close to where we are now. In our few short days in Vanuatu, we have had our eyes stretched wide open.

If you read my last post, you know that we have arrived in Vanuatu. We had a day to explore the capitol city of Port Vila before we had to hop on another plane that would take us to the largest island in the country called Espiritu Santo. Once we got off the plane, we hopped in a bus and made our way to downtown Luganville which is the largest “city” on the island (the city is about 4 blocks long...it's a tiny city and more like an itty-bitty town). After the bus, we took a quick ferry ride to a neighboring island and finally made it to the boat that we will be calling home for the foreseeable future. It only took us a total of about 52 hours to get here but we officially made it to the boat. Hallelujah!

What is the first thing you do when you get to the South Pacific? Obviously you get in the water. It's pristine and it's clear and it's warm and it's inviting. After our monumental trek of getting here, a swim over some coral and tons of brightly colored fish was just what the doctor ordered to help us not only cool off but unwind. We got some snorkeling and some scuba diving in to break us in to life in the South Pacific and have been able to see some things that we have never seen before. Namely, giant clams. They are pretty cool and colorful and if you put your finger in their mouth they snap awful quick. And yes, they are giant. They are about as big as a watermelon. That's a big clam!

And speaking of cooling off, it is hot here so the swim in the ocean is really a temporary cool off. But it's not too bad because it's a wet heat. Oh, wait...that is the bad part. It's really hot and incredibly humid so no matter what you do, you are always sweaty and sticky. It's pretty awesome. We are going to have to get used to the heat. It's made it a little difficult to sleep so far, but I'm sure we'll adjust.

Beyond the heat and the diving, we have been doing some exciting stuff. We just went on pretty amazing tour (yes, a tour...not something we are used to doing. We normally like to figure things out for ourselves). This tour is put on by the local villages. 8 villages to be exact. They all came together and pulled their resources together (land for the tour and villagers as tour guides) to create employment as well as earn income that is divided by the villages and used for schooling the kids. School is not something that is free here, so if you are in a village and living off the land like it has been done for thousands of years, school is not something that is a reality for a poor family. The tour has provided enough income to build a small school and fund education for most kids in these 8 villages.

These schools aren't like a school you would see in the States. An education may only mean that you have the ability to count and perform basic math, or if you are lucky, speak English or French. We have seen on many occasions when purchasing food at the local market (they have the most amazing markets here), the vendor doesn't know how to add prices together, they don't know how to count how many items you are purchasing, and the hardest of all, they surely don't know how to calculate change. They are very trusting when I tell them “this is 10 grapefruits so that equals $200 Vatus.” (the exchange rate is pretty good for the US dollar. It equals about $100 Vanuatu dollars to our $1...10 grapefruits is $2 US...and they are the best you'll ever eat...we are loving fresh squeezed grapefruit juice). Since calculating change is so difficult, I just purchased 5 coconuts instead of the 2 that I wanted (5 coconuts were only $1). The point of this, is that even a basic education means everything here.

To get to the start of this tour, we hired a local bus to take the 4 of us and our newly made Italian friends to a small village up in the mountains. The roads are dirt, rough, and most likely impassible when wet. The driver, just like every other driver here, likes to go fast and has no concern with the massive potholes, ditches, and villagers who are walking on the road. All of the villagers that we see walking along the winding dirt road that is taking us into the heart of the jungle are carrying machetes. Every single person has one. Even the little kids. We are told that the machetes are a necessity here. Not only because the trail may be overgrown by the time you walk home at the end of the day (things grow really fast here), but because if you are hungry, your lunch comes from the jungle. They will use their machetes to cut off a piece of something (almost everything is edible) and have lunch. If they are thirsty, cut off a thick vine and drink the water that is stored inside. Incredible.

When we finally get to the start of our tour, we are in the middle of the jungle at a local village. We meet our guides here and and are told that we are going to have a short walk to the neighboring village where we will meet the chief and get more instructions. Great. Let's do this.

The village is probably just what you would imagine if you are thinking of a jungle village. It's primitive. There is no power or running water. There are however the most beautifully constructed bamboo and thatched roof huts that you can imagine. As someone who used to build stuff for a living, I was amazed at the attention to detail in the weaving of the walls, the vine lashings that were used to tie the poles together, and the thatched roofs. I was told by one of the villagers that the thatched roofs hold up better than a tin roof and they don't leak a drop. Pretty cool.

When we get to village number 2, we meet the chief who tells us about what we are going to see. He says “this is a 4 in 1 tour, meaning you get to do 4 things. Trekking (hiking) which will take you about 2 ½ hours, caving which will take you about 40 minutes, canyoneering which will take you about 1 hour, and then swimming which will take you about 45 minutes.” He told us that this was sacred land for his people and that they have been living off of it for centuries so respect it and enjoy it. He failed to tell us that this tour is nothing like an average tour. There are no safety standards, we'll be climbing cliffs and waterfalls, wading through dark caves, climbing primitive “ladders” that are spanning big drops, and our guides will think we are weenies because they have been doing this type of stuff since they were babies and they are doing it in either bare feet or flip flops.

Off we go and the trekking begins. We walk through the jungle on trails that have been used by the villagers for centuries. The jungle is as green as green can get and it's lush. Every inch of everything is growing. There is a saying here that says if you poke a stick in the ground, be careful because it will grow so fast that it will poke out your eye. Even the air smells like it's growing. It's thick with the smell of fruits, coconuts, the villages, and it's thick with humidity. It smells alive.

Our trekking takes us through villages, up and down ravines, and to grand vistas overlooking the jungle. It is really like nothing we have ever seen. The trail eventually takes us down to the cave which is one of the star attractions of this adventure. The cave is about a half mile long and is home to bats and sparrows. It's also dark. We have to wade through water in the pitch black darkness while holding flashlights that is between knee deep and chest deep to get through the cave and we have to navigate through large piles of bat turds. The cave was pretty cool but the piles of bat turds were pretty disgusting.

After the cave, it's time for the canyoneering. This part is also no walk in the park. We scale large boulders, squeeze through tiny openings, and cross big drops on rickety bridges. The canyon has a river running through the boulders and openings so everything is covered in a slippery moss that makes our footing sketchy at best. Our guides do all of this in either flip flops or bare feet and they don't seem to slip ever. Their footing is as solid as if they were walking down a city street. Meanwhile, we are slipping and sliding and walking on all fours at times.

After the canyoneering, it's time for the swimming. We have another half mile to cover in the bottom of the narrow canyon and the water is too deep to walk through, so swimming it is. And it's beautiful. There are vines and waterfalls that drop into the river and breaks in the canopy above that let streams of light beam down to us in the bottom of the river. We spend about an hour swimming our way downstream to the spot where we need to climb out of the canyon.

I guess you would call the next portion of the adventure more trekking, but really, it was waterfall climbing. The way out of the canyon was up a warm water waterfall fed by a hot spring along with more make shift ladders that brought us back to another series of trails that would eventually lead us back to the village where we started. Once back to the village, we were given refreshments of coffee, bananas, coconut, and papaya that came from the villager's garden along with another greeting from the chief that came with hugs and thanks for visiting and supporting the village by going on the tour. Not a bad way to spend a day.

For me, the most interesting part of the whole adventure was seeing real villages with real villagers and seeing how they live. It's real poverty. There is no keeping up with the Jone's because the Jone's have nothing either. It's complete sustenance living. Everything is about surviving and making an attempt at providing for your family. And by providing, I mean a roof, enough food, and clothes on their back. Nothing else. No nick-knacks, no tv's, no unnecessary frilly things. Our tour guide was 19 years old, he never went to school, he's never been off of the island, and he probably never will. He'll most likely never move out of his village. He is an anomaly because at 19, he still isn't married and he doesn't have a whole mess of kids yet. It's a completely different way of life that this overly fortunate boy from Seattle has never seen.

The other thing that is really interesting is the fact that everyone has a cell phone. They don't have running water or even a second pair of shoes, but they have a cell phone. And each village seems to have a solar panel for everyone to take turns charging their phone. Amazing.

Tomorrow we have arranged to visit another village on a different part of the island. We'll be transported up river by locals in their dugout canoes where we'll get to what is called a “blue hole”. More on that in the next episode.