When your mom comes to visit you in a small developing country, you don’t take her to museums and cathedrals. You take her to the beach or for a walk around town. You arrange an all-day cruise, and even though she’s in her seventies and never been snorkeling before, you encourage her to strap on a snorkel and jump off a small boat into the Pacific Ocean.
Might as well give it a try, Mom. And she does.
Yes. That’s what you do when you live in Port Vila, Vanuatu, where we lived for three years–1990 to 1993. And even though Port Vila is a lovely little town, and the cruise was great, Port Vila is the only real town on Efate Island. If we wanted to explore Vanuatu further, we’d have to take a boat or a plane to one of Vanuatu’s other islands, of which there are 14 largish ones and 60 that are smaller but populated.
So Mom and I scheduled a flight on Vanair to Tanna, an island to the south.
Tanna is a young land. Scientists believe it rose from the sea only about a million years ago. Maybe that’s why it has such an active volcano.
Captain Cook was there in 1774. He was sailing past at night, and he noticed a great light (Yasur Volcano). He landed at a small inlet he named Port Resolution after his ship. He made contact with a chief, but his was a short trip. The Tannese weren’t interested in anything he had to trade, and they wouldn’t allow his men to climb the volcano. They said it was taboo.
Times have changed. Now, climbing the volcano is a favorite activity for visitors.
Mom and I landed on a runway that was a just grassy strip. As we approached, a horse race was taking place. This probably happened before because they quickly moved off the runway.
We never did go inside the small airport building.
Instead we were met by one of the managers of White Grass Bungalows, Peter or Paul.
Mom had experience sleeping in tents, cabins, and a boat, so she had no complaints about our bungalow …
… even though we had only one bed.
There was only one tour leaving from White Grass Bungalows, and it was led by Peter (or Paul). Let’s just call him Paul. And there were only two stops on the tour, Yasur Volcano and the custom village. Paul drove. The other two members of the tour were French-speaking residents of New Caladonia.
Come back next week for part 2.
I hope you’ll enjoy my posts about Vanuatu in the months leading up to the publication of my novel next year. The working title is: When in Vanuatu.
It’s great that you have all these old photos to go with your story! I’m off to read part 2…
I kept photo albums when our kids were little. Then I threw photos in boxes, which makes them hard to identify and place in time. I did keep two photo albums, though, when we were in Vanuatu.
Wow, what an exciting trip!
(On a side note: I’ve always wanted to go to the Big Island and check out the volcano.)
It was a brief trip but a good chance to explore another part of a country with lots of variation. The capital in Port Vila is a beautiful, comfortable place where lots of expats live. But there are isolated villages on various islands where people still follow the ways of their ancestors.
What an adventurous mum! I doubt mine would agree to snorkeling, and she’s not even 60 yet!
My mom didn’t volunteer for snorkeling, and she was worried since it was far from shore. But she practiced from the beach, and the people from the ship encouraged her. I guess that’s how she was talked into it.
Wonderful, Nicki! Reminds me of traveling with my mom. Looking forward to Part 2!
Yes. I enjoyed traveling with Mom. She came to the Philippines two or three times with side trips to Hong Kong and Taipei. But mostly our trips were shorter, to LaConner or to visit a friend or relative.
Interesting trip with Mom, Nicki! Reminds me of our time in Ghana (as the parents)
Visiting our kids takes us to places we might never have gone if not for them. For me, it’s places like Nashville, Baltimore, all over eastern Washington, Berkeley, Chicago, and Indianapolis. And then there are the vacations they planned.
Great post! I love following your adventures. Can’t wait for part 2! :3 💜
Thank you, Sha. I hadn’t planned to do Vanuatu stories until later in the year. But there was lots of volcanic activity in January that caught my attention: Taal Volcano in the Philippines, Popocatapetl in Mexico, and Kilauea in Hawaii. So I couldn’t resist these two posts. Part 2 is scheduled for Feb. 9.
Go, Mom! Gotta love a generation that complains about nothing and has a sense of adventure.
I wonder when the volcano was no longer decreed taboo?
Yes, I love that generation. In my experience, they didn’t whine all the time.
Getting rid of the taboo was probably a gradual thing. Various traders and missionaries went through lots of ups and downs. I’m sure it’s long story. The sandalwood traders in the 1840s made inroads by bringing them their enemies from another island. They traded guns, and when a European was killed with one of those guns, they left for a while. The missionaries got chased out in 1842 after a dysentery epidemic. Then, with other missionaries, there were problems about dress. The people were used to wearing grass skirts and penis wrappers, which didn’t go over well with the missionaries.
You must have enjoyed perusing these “old” photos and reliving the itinerary for your mom’s visit. Memories are such a pleasure to re-visit.
How was communication with islanders on the various islands? Did they all speak the same language? Did you?
Thanks for a fun share. I’ll think of your bungalow shot as I climb into bed tonight.
The language situation in Vanuatu is amazing. There are more native languages there per 100,000 than in any place in the world. Unlike the Polynesians, Melanesians are not seafaring people. They stick close to their small village in the bush. On top of the various native languages is the national language, Bislama. It is an English creole, developed from a pidjin that developed in the mid-1800s when workers were “blackbirded” to work in the cane fields in Australia, Fiji, and other places. When they arrived, they were separated from their fellow villagers, so they spoke the overseer’s language (more or less).
Then, on top of those languages, many? most? ni-Vanuatu speak either French or English. During the age of colonization, the English and French couldn’t decide who would get Vanuatu, so they formed a condominium, which lasted until independence in 1980. Today, you either go to an English school or a lycee. You belong to an Anglophone party or a Francophone party. You go to a French-speaking Catholic church or an English-speaking Protestant church. So to your question, our guides spoke English and Bislama and supposedly another language. In the custom village we visited, they probably spoke their own language and a smattering of Bislama.
At one point in the long distant past, I wished I could speak “every language of the world.”
Now I see it would be an accomplishment to be able to speak “every language in Vanuatu.”
Thanks for your interesting and comprehensive answer ~> and thanks for sharing it in English.
My pleasure.
Good for you both
Vanuatu is a fascinating country. It was a real pleasure to live there for three years.
Your mom was an adventurer!
My mom was kind of shy, not really a risk taker, but she did want to see the world and have a little fun.
Wow! Kudos to you for planning such a great trip for your mom! And kudos to your mom for being game to go! What made you choose Tanna for your mom’s visit?
Before this trip, my mom had only been to a few foreign countries that I can recall: The Philippines, Spain and Canada. My dad always said that he’d seen enough of the world during WWII.
I chose Tanna because it was one of the closest islands to our home in Port Vila, and it had an airport and places for tourists to stay. My sister, nephew, daughter, and son-in-law also visited Tanna on other trips. When you think of it, on trips to foreign places, you’re seldom quite sure what you’ll find when you get there.