{"id":8062,"date":"2020-02-01T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=8062"},"modified":"2020-01-31T11:39:23","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T19:39:23","slug":"moms-trip-to-yasur-volcano-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/family\/moms-trip-to-yasur-volcano-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom’s Trip to Yasur Volcano, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Does Mom look scared?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Might as well give it a try, Mom. And she does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Mom and I scheduled a flight on Vanair to Tanna, an island to the south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Times have changed. Now, climbing the volcano is a favorite activity for visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We never did go inside the small airport building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Instead we were met by one of the managers of White Grass Bungalows, Peter or Paul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mom had experience sleeping in tents, cabins, and a boat, so she had no complaints about our bungalow …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

… even though we had only one bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Come back next week for part 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1340,155,717],"tags":[1973,723,307,1972,730,1974,1971],"class_list":["post-8062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expatriate-life","category-family","category-vanuatu","tag-captain-cook","tag-coongoola-cruise","tag-port-vila-vanuatu","tag-tanna","tag-vanuatu","tag-white-grass-bungalows","tag-yasur-volcano"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-262","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8077,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/travel\/moms-trip-to-yasur-volcano-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":8062,"position":0},"title":"Mom’s Trip to Yasur Volcano – Part 2","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"February 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Having lived all our lives on the Pacific Ring of Fire, my mom and I were comfortable with volcanoes. 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Most of my friends have also moved away. But now and then, I do like to check in on the country and see how things are going. Good news! As of September 7, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "COVID-19"","block_context":{"text":"COVID-19","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/covid-19\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eugene and me, our house, Vanuatu","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vanuatu7-001-e1759778912358.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vanuatu7-001-e1759778912358.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Vanuatu7-001-e1759778912358.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8094,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/travel\/surprises-and-a-custom-village-on-the-island-of-tanna\/","url_meta":{"origin":8062,"position":3},"title":"Surprises and a Custom Village on the Island of Tanna","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"February 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Surprises are a part of life. 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