Long time, no blog: an explanation

Maybe you’ve been wondering where I’ve been. Well I went on a fun-filled trip to the nearby island of Tanna. Although Tanna is more developed than Futuna, I did not have internet access there. I will try my best to recall the evenets of the last few weeks.

I arrived on Tanna on Saturday July 11th. There are 5 Peace Corps Volunteers on the island who were such a great help in hosting me. Also two other PCVs from another island ame down just to “lukluk ples” (look place or sight see). We spent our first two nights in the village of Port Resolution where we explored the natural hot springs. Some were boiling and we coked bananas in them. Others were the perfect hot tub temperature although whenever a wave came from the ocean it felt a little chilly. We also fot to paint our bodies with multicolred mud- a real spa experience.

After that we went to another village to witness a circumcision ceremony. Eight boys ranging in age from 4-8 years old had been circumcised and then in hiding for over a month. While in hiding the older men of the village looked after them. The ceremony was like their coming out party. Everyone got all dressed up (women in grass skirts and men in pieces of cloth wrapped around their waists) and painted their faces. They shared out tons of food and killed lots of pigs. Then we danced until the sun came up the next morning, and by we, I mean them. I went to sleep around 2 am I think.

After the ceremony we explored other parts of Tanna. We climbed the world’s third largest banyan tree and had an interesting experience bathing in a creek in the middle of the jungle. We also made lots of delicious food over the fire including enchilladas (tortillas from scratch) and pizza.

The next week there was a large arts festival for our province (Tafea) and the indigenous people of New Caledonia (a French territory that neighbors Vanuatu). There were lots of custom dances, concerts, soccer games, and foo. For the opening the Vanuatu military marching band performed the macarena. I love that the highest (and only) military body in the nation has time to do that. Also there were 2 official pig killings during the opening to strengthen the bond between Tafea and New Caledonia. Nothing better than killing a pig. Throughout the week I ate lots of ice cream and hamburgers and also caught giardia- a water borne parasite that makes you “sit sit wota” (shit shit water, try to figure that one out).

The festivities ran until July 30th which is Vanuatu’s Independence Day. 29 years now. I returned to Futuna and now am going to relax and recooperate from all the fun. Tanna was lots of fun but there were tons of people who I didn’t know and it’s nice to be back on an island where everyone knows my name.

I sent a CD of photos home so hopefully my mom'll get a chance to post those on my webshots at: http://community.webshots.com/user/alyssathielpcv/