Vao Island, Malekula

Because we had extended our 1 month visa on the cruise ship in Wala Island, we did not need to hurry to Luganville to meet the Customs and Immigration folks. We had heard that the small island of Vao off the northeast side of Malekula was home to some good wood carvers. Since it was less than an hour's trip north, we headed there and dropped the hook right off another white sand beach lined with dugout canoes.


Since this day was Independence Day celebrating 31 years (since 1980), we went ashore with soap bubbles, balloons and more plastic whistles on lanyards. After we entertained the first few shy kids, we were soon surrounded by kids and smiling parents watching from afar. Many families had come down to the beach to barbeque their food and enjoy the day.

We soon met Juliet, the local kindergarten teacher. She spoke good English and showed us some carvings from one man and agreed to meet us the next day and show us some others. We returned to the boat and had several more locals paddle out to us to say hello.

 

The next day we arrived with a backpack full of trading goods and canvas bags. She took us through the village pointing out local plants and trees and took us to see two more carvers. We traded some rope and some local Vatu (money) for a nice carved mask with one carver and traded a piece of line for a small old Tam Tam (slit drum)from another.

 

When we got back to Juliet's home, we sat in patio chairs in her garden while she picked and squeezed fresh pampemouse for us to drink. We chatted a while and she then picked us several more pampemouse to take back to the boat. She also offered to come out to our boat and show us how to make coconut biscuits. She brought her daughter (about 17), some coconuts and a special tool for grating coconuts. She had a board big enough to sit on with a circular serrated metal blade mounted to one end. Once she split the coconut into halves, she rotated the coconut half against the blade and fine white coconut snow dropped into a bowl. Both Kim and Emily had turns and we all agreed to look for this tool in Luganville. Kim supplied some sugar, flour, eggs and the oven and the biscuits were baked and some eaten warm. They were pretty good although Kim thought a little baking powder would make them a little less dense.

 

 

We stayed another day and there was a constant parade of kids coming out in their canoes. Mostly they just wanted to say hello, but almost every one thanked us again for the whistles and brought us gifts of one or two pampemouse or beautiful shells they had found. Some brought and gave us shells that we had never seen and were quite lovely. Few cruising boats stop here and again we found that some of the least-spoiled places are our favorites.

 

Tom