Jazzy Traveller: VANUATU - Pacific Paradise

If you love pristine beaches, snorking, diving in clear water and exploring shipwrecked liner, like Titanic; if you love to see primitive villages with extraordinary cultural ceremonies and dances as well as cool and colonial towns with buzzing life, gourmet food and, mostly, if you like to travel where you will feel safe, where people are not after ‘tourist dollar’ and hospitality knows no boundaries then aim towards Vanuatu!

This South Pacific country (formerly called New Hebrides) is perfect destination for all travellers who want a particular mix of adventure and leisure in tropical climate. Vanuatu is an archipelago, made of 80 islands of volcanic origin located halfway between Australia and Fiji.

Once you are intrigued by this country you can find almost everything about it on Internet but actually to get to know the country you need to know somebody who was born there or – best – to pay a visit and then you would understand why Vanuatu is on my – ‘Must to visit country’ list!!

Vanuatu Location

Ingrid and Cesar in Vanuatu, 2012

At that time I worked in travel industry and Geography was my ‘forte’. I was well aware of New Hebrides but I didn’t know that name is changed into Vanuatu after they gained their independence in 1980. Meeting Cesar helped me to learn much more about this country.

It was winter, Christmas time 1989.

I was in Switzerland, country I already visited many times before when I met Cesar and his wife Ingrid and countless times I thanked God for giving me the opportunity to be with them, live in their home and get to know them better. Every night, when their kids were asleep, we would talk, Cesar, Ingrid and me, about life, about Vanuatu and – their love story.

Ingrid had just been finished college when she decided to visit her parents, who were stationed as part of the UN program in Vanuatu. And there, this smart, beautiful young woman, from prominent Belgian family met handsome, native man and fell in love with him. It was easy to fall in love with somebody in that romantic setting but the real reason was that incredible purity that Cesar possessed. It was late seventies and here was a man whose mind could not grasp the concept of war or doing intentionally something bad to another human being...

There is that Quote that can describe Cesar the best:

- "We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.

When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves." (Buddha).

And yet – that is a man whose ancestors were cannibals.

Just few days after I moved to their home Cesar showed me his photo album. Being from Europe, not well travelled at that time, I was expecting these familiar photos of everyday life that I was born into.

However, when he opened his Album, I saw photos of naked native men and women, and I have to admit, I was – quite surprised. I didn’t comment because I truly thought that these photos are from some old archives… then Cesar pointed to one man and told me that that was his father.

Dance, Pentecost Island

Man have been naked, armed with a long arrow, had pierced body parts and looked quite frightening to me. All other family members and friends looked the same with their very serious painted faces.

If my face showed surprise at that moment – that was nothing compared to the shock when he mentioned that his ancestors had been practising cannibalism.And then he told me: "Maya, don't be so shocked, that's my culture".

That was one of the most important lessons in my life: not to judge people’s life and not to measure up other’s life to my own: we are all different.

Women dancers


Bungee Jumper- Pentacost Island - extreme sport practised in Vanuatu

Vanuatu is very peaceful nation. They rarely fought among themselves. However, the first missionaries that were sent to these islands brought with their ships diseases like measles, cholera or smallpox and that ravaged local populations. Cesar told me that his people had realized that the problem came from foreign, large ships and the only way how to deal with that problem was to eat the enemy as they would eat any other hunted animal.

“First, our ancestors would dig a hole in the ground like this," said villager Berna Kambai, using his finger to draw a rectangular shape in the sand. "They'd put hot stones in the hole, then cut up the person into pieces and put those on top.

They'd add in some yams and taro, put in some more hot rocks, and cover it all over with banana leaves to keep the steam in. The chief of the village always got to eat the victim's head. “( Telegraph, UK)

While doing research on this matter I found that cannibalism was also a way of vanquishing a threat, absorbing the power of an enemy. It was practised in a very ritualistic way and was considered to be a very sacred activity.

Most anthropologists agree that Vanuatu's last recorded cannibal killing was as recent as 1969, and that it took place on the island of Malekulu. (BBC News,UK, 2009).

Volcan activity

Cesar on the Beach

Today, the best thing about Vanuatu is that once you are there you’ll feel safe and happy. People are honest, open, friendly, unspoiled and utterly free of etiquette and everyday hypocrisies of the modern world. It is a country where wealth is not defined so much by how much an individual owns, but by demonstrating how much he can give away.

Vanuatu Cuisine

In Port Vila, Vanuatu’s capital, there are French, Mediterranean, Thai, Chinese, Italian and Asian Fusion
restaurants and cafes and most of them are

excellent.

Vanuatu cuisine is delicious! It incorporates fish, root vegetables such as taro and yams, fruits, and vegetables. Most dishes use coconut milk based sauces & rice and they are cooked using hot stones or through boiling and steaming; little food is fried.

LapLap

The most famous dishes is called Laplap. Generally, it is made by pounding yam or taro roots into a paste and placing the whole mixture on taro roots, leaving it to soak in coconut milk. Sliced pieces of Pork, Chicken or fish are then added, and the mixture is placed on a grill.

Another popular dish is Coconut Crab which is usually served with garlic, chilli, curry or coconut sauces.

Kava

Kava Hut - Nakamal

Monday

VANUATU - Pacific Paradise

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