Leaving Port Vila - More Later

We have been busy exploring Port Vila, socializing with friends and getting ready to leave so have not had time nor energy to write a blog. I have also been catching up on internet stuff which is one form of entertainment. It might even be addictive. This is a bad place for that though as the internet connections are very slow. They either go by satellite or undersea copper cables. No fiber-optic cables to Vanuatu yet although there are discussions. Port Vila and the island of Efate have electricity many places but not all and phone service is spotty with many just using pay phones with prepaid cards, like we have here.

Today we plan to leave and go just 23nm around to an anchorage on the northwest corner of the island, called Havannah Harbor. It is supposed to be pretty and much more laid back. There won't be any internet or even phones there. The winds are supposed to pick up for the next several days (25-30kts) so we will just hunker down and relax there. My birthday is tomorrow so I am hoping for a feast. I have been angling for a locally-made ukelele but don't think that is going to happen. They are quite different than any we have seen so far. You can get souvenir grade ones in the crafts market but I really want one that a musician would play, not that I can or will. We'll see. They make them on other islands too.

We had Vanuatu grade kava the other night at one of the local nakamals. This particular nakamal (kava bar) is right on the water above the highway looking over the big bay to the ocean. It is behind some houses off a local street and hard to find without directions. This one gets many tourists in addition to the local kava drinkers. Kava is made from the roots and stems of a big brush plant - Piper Mysticum (sp?), which is a member of the pepper family (as in black pepper). It is ground up and then steeped in water. The water is pressed out through a cheesecloth and you drink the fresh, unfiltered mess. It looks like very muddy water - dark and rich, unlike the weak stuff in Fiji which was only slightly cloudy. This is definitely thick.

You walk in to this "bar" which is just a rough shack with dirt floors, crude benches and a few disreputable sorts sitting or lying around. No music, very little light - very little. You can't walk around until your eyes acclimate to the dark and then you have to walk very slowly and partially feel the way with your feet. The ground is very uneven and rough, going around the trees that still shade the picnic style tables overlooking the bay. The view is actually pretty awesome and four-star restaurant quality so this place is occupying prime real estate. Such is the importance of kava here, the nakamal will probably be here forever.

It is "dirt" cheap to buy. A US buck worth is put in to a porcelain bowls. You can get it completely full for $1.50US. You are supposed to chug this evil looking and foul tasting brew in one slug but us gringos could not and would not. It truly tastes bad, with a strong pepper taste, and immediately irritates the stomach bringing on thoughts of upchucking. Some do later. This is accompanied by the lovely sound of other local patrons spitting and hocking. It causes copious amounts of phlegm to develop in the throat for some, which the normal protocol is to just hock up and spit on the ground. Some evidently suffer more than others and can be extremely vigorous in their hocking - loudly! Cindy and Dianna did not care for this part of the experience too much, and openly wondered if the byproducts ended up of the ground we walked on (yes).

The first gulp immediately has an effect - on the stomach, the lips, the body in general and to a lesser extent, to the head. You can literally drink a gallon of the Fijian kava with almost no effect. Here the first sip gets you started. The first bowl definitely gets you. Two bowls and some people cannot walk. It is hard for me to describe. It is not an "upper" nor is it a "downer". It does alter you. It does affect your motor senses and nerves, slowing things down a bit. My brain did not feel it too much but that may be because my brain is so powerful and can resist it LOL. Some locals have sworn off it though as it makes it hard for them to function productively the next day. This I can vouch for, especially when all you want to do is throw up all day the next day. You must be able to get used to it and not get nauseous. We all agreed that we would never get that far although Cindy and Dianna both said they would welcome the chance to do it again. Bob and I said we would go with them but just drink beers. Interestingly, you can buy Tusker beer there for the same price you buy it in the grocery store and far, far cheaper than at any bars in town. But you don't see too many drinking it there as kava is the reason people go, not just to get any kind of high, but a kava high.

They do serve you a glass of water along with your bowl of kava. This is not to drink, fortunately, as it is the most foul tasting water in my remembrance. You use it to rinse your mouth after you drink and hock. Kid you not. They encourage you to spit on the ground with whatever you can bring up or rinse out. I can imagine some of you out there think I am making this all up in some sick attempt at being gross. This is absolutely gospel with no embellishment. We liked it so much we went to a seedier, more locals-only nakamal after we went out and had spicy Thai curry for dinner. This may be why I was so sick the next day, and to some extent, the day after that. I think I am over it now, but my body still remembers. I only hope that some chief does not ask us menfolk to a village nakamal in our travels.

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