Climbing Mount Marum

After teaching a workshop on art history, Allegra, Mi Lee, and I planned to climb Mount Marum, an active volcano on Ambrym. It was an intense daylong climb. We braved it with another volunteer's host father and a porter. The entire time I felt like I was on another planet, but particularly on the ash plain and at the top of the volcano. Because we were volunteers, he cut us a great bargain and carried our tents. When we arrived at the top of the volcano, we met an American filmmaker from New York and a New Zealander documentary film crew. The American was filming an online film called “The Deep Field.” Their crew had brought a generator and Internet and reserved helicopters to bring them food. Teetering at the edge to take pictures was a challenge. The lava pit was hypnotic. We pitched a tent at the base camp. We returned to it at night. The lava turned the sky red and gave our figures a ghostly effect which reminded me of the paintings of David Hockney and Marc Chagall,both painters I discussed with the children at my school and the school at Allegra's site. It was my first volcano, and hopefully not my last.

The Ambrym Reunion That Almost Wasn't

Life in Vanuatu is rarely consistent. Sometimes it drives you. Other times, it works ideally. Late last month, as I prepared for my trip to the neighboring island of Ambrym to visit Allegra, another volunteer, with my friend Mi Lee, I learned that Mi Lee's plans for walking to the other side of the island to join us had been usurped by her host family's fears of black magic, as she had planned to walk with her host brother. I also learned that there would be no trucks to the airport on the day of my flight since it was a public holiday. People warned me several times about black magic, but only warned me about the problems with the trucks after it was too late to make a contingency plan. I ended up having to charter a truck part of the way to the airport and pay a substantially higher fee. I also got a text from Mi Lee that she'd gotten a flight to the other side of the island to meet us at the last minute and planned to surprise Allegra. We both met on the same flight, which experienced fog and never landed at our destination. Instead, we landed in Port Vila, the economic and political capital. Of course, since it was the airline's mishap, the airline had to cover our accommodations. Two French tourists and one boy student were also meant to land in Ambrym and were held up. I used the time to purchase supplies, conduct research, and meet other volunteers. Mi Lee learned that a research paper she co-authered on fish societies and the influence of DNA is about to be published in a scientific journal. We ended up going to Ambrym two days later on a special plane that had been arranged just for us. It was also the smallest plane I have ever seen. I bought a baguette, Emmantelle cheese, and red wine to take back to Allegra's house, and we all celebrated together.

Music Night

Last month, the school in our village held a music night in which the kids of various classes sang, danced, and performed small children's plays. I was impressed by the costumes. I made a small cat mask for the Year 2's play about a cat. The kids also made arts and crafts out of coconut leaves for me, and I was equally impressed by their dexterity.