Ranwas
...it really is a jungle out thereAfter arriving to Pentecost, Mary, Brizz, and I caught a truck across the island to the village of Ranwas. Here we met Teresa and Rebecca for the opening of the newly built Ranwas school. (Mary, Brizz, Teresa, and Rebecca are all Peace Corps voluneers, and Ranwas is Teresa’s village.) As Mary’s friend, I was invited to join the celebrations as a special guest, and after a parade, I received a lei and a large pink basket as a gift at the opening ceremony. (Apparently pink isn’t a feminine color in Vanuatu.) After the ceremony, the village feasted and danced to string band. It was amazing, and perhaps a haiku (inspired during the ceremony) describes the day best:
Great experience
A phrase that describes today
I like pink baskets
The full kastom and very traditional village of Bunlap (documented on the Discovery Channel) was only a 40 minute hike from Ranwas, so Brizz and I decided to visit the following day. Our guides led us through some pretty remote bush, and the path become complicated and slippery after an unexpected downpour (one of the hardest rains I’ve ever seen). Fortunately, the downpour happened when we were close to Bunlap, so we took shelter in one of the chief’s kitchens with many other Bunlap residents; they were wearing (a lack of) traditional clothes and were amazed that I could touch the ceiling by just standing there.
Once the chief arrived, we delivered some photos as a gift from Teresa, and headed back to Ranwas to prepare for our trip to Pangi.
