Vanuatu July 2008 (3 of 3)
Our final island visit was to Tanna, the home of Mt Yasur
Mt Yasur has been erupting for hundreds of years, and is one of the most accessible erupting volcanes in the world. After riding across the island for about an hour in the back of a truck, we were rewarded with our first view (and sound) of the volcano. For the next couple of days the rumble of the mountain was never far away. We found ourselves constantly looking around for the thunderstorm, only to remember it was not thunder!
We made it up to the volcano twice, once by truck and once walking. Believe me words cannot describe the feeling looking down into the crater as the mountain blows every few minutes, sending worryingly large molten lava chunks high overhead. The second night we got soaked by a brief but vigorous rain, found that the truck needed a flat changed, and made it back to the bungalows in time for a great dinner and show by the local string band, "Yasur Melody"
On the way back to our bungalow we ran into these fellows on the trail. Looks like pork for dinner tonight!
As all things, our visit to the volcano came to an end. We had an eventful ride back across the island. Here Zane plays on the ash side of the volcano while other members of our truck's party were filming a music video (I kid you not).
Luckily for us it was market day on Tanna so we passed a number of small markets on the way, with many people out and about. We stopped at the market under this massive Banyan tree to get some peanuts.
On the morning between volcano jaunts, we walked to the local "kastom" (or traditional) village. Our guide had his cell phone along so we knew we'd be safe. It was a little strange having a couple dozen of the villagers dancing like crazy for the three of us, but they got the ground shaking pretty well and we certainly were entertained.
The village kids seemed to be as entertained by us as we had been by the dancing.
While the drivers ran a couple errands, we checked out the market in the big town of Lenakel (they have electricity!), where we ate some terrific local food and bought some more fruit. When the boys came back there were a couple chickens riding in with our bags. We thought this was unique until the next morning on our flight back to Port Vila, when there were chickens and a pig checked in as baggage.
