Island Time
Laura Maestrelli on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 5:18PM We spent a lot of our first week in Vanuatu either watching cricket on TV (the spectator sport equivalent of waiting in line at the DMV), or sitting by the pool at our fancy-schmancy resort on Iririki Island. But we did try to get out and see something closer to the real Vanuatu while we were in Port Vila, mostly through hot and sticky walks around town that took us away from the main tourist strip, and by doing a full-island circumnavigation of Efate one day. Our Efate Island Tour photo album covers most of that ground, but we did want to mention a few facts and observations about Vanuatu that we’ve picked up since we arrived here.
The people here laugh a lot. We kind of thought that the whole “happiest country” moniker was a bit of a gimmick, but then we arrived in Vila and started hearing laughter just about everywhere we went. The ni-Vans laugh while they’re working, they laugh while they’re going to the market, they laugh when they’re driving, they laugh at the rain. And these aren’t just giggles — these are loud chortles of laughter, the kind of infectious laugh that makes you smile even when you realize you may be the butt of the joke. (Surely they look at the goofy tourists walking around town during the hottest part of the day and can’t resist making a few jokes at our expense.) A number of people here have told us that, though the ni-Vans don’t have a lot (most villages don’t even have electricity), they live happy lives because the fertile soil and sunny climate allows them to be relatively self-sufficient. As one woman put it, “There’s 45% unemployment in Vila, but we still smiling.”
;)
That’s not to say there aren’t significant challenges here. We had a very disheartening conversation with one of our local guides about the state of education in Vanuatu. All children go to public primary school, but at the age of 12, they have to take a test to see if they can continue on to secondary school. The nationwide test results are announced on the radio, and the children who do not score high enough to move on are finished education-wise. There is no second chance for these kids — they can return to their villages and learn some kind of trade or subsistence farming, but they won’t be able to set foot in classroom again. For the students who do pass, there’s no guarantee that they’ll actually be able to attend secondary school: if the high cost of school fees doesn’t keep them out (even public schools charge fees and require parents to buy all supplies and uniforms), then the lack of available classroom space might. It’s these very challenges that our former employer, Room to Read, is working to address in a number of Asian and African developing countries — and I couldn’t help but think as we talked with our guide that Vanuatu could use the help of Room to Read as well.
Besides ubiquitous laughter, probably the other other aspect of ni-Van culture we’ve noticed most often is “island time.” Obviously “island time” is not unique to Vanuatu’s 79 islands — Jimmy Buffet has built an entire career singing its praises around the globe — but this is the first time that we’ve seen it in action (or lack of action) so often. Island time is more than just an approach to time (when, for example, businesses randomly close down for no reason at all and just as randomly reopen when they feel like); it’s an entire philosophy.
A good example of island time was our conversation with the Air Vanuatu representative in Vila when we were booking all of our inter-island flights. We had just paid for all of the flights, and the representative (David) gave us a printed itinerary with each flight’s departure and arrival time. This is how the conversation went:
Lustin: This looks great, but one quick question. There’s no flight number or departure time listed for our flight from Pentecost to Vila. It’s just blank. Did you forget to include it?
David: You do not see that flight because it does not yet exist.
Lustin: Um, OK, but didn’t we just pay for it?
David: Yes, don’t worry. There will be a flight. We just don’t know when.
Lustin: Well, we’re leaving town tomorrow and may not have internet access after that. How will we know when the flight is supposed to leave Pentecost?
David: You will know when someone takes you there.
Glad we got that cleared up! :) For the record, it’s now the day before we’re supposed to catch that mystery flight from Pentecost, and we still have no idea if it actually exists and when it will take off. But we’re learning not to ask too many questions, to go with the flow, and most of all, to turn off our Type A brains and try to embrace the fluid, ever-changing world of island time. We’ll probably have lots more to say about that when we write about our week on the island of Espiritu Santo, where island time is not just a way of life, it’s a full-fledged religion.
Reader Comments (7)
Hope air traffic control isn't on a different "island time" than your pilot....
Oh my! what a challenge for your type A brains, for anybody's. and we thought India was bad! Good luck!
It's like you and I are living parallel lives...you know, except for the whole island part.
Still 18 ft., eh? Glad I checked in. :)
seriously, though - interesting note on education. I've seen it play ou different ways. In Tibet, many of those with the privelage to be educated ended up finding it to be a direct channel to the urban center where the struggles and stresses of poverty were actually far more pronounced and sadly they were now tainted by a 'worldly' perspective that made returning to a content life in the fields impossible. At another extreme, Cuba achieved a near 100% literacy rate with a large portion of the population getting advanced degrees...only to discover that the entire population wad basically 'overqualified' for a large and important set of jobs. Sucks when trained doctors are serving as janitors and garbage collectors.
Ok, from here on out I'll stick strictly to subway consumption commentary.
this has nothing to do with the content of this post, but i'd like to request a new "fun facts" entry counting down the number of days until we get to grab dustin's butt. i'm pretty much over the ice cream / subway thing.
As usual, your photos are wonderful - particularly the ones of the children and the one at the mouth of the Epule River. Are the distended bellies of the children due to malnutrition or parasites? The men all seem quite fit.
Really good points, Ilan... and definitely something we've thought about, especially now that we've seen some of Vanuatu's more remote islands. We visited places that had no electricity, no internet, rainwater for a water supply, and barely even any cars or roads, and yet, everyone seemed pretty content. The kids played in beautiful freshwater mountain streams and spent Saturday afternoons with their moms (and aunties and cousins) at the beach, playing with whatever "toys" their immediate environment produced. And the parents had a community around them... I don't think we ever saw a ni-Van who wasn't surrounded by other people, and child-rearing is assumed to be a community venture. There were more than a few moments when I thought that maybe the ni-Vans had figured out the right formula... especially when compared to the isolated lives so many Americans lead in the suburbs, commuting in their cars to the city to work stressful jobs that keep them from their friends and family too much. But of course, I'm on a year-long vacation, so I'm probably more inclined to views like that... :)
Mom, good question, and no, I don't think the kids are malnourished. The food supply in Vanuatu is very good -- lots of home-grown fruits and vegetables, and we had some of the best steak we've had on our entire trip in Vanuatu, thanks to the many free-range cattle that roam the islands (and feed the locals as well.) I think the girls probably just had a little too much cocoanut ice cream. :)