I was working on another blog while I was away, but my laptop crashed and data recovery was impossible....so I was just going to forget it. THEN: hard to believe, but some masochists have actually asked where was the latest epistle; SO: here's a epigrammatic version...
I was on the remote island of Malekula in Vanuatu (a Melanesian country that I'd not been to before). The task was to advise and assist the even smaller island of Wala to continue to attract cruise ships.
I was allocated a rather comfortable thatched 'hut' for the duration. Electricity was from some small solar panels so: no air conditioner or fan and no refrigeration (this made life a little 'challenging' I was to be self-catering).
Being on a remote island with limited facilities engendered its own challenges, but this situation was somewhat exacerbated by ...
As you may know, I have a metal valve in my heart so I take a daily dose of Warfarin (a basic ingredient in rat poison) to keep my blood thin. This requires regular monitoring of my blood and I have a small machine to perform that function (and I can vary the 'rat poison' dosage). But - the machine decided to become non-functional and it took some time to figure out how to get it to cooperate ... at one stage I was thinking that I'd have to fly to Port Vila (the capital) and hope that they had the facility to test my blood, or just have to go home.
Then my treasured Kindle died and I could not resurrect it in spite of text-chatting with 'experts' at Amazon who were (unsuccessfully) suggesting potential cures. I also had my iPad with me, so downloaded the Kindle app and up popped every book that I'd ever ordered. I was searching for a form when I got home and discovered that I'd taken out an 'extended warranty' on the Kindle which was just one month short of expiring - the retailer gave me a full refund of the purchase price.
Then my laptop died completely - nothing/nada/zip/dead-as-a-dodo! I lost almost everything I was working on in Vanuatu (some primary material I'd judiciously saved onto a flash drive!). Fortunately, I had created a backup of everything before I left home and a boffin could resurrect all my data, photos and music onto a new computer, after expending over $2,000 on a new laptop and computer boffins' expertise. What seemed to have happened was that I was working from my home (well, 'hut') using the solar generated electricity - it was a sunny day (as were most days on the tropical island), the storage battery was full, the solar panels were feeding in more electricity and the inverter started cutting off and on - the result was that the power overloaded and fried the motherboard (well, that was one theory).
However, I've taken action to (hopefully) prevent another annoying episode that has occurred repeatedly when I'm in some remote locale and the battery in my watch decides to die. I've purchased a solar-powered watch (primarily using frequent flyer points).
Vanuatu is of volcanic origin, some 1,750 kilometres (1,090 miles) east of northern Australia, near New Guinea The country is inhabited by just over 200,000 Melanesian people. The first Europeans to visit the islands were the Spanish in the 1600s. In the 1880s France and the United Kingdom claimed parts of the country, and in 1906 they agreed on a framework for jointly managing the archipelago as the 'New Hebrides' through a British-French Condominium. An independence movement arose in the 1970s, and the Republic of Vanuatu was founded in 1980.
During the English-French era, if you went to court you had to decide if you were to be tried under English (innocent until proven guilty) or French (guilty until proven innocent) law. To this day, all schools are taught in either English or French (not a local language).
Vanuatu has over 100 indigenous languages (with an average of only about 2,000 people speaking each). Bislama was developed as a 'national' language (like Papua New Guinea pidgin) and is now spoken by the majority of the populace as their second language - then French or English (depending on which school they attended).
Early 'settlers' virtually stripped the islands of valuable sandalwood and the population was serious decimated by diseases introduced by foreigners (such as venereal diseases and even the common cold) to which they had no immunity. Following a history of tribal rituals and cannibalism, the country is now primarily Christian.
I can honestly say that that Ni-Vanuatu people are among the happiest, friendliest people I have met anywhere in the world. As often happens when I'm in remote locales with limited population: people I'd never met would know who I was. Folks would like the chat in the street, or in shops, etc... Several even shook my hand and thanked me for volunteering my services to help their tourism. If you are walking along a quiet street in many countries and there is a rough-looking group of adolescent males looking aggressive and walking towards you, then you tend to feel a little apprehensive. Not in Vanuatu, you get a cheery "good morning" or "good afternoon".
If you look at the photos, you will see my thatched 'hut' - which I shared with a few rats.
Self-catering tended to evolve into regular food hunts. The so-called 'supermarkets' were virtually bereft of actual food. The shelves were mostly bare and even if you did find something that you wanted to buy a second time, chances were that they did not stock it anymore! Items in the stores were relatively expensive as they had to be freighted to the island. However, local meat, fruit and vegetables were comparatively cheap. Meat looked like the butcher had prepared it using a machete and the steak (for instance) varied between tender/delicious and something manufactured by Pirelli! In the local 'market' virtually everything was 100 Vatu (local currency), about $1 - such as a bunch of long beans , or spring onions, or a large papaya, etc - all 100 Vatu each. BUT the butcher shop and the markets were closed on the plethora of public holidays and at the weekends. Plus, in a hot climate with no refrigeration, I had to purchase meat, etc daily - and they closed at 4pm anyway!!!
For breakfast, I would pluck a fresh papaya from a tree outside my hut, cut it in half and just eat the fresh fruit with a spoon straight out of the skin.....delicious In the mornings, I would collect a half dozen or so mangos that had fallen from the huge tree outside the tourism office where I worked each day (before the rats got to them) and that would also be for breakfast, or as dessert at night...yummy!
I travelled to the island I was advising on three occasions. On the second visit I seemed to have clipped by shin on the gunwale of the small boat as I disembarked and waded ashore. I dabbed some antiseptic on it when I got 'home' but angry red blemishes developed and my client convinced me to go to the hospital. They did a basic blood test and confirmed that there was an infection. I was put on a dose of penicillin and it all cleared up in a few days.
Only one cruise ship arrived while I was there and so: there were about 250 local islanders, 2,700 passengers, 900 crew ..... and me. We counted the passengers arriving and leaving and I did graphs of the results. We also surveyed 200 passengers and I collated their responses and created charts of the results to show the island's cruise ship committee the passengers' responses and reactions to their endeavours..
Hopefully, after a cataract operation - back to Papua New Guinea in February.
Photographs on...
https://plus.google.com/photos/116314286847914749962/albums/5957771263348311793
You may have to register for Google to view - or ask my permission - bloody Google!!!!