There’s Cunningham Falls in Catoctin Park 
and my personal favorite is Great Falls, 
which separates Maryland from Virginia and can be viewed from both sides in a national park with nice trails and views of the C&O Canal. It is with the experience of day trips to such places that I immigrated to Vanuatu, completely confident that I would be up for the bush walks and whatever else. Over the last two years I have done quite a few hikes. All of them have been challenging and all have made me realize how inexperienced I really am. I laugh to think about the hikes I did in Maryland as I look down at my mud-covered, flip flop adorned feet. One of the more recent hikes I have done was a trip from my village, Narovorovo, on the Western coast of Maewo, to Naviso, which is on the Eastern coast and a little north. Ever since I arrived on Maewo, I have heard many stories about East Maewo’s lone village. White sand beaches, lobster, coconut crab, naora, fish, clear cold swimming pools, etc. I felt like it was a must-see before my service was up. But it’s always been near impossible for me to gauge the difficulty of proposed hikes based on what Man Vanuatu tells me, and I think it’s because they have no idea what I am or am not capable of. Some of the really fit Ni-Vans will tell me that it’s really close, no problem whatsoever. Some of the mamas will say, “wokabaot slo slo…” Some of the older or more overweight Ni-Vans will shake their heads, but then say, “be, yu wan yangfala so maybe bae hemi olraet.” I’ve learned that it’s best to just prepare for the worst and do the walk. The following is a tale of an experience when I didn’t prepare myself quite so well, and what ensued as a result.
Since coming back to Maewo from my trip to China, I felt restless. I had been in the village for two weeks, one week of which was spent in bed with a bad cold. I wanted to go to the garden, walk up to see Justin and Sheridan, just do something. One evening, sitting outside of my family’s kitchen with my sister, Suzy, she told me that her and my brother and cousin would be walking across the island to Naviso the next day.
“Bae yu kam wetem mifala?” Looking back, I don’t think she really believed I’d agree, which explains the surprise on her face when I immediately said yes. How bad could it really be? I had practically walked across Tanna, so long skinny Maewo wouldn’t be a problem. It’s rumored in the village that Gwen, the volunteer I replaced, had walked to Naviso and then some in just one day. This wouldn’t be so bad. I packed a bag for two nights, filled my water bottle and camel pack, prepared a first aid kit, and set out. The purpose of our trip was interesting. People on Maewo believe strongly in kastom magic and medicine. Jealousy inspires the poisoning of dozens of people on a monthly basis, who in turn have to be cured by a kastom doctor. Soon after learning that he had passed Year 8, my brother Larry dislocated his shoulder. Apparently a stingray had come and slapped Larry’s shoulder with his wing. According to my mama, the stingray had been sent by someone who was jealous of my brother’s success. I’m not sure if Gabriel, the kastom doctor in Naviso, is Maewo’s only kastom doctor, but he seems to be the most popular anyway.
We waited until about 10 am to leave so we could get to the other side before high tide. Once you reach the east coast there’s still about a two hour walk along the coast to get to the lone village. The walk was easy, mostly just going through level gardens, crossing creeks here and there. It was all very beautiful, but very hot. After about 90 minutes, I had to rest. I sat down and immediately vomited. My heart was racing and I was shaking. I knew it would be foolish to try to keep going, but I knew I couldn’t turn back either. Instead, I told my sister I would sleep right there for a little while. I realized that I ran the risk of multiple cheekings after the walk due to the fact that I had to spell, maybe even have that be the story they tell about me to future volunteers. But there was nothing I could do. About an hour later I sat up, ate some baked taro, and felt good enough to keep going. We walked through the muddy bush for another hour or so before we came to the summit and could see East Maewo.
All we had to do was climb down and walk along the beach, but we had to hurry to make it before high tide. But the climb down was long and steep, leading me to announce several times that I would sleep on the hill. Even Stuey had to be urged down the slope and slept in the grass whenever we rested. He even vomited. That made me feel better actually.We reached the bottom of the hill but were still racing the clock. Where was the white sand beach? All I could see were the black stone beaches that we have on West Maewo. My sister explained that the stones were a recent development; that the ocean had washed the stones onto the shore. I was skeptical, but was ready to believe anything at that point. So I picked my way carefully along the stones, observing the underground springs that bubbled up on the beach and the small waterfalls that we encountered. We admired all of the random objects that had washed up on the shore from who knows where. Actually, most things that had labels on them were from Fiji, but one did say “propiedad de tarantia” on it. There were paintbrushes, markers, sandals, etc. In people’s houses you can find larger items such as barrels, Styrofoam boxes, and old fishing nets used as hammocks. But the most popular items people like to collect along the beach are plastic bottles. About halfway to Naviso we realized that we would never make it before the tide came in. We came upon a bush kitchen
and settled in to sleep. Jarina went to gather bananas while Suzy made a fire and I went to swim in the river. Refreshed, I came back and went through my photos of China with the others before we had our dinner of boiled bananas. We storied some more then laid down. I didn’t sleep much that night, as I was constantly pulling off various insects and snails off my body, but I was glad to be awake for the sunrise, which was probably the most beautiful I had ever seen.
We set out early and continued on the black stone path. The merciless sun felt hotter on the east coast of the island. Luckily the path cut away from the coast and into the bush, where we found some relief from the heat. The first thing I noticed in Naviso was a clear blue ice cold swimming hole. Children jumped off of tree branches into the pool as men swam all around. I wanted nothing more than to throw my bag down and jump in, clothes and all.
Unfortunately that pool was only for men, and the women’s pool was a little farther along the way. We eventually came to a large half permanent house. We went inside and relaxed for a bit before they brought us something to eat…more bananas. After scarfing those down, we walked a little ways to the pool where we could swim. It was crowded with mamas doing their wash and pikanini swimming. The screaming and crying began as soon as I entered the clearing where the pool was located. Now, it’s been a while since I have been the cause of such angst and terror, so it took me a while to realize that I was the cause of the disturbance. Unlike the large deep pool I observed the men swimming in, this pool was nothing more than a large puddle. 
But it was cold, which is all that really mattered. People stared as I splashed around and then sat along the edge of the pool. They spoke language, asking my sister questions about me while I hoped my smiles and nods were appropriately timed. After a little while, a rather large woman with a friendly face waddled up to the pool. She rendered herself topless and splashed down into the pool with the grace and fervor of a hippopotamus. I’m not trying to be mean; she purposefully threw herself into the pool in that silly way as to entertain me. Apparently she couldn’t speak Bislama so our communication and resulting friendship revolved around body language and goofy physical humor. When Suzy asked me in Language if I was hungry and I replied in the affirmative, this woman, Lusian, ran away with more speed than I could have thought possible, and had a leaf full of simboro manioc in my hands before I could say…hippopotamus. Oh. My. God. My family being flas as it is, we rarely eat laplap of any kind. In fact, at the time I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten simboro, let alone simboro manioc, obviously the best kind of simboro. And this lady had milked it and put salt on it too! I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Suzy looked at the three large pieces in front of me and told Lucian that I usually could only eat one or two pieces of simboro, tops, and was surprised when, just a few minutes later, the leaf was empty. I think it was that that sealed my friendship with Lucian. On the days that followed, Lucian would come visit me and bring simboro manioc, an arrangement that I couldn’t find fault with. The food in general was delicious. I couldn’t figure out why the food in Naviso would taste so much better than food in my own village. Maybe it was more coconut milk? Salt? It wasn’t until the third day that I noticed the small gold tin of monosodium glutamate in the corner of the kitchen.
Eventually we walked back to the house and hung out. We roasted breadfruit, rassed banana and fried it, and storied. Talk about a vacation. My hostesses were extremely accommodating and wouldn’t allow me to lift a finger. I refused to let them talk me out of doing the dishes and rassing the bananas, but as my sore quadriceps healed from the walk to the village, I accepted that I wasn’t allowed to go to their gardens with them. Larry had an appointment with the kastom doctor the next morning and we were to leave for home the next day. Plenty of time for my legs to get better.
The next day, Larry couldn’t find the kastom doctor until late in the day. He gave Larry a leaf to eat and told him to wait four days to see if it would work. In the meantime, I was whiling away the days with no idea as to when I’d be going back to my village. My 25th birthday was fast approaching and I wanted to be in a place with mobile reception so I could talk to my family and friends. When the kastom doctor told Larry that he’d need to give him a second leaf because the first hadn’t worked, I knew I would have to spend my birthday in Naviso. I was pretty disappointed, but knew that it would be a very memorable birthday.
While my hosts were away at the garden, I didn’t have much to do but read. Luckily I had brought Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut with me. I read it twice. One day Jarina took me for a walk throughout Naviso, which is actually comprised of four villages, only one of which is actually known as Naviso. It was a nice easy walk, but very hot. The village was beautiful, and the school was a sight to see, as it had a vast waterfall looming up behind it on the right. The houses were all kastom, built of bamboo and natangura. The grass was trim and green and clotheslines traversed the yards. The villages were connected by narrow paths through the bush. All in all, it was a beautiful place.
On my birthday, Jarina and her family killed two chickens and prepared laplap taro for me. It was a delicious meal and afterwards we went for a swim in the pool. By that time it was dark outside and the stars were bright. Swimming in this pool is how the women bathe. So I was only mildly surprised when the others started to take off their clothes and dive into the pool. They all urged me to do the same and I obliged, softly saying, “be…skin blong mi i waet lelebet…” making me way more visible than my counterparts. No matter. I swam in the ice cold water with the others under the stars. It was such a free feeling and I really enjoyed myself.
My remaining days in Naviso were pretty uneventful. Not only did my stay coincide with
the school vacation, but also Jarina’s parents were in Santo. It was kindof like going to stay with a bunch of teenagers. Instead of eating baked laplap we would eat the rassed banana and fry it. Kindof like the difference between Mom’s macaroni and cheese and Easy Mac. When the kastom doctor decided to try a third leaf on my brother, Suzy decided to walk me back to our village the next day.
The morning we left, my leg muscles were almost 100% better. We had been in Naviso for almost a whole week. We set out around 7 am. We made it down the black stone beach in 90 minutes and up the hill from hell in about the same amount of time. Much to my surprise, the whole walk took only five hours. As we started nearing my village, we encountered friends in their gardens, all of whom exclaimed that we had just walked back from Naviso. I couldn’t believe how far away some of them were from the village itself.
Several weeks after my trip, I look back on my walk to Naviso and am glad that I finally did it, but I don’t think I’d ever do it again. Villagers no longer talk to me about how great Naviso is, and I no longer feel something nagging me to go and see it. After that walk, I feel that much more confident in my abilities as a hiker. Maybe I’ll turn over a new leaf when I get back to the States and show my artsy friends what a real hike is all about
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