Oct. 12 (Saturday)
So, lemme ask you: If a large tour bus pulled up to your house and disgorged fifty or so people who wanted to smile and nod at you and take your photo, if they stood around and watched what you did, if they hoped to see you in your most traditional garb and wanted you to sing them songs and dance around…
…would you dig it?
Let me add to that question. Let’s say you get one supply trip a year; the rest of the time you make do with what you have. But when the bus full of tourists pulls up, they hand out food and sporting equipment and a big box of supplies for the school kids and perhaps even a pingpong table and THEN unloaded the tourists to click off their happy snaps of you and your mother and your child and your dog…
…now does it make you more willing to do a native dance?
We are reassured that the islands we are visiting are proud and honored to share with us their customs and culture. And I get that this is important. These people develop relationships with the Lindblad people, and Lindblad is the only cruise ship to visit these islands. And in both the places we’ve stopped so far—Owaraha and Utupua—we’ve been greeted by fleets of hand-carved canoes, each holding one or two Melanesian islanders, who know to come to the stern of the boat where the crew passes down bags of rice and popcorn corn and basketballs.
I watched them pass two chairs over the side and into these canoes—one an age-worn chair from the dining room, one a tattered padded armchair from a stateroom. Basketballs and school supplies, and yes they somehow managed to get the pingpong table back to shore in a canoe.
In return they passed coconuts up to the crew and six very large and silvery fish, which I was told the crew ate last night with great pleasure.
And once all that is done, then fifty pale and privileged passengers are gently loaded into the Zodiaks to come ashore and take photos of people.
It seems uncomfortable to me. Like I’ve gone to the zoo and expect to be there when feeding time comes around. I want to teach them a Nirvana song—here we are now. Entertain us.
And they do their best. Today on Utupua, each Zodiak was greeted as we came ashore by two men in full war paint who shooks spears at us and shouted threatening words in a language we did not understand. As the boat touched the sandy shore, fifteen or twenty young boys, all covered in mud, screamed and raced down to meet us, shouting threateningly at us and daring to smack the sides of the Zodiak with their hands before fleeing back up the shore.
Our response: Offer huge fake smiles and laughter…like being threatened was a sweet little bit of theater.
And I know they didn’t really want to imply that we weren’t welcome…but it was such an odd beginning. Which part was true? The spoken welcome by a village elder? Or the dancing fury of spear-wielding men? Then shy little girls offered us leis, which were sweetly fragrant. Twig also got a crown of grasses for her hat.
On Owaraha, we watched a corps of pipers perform—and by pipers, I mean they were all using the hollows of bamboo to create music as most of them danced. The guys who played the equivalent of an Andean pan flute danced; the guys who were whacking madly on larger pipes were the drum line; they stayed still, but got far more sweaty. Theirs was hard work. Then the women performed dances and sang, each dressed in her own creation of grass skirts and large flat leaves in a sort of bandeau top.
On Utupua, the village raised an immense pillar in our honor. Huge, with an entire tree tied to the top. All the men gathered around to haul it upright—and when the main vine snapped while the tree was barely off the ground, there was much discussion and action, with guys stationed in the trees, elders forming the splice in the broken vine, additional vines added, and the shouted advice of at least one of the women who was standing by to take part in the dances. Once they were satisfied, there was a collective heave-ho and they hauled that tree upwards.
Once up, the post was (apparently) the topic for the long story the elder read to us. It was a little hard to understand, but had something to do with two snakes, which was why the pole was colored as it was…um, huh? Never mind; just go with it.
There was dancing—first in the circle around the pole and then off to the side. We were invited to join in.
I followed my crush Kura (that's her laughing in the above photo) into the melee and made it around the circle without making too big a fool of myself. I felt I OUGHT to—that it was expected of me. But was soon as it was polite, I went back to the ship. Hot and sweaty and not at all eager to “explore this village where you are so very welcome.” I just don’t believe I WAS welcome. Maybe the popcorn and the school supplies, yes—but not a bunch of total strangers come to marvel at a very different kind of life.
On both islands, there were many more people gathered around than just us to watch the dances. Utupua has five villages; it seemed that everyone on the island had come to witness the dances. So I’m sure the event had cultural significance for the islanders; it wasn’t totally a form of “dance, monkey—dance.” But despite the reassurances of the crew that the islanders love our visits, I was uneasy.
So I came back to the ship when I could. Sat quietly and tried to shake off the heebies. Took a nap (which was very nice).
We had some excellent sessions in the lounge today—James the diver told us about coral reef diversity, and Erin did an entire hour on salt water crocodiles, in whose waters we apparently snorkeled yesterday…not that it would have stopped me if I’d known. Nor today, if only the drift snorkeling hadn’t been cancelled due to excessive wind. (Alas!) Tomorrow will feature another village visit in the morning (I will go; Lyle our expedition leader says that’s how we show our respect, so okay) and then snorkeling in the afternoon. Fingers crossed.
Tua explained why many of the fierce warriors attempting to warn us off from our landing had startlingly red teeth: They’ve been chewing betel nuts, which is their form of stimulant. I’ve heard about betel nuts, but didn’t know they were used to get the chewer high or that they were addictive. They also increase the ability to focus and enhance energy…so just what you’d need if you had to spend your afternoon dressed in leaves and palm fronds and dance for strangers off a ship where no one has ever missed a meal.
Charming Kura told us about the vegetation on Utupua, which Twig already knew about since she’d stayed on the island the whole time, following Kura and asking her endless questions about the plants. Twig’s big brain is storing up massive amounts of botanical information; she’s going to kick tail the next time she tackles a “botanical art” project. The Philadelphia Flower Show better get ready for her next work of genius.
All this AND a beautiful, cloudy sunset tonight!
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