In the spirit of you-win-some-you-lose-some, we have arrived at our new site. It was not an easy journey. After the cyclone, the ferry broke basically stranding the island without incoming food, which would not have been that big of a deal had not most of the crops been destroyed by the cyclone. It also stranded us. We were told on Thursday that we were being pulled from the island and that Peace Corps would be coming on Friday night to pick us up and move us. So we packed. Then the boat broke so we unpacked. (The best part is that it broke in the ocean so had to turn around and go back. We didn’t find out that the boat hadn’t made it for awhile.) Then they said it was coming so we packed. We continued that routine for the better part of a week. Finally it was decided that Peace Corps was unwilling to risk getting off the boat to pick us up fearing that another boat may never come. If a boat ever made it to Koro, we were to get ourselves and our belongings on it and never look back lest we turn into a pillar of salt.
So, on the day that the boat was to finally and truly leave, we packed (as per our usual). The boat was to leave at 1:00pm getting to Koro at around 9:00pm. Since food was scarce on the island at this point, every meal was becoming an experiment in scrounging. We were also trying to minimize unpacking at this point. So, we planned to eat lunch and then skip dinner. The boat didn’t leave at 1:00…or 2:00…or 3:00. It left at 6:00. Then it had to turn around again. Evidently, they put the cars on wrong so the whole thing was listing. They had to return to port to put arrange them correctly. The boat really and truly left at 8:00 so we headed down there nice and early to make sure that we could get all of our stuff there. We got there at around 2:00am for a 3:00am arrival. Guess what time the boat didn’t come and what time it started raining. The boat finally limped in to Koro after sunrise at around 7 or 8. I stopped keeping track in there somewhere due to delirium. One of the engines had failed, the water pump had failed, and the lights on the lower deck had failed, but the boat made it and nothing short of the boat being on fire or actively sinking would have preventing me from getting on it.
So, we did. Just a short 4-hour trip to Savusavu and we would be free from the burdens of travel to Koro forever. Then we got to Savusavu. Well, one of the winches to pull the boat into port broke so they couldn’t pull us in. We sat in the harbor for 3 hours while they tried to fix it. Finally, they tied a rope to a truck on land and the truck pulled us ashore. And thus ends the last time that I plan to ever ride the SOFI ferry again. All in all, it took us 14 hours to get from Koro to Savusavu, two dots on a map that on any map you probably have are indecipherable from each other.
Anyway, we are here in our new village—a large-ish village about 2 hours by bus outside of the town of Savusavu. Savusavu itself is known as the “Hidden Paradise,” and while I wouldn’t go that far, it is nice. Most importantly, it has stores and in those stores are cheese, and jam, and peanut butter, and VEGETABLES! It is a 4-hour round trip to get there so you have to mean it to go there, but the fact that we can is revolutionary to us. We got off Koro once every couple of months and only then if we had a conference or something. We just got to the village but so far, it seems great. The biggest difference is that they have had a Peace Corps Volunteer before. That means that in the Fijian way, we are always being compared to him (and evidently, he was super-PCV here. The man did amazing things from what I can tell), but it means that they really want us here. They know what Peace Corps is and is not and had been begging for another volunteer for some time.
Our house is pretty awesome. We had a great house on Koro, but this makes our old house look like a hovel. It is owned by a woman who spent enough time in Australia to have upped her standards a bit. It is a 2 bedroom concrete block house with lots of space. It is right in the village with our front porch (yep) overlooking the Methodist church and the sea behind it. It isn’t quite the view that we had on Koro, but anytime that your porch looks at the water, complaining is moot. The only issues have to do with dirt. The last volunteer here was a single, young, and clearly dirty male. If the rumors hold true, he didn’t pick up a broom or rag in 2 years. I believe it. Then after he left, the filth had 9 months of time to marinate while the house was unoccupied. So, we walked into that mess. It is still a work in progress but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Since the cyclone, there is no electricity in this part of the village. That is a bit of a bummer and will make computer access a little more difficult and less frequent. So, if you are used to reading my wit on this blog on a regular basis, it will be much less frequent in the near future. E-mail will be similarly disrupted. As for phones, the phones that we have been using (mine: 7413233 and Sally’s: 7413231) don’t work here. We have a number for now that does, sort of, work here. It is 9346384. If you are calling, use that one for now. We will keep the other phone numbers for use around town and the rest of Fiji, but if you are trying to call in the near future, use 9346384. We also have our new address. So, here is the summary of information:
Address:
Brian Smithers/Sally Moyce
Box 904
PO Savusavu
Fiji Islands
Phone: 9346384
One really great thing about this move is how easy it just became to come and visit us. We are pretty well booked out through August but after that, we are looking for visitors!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Family Vacation
My parents visited a couple of weeks ago and it was some pretty good timing for us. We had just found out that we were being moved from our house and since it was a house at the high school compound, they were also taking away Sally’s job there to justify removing us from the house. We were having a rough time, so my parents coming and us taking a little vacation was just what the doctor ordered, but it didn’t start particularly well because our ferry broke.
The original plan was for my parents to fly from LA to Nadi and then take a short flight from Nadi to Savusavu, where they would catch the ferry to come to Koro. Well, the ferry broke and was grounded in Suva stranding my parents in Savusavu where they stayed for a couple of days while we figured out how to get together. We decided the only option was to hire a small boat from Koro to go and pick them up. It was pricey. Then the winds picked up. Koro and Savusavu are not especially close. You can’t see one from the other on the horizon for example. Well, my parents rode in about a 10 foot boat over the open Koro Sea in 25 knot winds…on my Mother’s birthday. It was awful, I am told, but they made it. We would not subject anyone else to that trip.
Once they made it to Koro, we had a wonderful time. We stayed one day in Dere Bay, the rich, white side, before heading over to our village for some culture. And they got it. We dressed them up in Fiji clothes, drank kava, presented the isevusevu to the chief and hung around Fiji-style. It was great. From there we hit the road and that is where our vacation really starts in my eyes.
After the overnight ferry from Koro to Viti Levu, we hung out in Suva for just a bit and then hopped a bus to the Coral Coast where we stayed at a little place called Tambua Sands Beach Resort. It was pretty cool—nice white, sandy beach and comfy bures (little houses for sleeping), but the food wasn’t great. This was our first taste of tourist-traveling. Where we live, you can’t buy any food out so either you make something yourself or someone makes it for you, but either way it is free. Even when we go to Suva, I know that I can grab lunch for $1. So, when I saw that drinks were $10 and dinners were $15-$20, I couldn’t believe it. I realize that isn’t that big of a deal on the US market, but here it is highway robbery. Anyway, it took me a bit to get over the feeling of being robbed on this trip.
Finally, we shoved off to the Yasawas (with another case of those 40’s) to Nacula Island where we stayed at a place called the Oarsman’s Bay Lodge. We chose it because it was as far into the Yasawas as the ferry boat goes, figuring there would be less tourists (there were) and because it sits on what is referred to in Lonely Planet as the best beach in Fiji (it was). I can’t begin to tell you how beautiful this place is. Photos will have to do, but it was certainly everything you might think of when you say the words “Tropical Paradise.” We also chose the Oarsman’s Bay Lodge because it is owned and operated but a Fijian village and we want to support those ventures whenever we can. That usually means you suffer on some of the food and amenities, but this place was still pretty cool. I would go back in a heartbeat. (In fact, when we figured that we were going to be moved from our site, Sally and I tried to get placed in that village to help them run and update their lodge in addition to some other projects.)
Then there was the diving. It is a bummer that I can't upload video here (really slow connection) because I have some good stuff of some sharks. Anyway:
Like all good things, this one ended. My parents flew out on a Tuesday, we hopped a bus back to Suva, had a power meeting with Peace Corps about our future (or lack thereof) on Koro and were back to Koro the next day. It was a great trip; we loved having my parents here who, even now in the their 60’s, are some of my favorite people to travel with. Who else would have ridden the open seas on a row boat to see us? They amaze me with their adventurous spirit and willingness to roll with the flow on a trip to Fiji, where the flow never rolls in a straight line. Plus they pay for stuff. So, Mom and Dad, I hope that you are planning your trip here for next year because we are counting on you. I thought that we might try foregoing the skiff entirely and try swimming from Vanua Levu to Taveuni!
The original plan was for my parents to fly from LA to Nadi and then take a short flight from Nadi to Savusavu, where they would catch the ferry to come to Koro. Well, the ferry broke and was grounded in Suva stranding my parents in Savusavu where they stayed for a couple of days while we figured out how to get together. We decided the only option was to hire a small boat from Koro to go and pick them up. It was pricey. Then the winds picked up. Koro and Savusavu are not especially close. You can’t see one from the other on the horizon for example. Well, my parents rode in about a 10 foot boat over the open Koro Sea in 25 knot winds…on my Mother’s birthday. It was awful, I am told, but they made it. We would not subject anyone else to that trip.
Once they made it to Koro, we had a wonderful time. We stayed one day in Dere Bay, the rich, white side, before heading over to our village for some culture. And they got it. We dressed them up in Fiji clothes, drank kava, presented the isevusevu to the chief and hung around Fiji-style. It was great. From there we hit the road and that is where our vacation really starts in my eyes.
After the overnight ferry from Koro to Viti Levu, we hung out in Suva for just a bit and then hopped a bus to the Coral Coast where we stayed at a little place called Tambua Sands Beach Resort. It was pretty cool—nice white, sandy beach and comfy bures (little houses for sleeping), but the food wasn’t great. This was our first taste of tourist-traveling. Where we live, you can’t buy any food out so either you make something yourself or someone makes it for you, but either way it is free. Even when we go to Suva, I know that I can grab lunch for $1. So, when I saw that drinks were $10 and dinners were $15-$20, I couldn’t believe it. I realize that isn’t that big of a deal on the US market, but here it is highway robbery. Anyway, it took me a bit to get over the feeling of being robbed on this trip.
Finally, we shoved off to the Yasawas (with another case of those 40’s) to Nacula Island where we stayed at a place called the Oarsman’s Bay Lodge. We chose it because it was as far into the Yasawas as the ferry boat goes, figuring there would be less tourists (there were) and because it sits on what is referred to in Lonely Planet as the best beach in Fiji (it was). I can’t begin to tell you how beautiful this place is. Photos will have to do, but it was certainly everything you might think of when you say the words “Tropical Paradise.” We also chose the Oarsman’s Bay Lodge because it is owned and operated but a Fijian village and we want to support those ventures whenever we can. That usually means you suffer on some of the food and amenities, but this place was still pretty cool. I would go back in a heartbeat. (In fact, when we figured that we were going to be moved from our site, Sally and I tried to get placed in that village to help them run and update their lodge in addition to some other projects.)
Then there was the diving. It is a bummer that I can't upload video here (really slow connection) because I have some good stuff of some sharks. Anyway:
Like all good things, this one ended. My parents flew out on a Tuesday, we hopped a bus back to Suva, had a power meeting with Peace Corps about our future (or lack thereof) on Koro and were back to Koro the next day. It was a great trip; we loved having my parents here who, even now in the their 60’s, are some of my favorite people to travel with. Who else would have ridden the open seas on a row boat to see us? They amaze me with their adventurous spirit and willingness to roll with the flow on a trip to Fiji, where the flow never rolls in a straight line. Plus they pay for stuff. So, Mom and Dad, I hope that you are planning your trip here for next year because we are counting on you. I thought that we might try foregoing the skiff entirely and try swimming from Vanua Levu to Taveuni!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
It Came, It Saw, It Conquered
I have always wanted to experience a hurricane. My summer in Georgia and my year in Queensland left me empty-handed. Well, I got my hurricane and I don’t think that I have a burning desire to go through another one. Cyclone Tomas tore through here over the last few days and it was not the cotton candy and picnic that I had envisioned. Mostly, it was loud. Really loud. We couldn’t sleep it was so loud, and I can sleep through anything. Seriously, I didn’t realize that moving air could make that much noise. Turns out it was good that we weren’t sleeping because as the winds and rain changed directions, all hands were needed periodically to move things around, block various windows, pull up floor sections, move the bed (it was raining on the bed at one point), etc.
And now to take stock: Our house did remarkably well. The roof stayed on entirely and the windows mostly did their job. The only problem was the wood slats on the walls that did their best but ultimately lost the battle with the horizontal rain. So, we took on some water. Outside is another story. My gardens are destroyed and no one around here will be eating a banana for a couple of months. Those things snapped like matchsticks. The cyclone wasn’t even here yet and the banana trees gave up. (Insert war-time French joke here.) I can’t even find the parts that made up my compost bin.
I love the poetic justice that some of the main reasons for my not wanting to move are have been totally destroyed on the eve of that move. Literally, we are supposed to be out tomorrow, but the cyclone has bought us another week. I once told a friend when I thought that we might be getting the boot, “If they make me move from the garden, I will burn that mother down.” Luckily for all, I didn’t have to. Anyway, outside is still mostly mayhem with downed trees and debris everywhere.
The village was not so lucky. The evening before the cyclone hit, the high tide brought with it the storm surge leaving much of the village underwater. That was the first time that had happened in anyone’s memory although no one remembers a cyclone like this before either. Usually the flooding comes from the river, which did not happen. As long as the flooding comes from somewhere, is what I say. Anyway, the storm surge flooded all of the houses right on the shore and even a few further back.
Plenty of houses had roof damage, and one friend of mine had his roof totally ripped off. His house is ruined from the rain.
Luckily there was only 1 casualty, a horse (not a joke) was severely cut by flying roofing metal and later died. It is amazing that nothing more happened here, although we have not heard about the rest of the island or Fiji for that matter. Anyway, I am happy to have experienced it, happy that everyone I know is alive and well, and happy that it is over. Clean-up starts tomorrow.
And now to take stock: Our house did remarkably well. The roof stayed on entirely and the windows mostly did their job. The only problem was the wood slats on the walls that did their best but ultimately lost the battle with the horizontal rain. So, we took on some water. Outside is another story. My gardens are destroyed and no one around here will be eating a banana for a couple of months. Those things snapped like matchsticks. The cyclone wasn’t even here yet and the banana trees gave up. (Insert war-time French joke here.) I can’t even find the parts that made up my compost bin.
The solar hot water heater has also met its maker (me, but I did not provide it with bright white lights and comforting music).
I love the poetic justice that some of the main reasons for my not wanting to move are have been totally destroyed on the eve of that move. Literally, we are supposed to be out tomorrow, but the cyclone has bought us another week. I once told a friend when I thought that we might be getting the boot, “If they make me move from the garden, I will burn that mother down.” Luckily for all, I didn’t have to. Anyway, outside is still mostly mayhem with downed trees and debris everywhere.
The village was not so lucky. The evening before the cyclone hit, the high tide brought with it the storm surge leaving much of the village underwater. That was the first time that had happened in anyone’s memory although no one remembers a cyclone like this before either. Usually the flooding comes from the river, which did not happen. As long as the flooding comes from somewhere, is what I say. Anyway, the storm surge flooded all of the houses right on the shore and even a few further back.
Plenty of houses had roof damage, and one friend of mine had his roof totally ripped off. His house is ruined from the rain.
Luckily there was only 1 casualty, a horse (not a joke) was severely cut by flying roofing metal and later died. It is amazing that nothing more happened here, although we have not heard about the rest of the island or Fiji for that matter. Anyway, I am happy to have experienced it, happy that everyone I know is alive and well, and happy that it is over. Clean-up starts tomorrow.
Monday, March 15, 2010
So that's what 100mph winds are like
If our south facing wall is still standing in the morning, I will be both surprised and, let's face it, a little disappointed.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Here it Comes
Well, if we had enough electricity to warrant a fan, you better believe that excrement would by flying in all directions from it. We are slated to move out of our house on Wednesday, either to a house in the village near where we are now, or if Peace Corps decides that the Koro Experiment has been a failed on, to another site. There was supposed to be a meeting on Monday to determine whether we stay on Koro on Monday. If the result of the meeting is that we are being pulled from our site, Peace Corps would come and get us on Wednesday to go…well somewhere else. If the decision is for us to stay, we would move on Wednesday to a house in the village, that while not quite the luxury we have enjoyed here, will keep us dry.
Then came news of cyclone Tomas, heading our way. (By the way, a cyclone is just what we call a hurricane around these parts.) Koro is in the direct path of the category 4 (out of 5) cyclone and we are expecting 100mph winds. The rest of Peace Corps Fiji is hunkered down in consolidation points, but since we are so isolated, we are our own consolidation point. There won’t be a meeting to determine our fate on Monday and no one from Peace Corps will be able to come on Wednesday because the seas will be too rough to send the boat. Meanwhile, it is business as usual here, so the school doesn’t think that a little breeze and a sprinkle of rain are any reason to not move. Plus, I am good and sick with fever, general body aches and pains, and various bodily functions happening that you don’t want to hear about. Nice timing, huh? (By the way, I made a joke about dengue to some folks via e-mail which was taken a bit more seriously than I had planned. It isn’t dengue; it’s probably just meningitis or something.)
Anyway, the real reason for the blog is to show the cyclone photos because these are pretty cool. Here are a couple of sights that show the impending destruction. This one,
http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/65648.html
is the tracking map. On the map, Fiji is the island group with Nadi, Suva, and Labasa in it. To find Koro, find where it says “18:00 15/3” (March 15th at 6:00pm). There is a “4” next to that showing where the eye of the storm will be then. Now, go south one “4” and look for a small island that looks like a little shark’s tooth next to the “4” there. That is Koro. If it is any consolation, we are on the eastern side of the island. This one is the satellite photo:
http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/gms_ir.gif
I really like this view because it is real and gives you the scope of it. These are updated every few hours so if you want to track our demise, it is there for the world to see! Our house is sturdy and has been around for more than a few of these, so I think that we will be perfectly safe. And while our house is on high ground, I am more concerned with the flooding that will most likely happen in the village—could be really bad as that river is prone to flooding.
I will update this as I can, and as long as the internet stays up during the storm. Since this will by first direct hit from a hurricane/cyclone, I am pretty excited!
Then came news of cyclone Tomas, heading our way. (By the way, a cyclone is just what we call a hurricane around these parts.) Koro is in the direct path of the category 4 (out of 5) cyclone and we are expecting 100mph winds. The rest of Peace Corps Fiji is hunkered down in consolidation points, but since we are so isolated, we are our own consolidation point. There won’t be a meeting to determine our fate on Monday and no one from Peace Corps will be able to come on Wednesday because the seas will be too rough to send the boat. Meanwhile, it is business as usual here, so the school doesn’t think that a little breeze and a sprinkle of rain are any reason to not move. Plus, I am good and sick with fever, general body aches and pains, and various bodily functions happening that you don’t want to hear about. Nice timing, huh? (By the way, I made a joke about dengue to some folks via e-mail which was taken a bit more seriously than I had planned. It isn’t dengue; it’s probably just meningitis or something.)
Anyway, the real reason for the blog is to show the cyclone photos because these are pretty cool. Here are a couple of sights that show the impending destruction. This one,
http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/65648.html
is the tracking map. On the map, Fiji is the island group with Nadi, Suva, and Labasa in it. To find Koro, find where it says “18:00 15/3” (March 15th at 6:00pm). There is a “4” next to that showing where the eye of the storm will be then. Now, go south one “4” and look for a small island that looks like a little shark’s tooth next to the “4” there. That is Koro. If it is any consolation, we are on the eastern side of the island. This one is the satellite photo:
http://www.met.gov.fj/aifs_prods/gms_ir.gif
I really like this view because it is real and gives you the scope of it. These are updated every few hours so if you want to track our demise, it is there for the world to see! Our house is sturdy and has been around for more than a few of these, so I think that we will be perfectly safe. And while our house is on high ground, I am more concerned with the flooding that will most likely happen in the village—could be really bad as that river is prone to flooding.
I will update this as I can, and as long as the internet stays up during the storm. Since this will by first direct hit from a hurricane/cyclone, I am pretty excited!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Moving in T-6 Days
I have always said that the best way to head off unpleasantness is to take a little vacation with your visiting parents. Well, that is what we did and I will tell you all about that in a second. First, the drama: we are definitely kicked out of our house. We had been promised that we would be OK to stay here until the end of the March and that we would hopefully have a new house lined up then. Well, I guess that “the end of March” means March 17th because that is when the new teacher is moving in. Turns out that the manager likes to make spurious promises because he also promised the principal and new teacher that we would be out “in 2 weeks.” 2 weeks was up last week. The promiser has conveniently tucked off to the capital and is wisely keeping his phone off. Needless to say, his days of working with the US Peace Corps have ended. If we end up leaving Koro, I will give you plenty of other juicy details that I will keep under wraps now.
Where does that leave us? Well, to my right I have noticed a large boulder and to my left a nondescript hard place. There is a house available in the village that may or may not meet Peace Corps security requirements. There would be no garden and no privacy, no view of the ocean from the porch, and nowhere to put anything. On the positive, it is a 6-year-old’s stone throw from the ocean, it is nice and big, and is shaded by a big tree. It is in the village, instead of above it, which has its positives and negatives. The house may be the least of our concerns as Peace Corps appears to be leaning toward pulling us out for a variety of reasons but boiling down to Sally’s counterpart turning out to be crazy and her associated loss of half of her job along with the deteriorating reliability of our transportation to/from the island. When we were posted here there were 2 boats/week and one plane/week. The plan got canceled and the boat was reduced to 1/week. Last week the boat broke. You can do the math. That happened to coincide with my parents’ visit which was overcome only by a death-defying maneuver that will be explained in further detail later (to keep you reading!).
So, where are we going if we leave is the million dollar question?!? More to the point, if you are about to send chocolate or a car or just a letter, stop the mail! Wait! We don’t know where we are heading and while we can probably have things forwarded, it would be best to hold off until we know more later in the week. We will either be moving into a new house on Wednesday or into a truck to go to Suva. You may commence sending delicious treats upon my command after Wednesday. There are one and a half options on the table. The most viable option is a site in rural Vanua Levu whose name escapes me. I told it is a great site. There was a health volunteer there until last year and the volunteer from our group who was to replace him went home. I do not know what we would be doing for work, but I can assume that it would be a significant step down from my current position, which is actually looking up.
Option 0.5 is Nacula Island in the Yasawas and while I am being told by the Peace Corps office that it is probably not going to work, I am pushing for it anyway. This is where my folks and I went for vacation last week and the place is amazingly beautiful in addition to having some serious needs. Knowing that we may be getting the flip-flop (that’s like the boot, but no one has those here) from our site here, I fielded them out for having a volunteer and they were thrilled about the idea. As it turns out, they had already submitted an application for a volunteer! Anyway, the timeline is much too fast for us to be out this week and in to an undeveloped site but I am not giving up that easily. That place was crazy-beautiful.
So, my parents came to visit and after having two visits from friends and family, I now know one thing: we will not be bringing any more visitors to Koro Island. The transportation to/from the island has now gotten the best of otherwise well-laid plans. For us, a boat that is, say, a week late or canceled entirely is not that big of a deal. On Fiji time, whether one goes this week or next is not that important. The importance is considerably magnified in the course of an American 2-week vacation. So, the Coffmans got stuck on the island and my parents got stuck off of it (or we got stuck on it, depending on your perspective). The ferry broke this time so there was no boat. My parents ended up paying out the nose to take a small fiberglass boat 3 hours across the Koro Sea in 25 knot winds. I did this to may parents, on my mother’s 60th birthday no less. (Did I tell you about the last time my parents visited me in a foreign land when my mother broke her ankle. (Worst son ever.) Well, they made it but I won’t be testing fate with sending another of my loved ones that way. When you come, we will meet you somewhere.
That being said, we had a really great time with my parents and at least the weather cooperated. Their trip took them to Savusavu for a couple of days (having been stranded by the lack of a boat) then to Koro where they got their dose of sitting on the floor and wearing funny clothing. My Dad took to wearing a skirt like he was born to do it. Then we headed for greener pastures, first to the Coral Coast of Viti Levu for a night, to Denerau for one night that got extended to 2 based on Sally and I being unable to quit the luxury after just one night. Then we headed to Nacula Island, one the last in the Yasawa chain, next to the island where they filmed Blue Lagoon (which we watched on an impossibly small screen while we were there). It was amazing and we stayed on what was probably the most picturesque strip of beach that I have ever seen. We did a bunch of snorkeling, Sally and I dove, we hiked the island, and otherwise pretended that we don’t live here and were just visiting. It was wonderful to just be a tourist. Sadly, they headed out on Tuesday and we came home here to face the music. To top it all off, there is a hurricane heading our way—should be here on Sunday or Monday. That should make moving easy.
Well, I am working on the photos from the trip with my parents and should have that for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime, I am going to head down to the village to drink some grog as my way of showing support for the women’s fundraiser to make enough money to build a bread kitchen. If we are staying here, it sure would be nice to not have to make my own bread.
Where does that leave us? Well, to my right I have noticed a large boulder and to my left a nondescript hard place. There is a house available in the village that may or may not meet Peace Corps security requirements. There would be no garden and no privacy, no view of the ocean from the porch, and nowhere to put anything. On the positive, it is a 6-year-old’s stone throw from the ocean, it is nice and big, and is shaded by a big tree. It is in the village, instead of above it, which has its positives and negatives. The house may be the least of our concerns as Peace Corps appears to be leaning toward pulling us out for a variety of reasons but boiling down to Sally’s counterpart turning out to be crazy and her associated loss of half of her job along with the deteriorating reliability of our transportation to/from the island. When we were posted here there were 2 boats/week and one plane/week. The plan got canceled and the boat was reduced to 1/week. Last week the boat broke. You can do the math. That happened to coincide with my parents’ visit which was overcome only by a death-defying maneuver that will be explained in further detail later (to keep you reading!).
So, where are we going if we leave is the million dollar question?!? More to the point, if you are about to send chocolate or a car or just a letter, stop the mail! Wait! We don’t know where we are heading and while we can probably have things forwarded, it would be best to hold off until we know more later in the week. We will either be moving into a new house on Wednesday or into a truck to go to Suva. You may commence sending delicious treats upon my command after Wednesday. There are one and a half options on the table. The most viable option is a site in rural Vanua Levu whose name escapes me. I told it is a great site. There was a health volunteer there until last year and the volunteer from our group who was to replace him went home. I do not know what we would be doing for work, but I can assume that it would be a significant step down from my current position, which is actually looking up.
Option 0.5 is Nacula Island in the Yasawas and while I am being told by the Peace Corps office that it is probably not going to work, I am pushing for it anyway. This is where my folks and I went for vacation last week and the place is amazingly beautiful in addition to having some serious needs. Knowing that we may be getting the flip-flop (that’s like the boot, but no one has those here) from our site here, I fielded them out for having a volunteer and they were thrilled about the idea. As it turns out, they had already submitted an application for a volunteer! Anyway, the timeline is much too fast for us to be out this week and in to an undeveloped site but I am not giving up that easily. That place was crazy-beautiful.
So, my parents came to visit and after having two visits from friends and family, I now know one thing: we will not be bringing any more visitors to Koro Island. The transportation to/from the island has now gotten the best of otherwise well-laid plans. For us, a boat that is, say, a week late or canceled entirely is not that big of a deal. On Fiji time, whether one goes this week or next is not that important. The importance is considerably magnified in the course of an American 2-week vacation. So, the Coffmans got stuck on the island and my parents got stuck off of it (or we got stuck on it, depending on your perspective). The ferry broke this time so there was no boat. My parents ended up paying out the nose to take a small fiberglass boat 3 hours across the Koro Sea in 25 knot winds. I did this to may parents, on my mother’s 60th birthday no less. (Did I tell you about the last time my parents visited me in a foreign land when my mother broke her ankle. (Worst son ever.) Well, they made it but I won’t be testing fate with sending another of my loved ones that way. When you come, we will meet you somewhere.
That being said, we had a really great time with my parents and at least the weather cooperated. Their trip took them to Savusavu for a couple of days (having been stranded by the lack of a boat) then to Koro where they got their dose of sitting on the floor and wearing funny clothing. My Dad took to wearing a skirt like he was born to do it. Then we headed for greener pastures, first to the Coral Coast of Viti Levu for a night, to Denerau for one night that got extended to 2 based on Sally and I being unable to quit the luxury after just one night. Then we headed to Nacula Island, one the last in the Yasawa chain, next to the island where they filmed Blue Lagoon (which we watched on an impossibly small screen while we were there). It was amazing and we stayed on what was probably the most picturesque strip of beach that I have ever seen. We did a bunch of snorkeling, Sally and I dove, we hiked the island, and otherwise pretended that we don’t live here and were just visiting. It was wonderful to just be a tourist. Sadly, they headed out on Tuesday and we came home here to face the music. To top it all off, there is a hurricane heading our way—should be here on Sunday or Monday. That should make moving easy.
Well, I am working on the photos from the trip with my parents and should have that for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime, I am going to head down to the village to drink some grog as my way of showing support for the women’s fundraiser to make enough money to build a bread kitchen. If we are staying here, it sure would be nice to not have to make my own bread.
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