It all started a couple of days ago with the land diving. The tower is 60 feet high, and they start the jumping at about 25 feet. The first jumper hit pretty hard on his face and lost his Nambas. So cupping his hand in front of himself he raced up the hill to the other male dancers.
As the land divers continued going higher the vibrations of the tower shaking as the vines yanked on them could be felt in the ground, along with the dull thud of the land diver hitting the ground.
The chanting by the throng of dancers grew more excited as the jumpers got higher and higher. The men clad in their Nambas stamping out a rhythm on the ground, and the women shrieking and whistling.
From the land diving we started working our way back to our jumping off point. This required a 3 hour beat straight upwind in 9 foot steep seas, and 25 knot winds. It was a rough 3 hour run and as the waves broke over the bow, the ladder between the nettings broke in half.
We did though catch a giant sailfish. He jumped out of the water many times and swam towards our boat at first, but when he started running away the line snapped! He kept jumping out of the water, and one of his sailfish buddies joined in the sport by jumping out of the water next to him. What a spectacle!
We now are in Jumasume waiting for a weather window to jump to Port Vila. This was one of the villages that we dropped off one of the water tanks at. We also had some more food aid that we were given to distribute to the ravaged villages, so we dropped it off here also.
The whole village was working to get the gutter on the church, the pad made for the water tank, and the water pipe going from the gutter to the tank. When they finished they had a large ceremony, put flower lei's around our necks, gave Shannon an island dress, and me an island shirt! Such wonderful people!
While heading out in the water to get the dingy, I had my sandals on, and did not feel the stingray as I stepped on it. Hence he jabbed his stinger way into my foot and pumped it full of poison! Wow did it hurt! I sat for over an hour writhing in pain, having my foot soaking in a pot of hot water. Then as suddenly as the pain started it was gone!
And the adventure continues!
Courage
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