Ambae

So after spending a few days here I’ve become familiar with every part of West Ambae which is where I live. The farthest part south of me of West Ambae is Walaha airport where I flew in. Next comes Ndui Ndui which is where most people go.

The first week I was here were a bunch of football tournaments and it’s pretty strange being the only white man in the whole village. I’ve been doing a lot of walking because there isn’t too much to do right now due to the spell. So how schools work here is there is a big three month break off school right now that doesn’t resume until February where no one is on campus except for maybe one or two teachers and right now it’s just the headmaster and I.

Because I’m staying on a school campus I’m having a totally different experience than some volunteers who are staying in actual villages. I’ve visited Zack’s site who’s the closest to me and it’s about a 2 hour walk up this pretty strenuous trail which is pretty fun. Every day he has people bringing him food for breakfast, lunch and dinner which is pretty nice because I’m by myself I usually fend for myself. 

I finally met my new host family the other day and they are really cool! I have two sisters and two brothers who are 19 and 20 and we hang out a lot. I have to walk 25 minutes to their house but I do it every day just because there’s not too much else to do.   

There’s a rock called devil’s rock that’s jutting out of the water and I went with my host brother to pick up some cargo and it’s the only sand beach on the coast of West Ambae, it’s a black sand beach and pretty nice. A few days later I went back with the two Australians that came to visit and me and the guy Rory swam out there (about 30 minutes) and climbed the rock. In WWII US troops used it as target practice so when I got up there I found a 50 cal bullet lodged in which I finally got out which is pretty cool. On the way back I was snorkeling and I saw a reef shark which was pretty cool and scared Rory when I came up and told him what was there. 

Basically- Ambae is pretty hardcore and pretty awesome, can’t wait to conquer the volcano!