A Typical Weekend in the Wild, Wild, West

Having only four weeks left in the Sollies, I am making the most of my time by having as many random adventures as I can. This weekend was certainly an adventure… I went back to one of my favorite places in the Solomons, Simbo volcano. I went over with a group of newly arrived medical students and a few doctor friends. This is my fourth trip to Simbo, but the first time as a tourist… and as always, I loved it!

As usual on arrival in a remote village, we were greeted by a hundred smiling kids, all curious to see the white men. We were proudly shown around the island and the kids thought it was hilarious watching us try to crack open some coconuts.

After some typical Solomon’s confusion, we found a guide who was willing to take us up to the volcano. What a hoot that was! There were six of us squashed into a little wooden canoe, and two of us in a smaller canoe. We paddled for about 1 hour to a beautiful inland lake. After canoeing across the picture perfect lake, we arrived at the base of the volcano. We were shown a megapod farm (a bird that only lays its eggs on active volcanoes), where we dug around for half an hour looking for the famous eggs. The guide thought it was hilarious when he told us that they had already been collected for the day… he just wanted to see us digging around in the dirt!

It was a half hour walk up the steep slope to the crater… well worth the effort. The view from the top was amazing and there is something magical about sitting amongst smoldering rocks, knowing that it could blow at any minute. Our guide had brought up a freshly killed chicken and some potatoes, which we coked over a steaming vent. Absolutely delicious.

On the way back down the slope, we detoured to visit an ancient pile of human skulls, remnants from the head-hunting days. Its so hard to imaging these smiling, overly friendly people hunting each other for their ‘skull collection’ only 100 years ago… I’m glad that has changed or our heads might have ended up on the pile of skulls! Back at the base, our guide showed us where boiling water bubbled up and into the ocean. You could actually hear the water bubbling like a spa and hissing as it flows into the ocean. Amazing.

On Sunday we had a fairly lazy day. After an interesting church service (we didn't understand a word, but the singing was amazing), we strolled out to the local hot springs, again where boiling water bubbles out into a lagoon. Soul soothing stuff…. Until we found out that we had been swimming in crocodile infested water! I’m glad I was blissfully unaware at the time. Even though today I feel like a cripple (thanks to an extremely rough boat ride back to Gizo), I think this weekend makes it into my list of top Solomon experiences!

The beginning of the end

After spending one amazing month at home, I am back in the Sollies for my final tour of duty. At the time of writing, I have six weeks left until I am back in Aussie for good… how time flies! As much as I love it here, I am counting down the days… I think I enjoyed my time in Melbourne (and my fiancé) a little too much! So although I am ‘heartsore’ for now, I plan on making the next six weeks count…

This week was certiantly a big one. I spent the week living the village life on an active volcano, known locally as Simbo. This was my second visit here and I am going to try and fit another one in because I love it… The four hour boat ride was worth it!

I came over to check up on one of our project sites where we are in the process of building a children’s centre. Save the Children supplies the nails, fuel for the chainsaw, and tin for the roof, but the rest is up to the community. And what a model community they are! The day before I arrived they had finished cutting the timber for the frame. This is no easy task... the timber comes from the top of a steep ridge where the trees are felled, the timber is cut, and it is then carried down a steep slope and paddled across a lagoon in a boat. And there was so much of it!

The community is so excited that even the smallest of kids are eager to help out to build their centre. So we organized a big clean up day where the kids came with their big bush knives to help ‘cut the grass’ at the building site. It didn’t take long because over 100 kids turned out. The big clean up was followed by an afternoon of singing, dancing, munching on sugar cane and coconuts and playing games with the cutest kids I have ever met.

In our spare time, I walked an hour to the only place on the island which gets mobile reception to send my Benny a text. On the return journey we sank a wooden canoe in the lagoon and nearly burnt ourselves on the boiling water that springs up out of the volcano… I ran/swam so quickly that I almost walked on water!

At night we cooked over the campfire while listening to island tunes crackling out of the old wireless radio. We stayed in a house with a view to die for… And as I sat on the verandah overlooking the volcano and lagoon, I pondered the beauty of the Solomons people and the simplicity of their lifestyle. I could have been sitting in the same place hundreds of years ago and not much would have changed… they have no electricity, no contact with the outside world (except for the old wireless and random white girl)… they still call meetings by blowing into a big shell and they paddle around in handmade wooden canoes… and I question why we are so eager for ‘development’. There is something so beautiful about the primitive village lifestyle. It cant be captured on camera or caught on film… only experienced. And as I sat there I realized how extremely lucky I am to have such an experience. I hope there are many more moments like that in the next six weeks….