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!
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