Houston, We Have a Problem

The Brandells are back in Malekula safe and sound, but not without some interesting events transpiring!

About midway through our otherwise peaceful flight on our 18-seater aircraft, I felt a frantic poking on my shoulder from the seat behind me.  I turned around just in time to see Lexi's second "deposit of vomit" onto the floor, her seat, her clothes, and her mother's clothes.  For such a small girl, she sure can hold a lot of stuff in her stomach!  Of course, Shawnda and I both just sort of panicked, as there is no bathroom and no stewardess on the small plane.  Thankfully, Shawnda had three handkerchiefs in her carry-on, which she masterfully employed, along with Lexi's shirt, to complete quite a cleanup job!

Of course, as we disembarked in Malekula, other passengers are waiting to board the aircraft, with no cleanup whatsoever conducted in between.  We reluctantly walked up to the pilot and apologetically told him about our plight.  He grimaced, but told us it was no problem.  The workers who were unloading and loading luggage were as ill-equipped as we were, and went in armed with nothing more than several pieces of paper that they had dug out of the trash can.  Unfortunately, they had nothing to spray in the aircraft to mask the odor.  We felt terrible, but there was just nothing we could do!

We had actually become aware of "problem" number two before we even boarded the plane in Vila, but didn't realize the scope of the problem.  Alsen called me that morning from Lakatoro ("town") to let me know that he heard that the ship we had put all of our cargo on in Vila the day before had experienced engine trouble and was still in Vila.  I hurriedly went down to the wharf, and sure enough, the "Big Sista" was still moored to the seawall.  I asked one of the ship-hands when they planned to depart, and he replied very matter-of-factly that they would depart that afternoon, scheduled to arrive in Malekula the next day (thus, a day late).  "No problem," I thought, as such is to be expected in Vanuatu. 

We made our way to the village, and Alsen and I set up a plan to return to Lakatoro the next morning to retrieve our cargo from the ship.  However, upon arriving in town, I was informed by the agent that the ship had in fact not left Vila the afternoon before, and was now scheduled to arrive tomorrow.  "Tumoro nomo" is an oft-used phrase in Vanuatu, and while it's literal translation would be "just tomorrow" it in all reality means "not today."  I could have kicked myself for not confirming that the ship had departed the night before, as now we were stuck in town for the full day with little to do. 

I learned from my mistake, and called everyone I could that evening to confirm the ship's schedule.  Thankfully, I learned that the ship would NOT be arriving the next day, and was able to circumvent another purposeless trip to town on Thursday.  I went though the channels again Thursday afternoon, and felt pretty confident that the ship would indeed leave Vila on Friday afternoon, and thus arrive in Malekula on Saturday around lunch time.  The problem is, trucks don't depart the village for town on Saturday, and they offload cargo from the ship without concern for whether its intended recipient is present or not.  I counseled with Alsen, and he suggested I go to town on the regular service truck on Friday, and then charter a truck from Lakatoro on Saturday.  Thankfully, he called a "brother" who drives a service truck in town, who agreed to make a charter trip for us on Saturday.

So, here I am in the internet cafe on Friday morning, wondering what the weekend holds in store.  We decided to just make the best of it, and the whole family came into town and we will spend the night in a locally-owned bungalow.  It's something we've wanted to do for a while anyway, and figured this was as good a chance to do so as any. 

The best thing about both "problems" is, we've been in Vanuatu long enough to have learned to roll with the punches, come what may.  I think we've handled it quite well, if I do say so myself!  Especially since we have gone several days without the large majority of our supplies (food, clothes, phone charger, refrigerator, etc.).  "Oh my, Vanuatu!" indeed.