Friday, February 27, 2009

Village

In the village we went to a central area where there were vendors for us to get souvenirs. I bought the carved volcanic head that the lady is holding in the center of picture 1. Everyone was very friendly and easy to talk to throughout the entire day. The guides were not forthcoming with information but happily answered questions and it was easy to engage the vendors and other people standing around in conversation. Most seemed to speak English well or have someone in the group who spoke English.

Our guide lived in this village and her daughter caught sight of her as we drove away and was so excited to see her mommy. Her nephew also ran along side the caravan, everyone waving and smiling.

From there we went to a WWII plane crash site (pic. 2). There were more vendors here so we did a little more shopping.

Back at the ship I headed out to the gate of the port to visit some more vendors. Some of these vendors had wonderful high quality carved wood object and the prices were very reasonable. The Queen Victoria visited this port yesterday which made me wonder what treasures they had picked up as everything we saw was hand made and unique, not mass produced.

On the tour I did not have to wear my dust mask because we seemed to be upwind of the ash. However, back at the ship I wore my mask to and from the shopping area as the air quality in this area was poor. Some ship's personnel were also wearing them so I did not feel too out of place.

The day was hot and humid. Everyone was glad to get back on board and into the air conditioning.

The city of Rabaul was completely destroyed in a volcanic eruption in 1994 which buried the city in 2 meters of ash. We saw the remains of a few buildings (very few). The buildings were not rebuilt but instead the offices moved to other cities that were further away from the volcano and thus a better investment. As a result of Rabaul's proximity to the volcano the structures that have been erected are generally of poor quality and look patched together out of salvaged material.

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