What to do when there was nothing to do

Hi all. This is a post that I wrote about 2 months ago, but because of the effects of a very big storm, I never got the chance. Storms are relatively infrequent here in the Marovo; 95 percent of the storms that do occur follow the north easterly ocean breeze. It is storms in the 5 percent category that come from the south west that cause all the trouble. In my case, trouble was serious and expensive damage to the community internet modem and routers. It was quite depressing really, as I was just on the verge of closing a new deal that would sustain the community network for another 24 months.

In a bizarre comedy of catastrophes,  this storm came 24 hours within me losing my fourth mobile phone to the ocean and the carbon filter and radiator of the town’s generator seizing. So not only was I incommunicado for about 6 weeks, I was also inilluminato (I just made that word up, but it does sound very roman).

Not all things were doom and gloom. In many ways it was a good thing that this storm occurred at the end of my project rather than the beginning, because I feel I was definitely more equipped to deal with being taken ‘off the grid’. These are some of the things I did to keep myself busy.

1. Organise regular volleyball, netball and soccer games for the students and community members.
This is actually something I have been doing all year, but during ‘the long dark’, games were much more regular and important. This is because trying to supervise 450 teenagers without the aid of light is like trying to dam a river with sand. Before I came, the students’ participation in sports was limited exclusively to the older boys. At the end, there was multiple games of volleyball, netball, soccer and sometimes rugby (teaching the offside rule is a nightmare!) happening, I think the student population, as a whole, became much more content. There also was a bit of culture shock happening with the girls starting to get more involved and not taking any rubbish from the boys, which was good to see.

Of course, I got heavily involved in most games. I was a rubbish soccer player, but I blame that on the field that had mud craters bigger than Flanders during WW1. In volleyball, netball and touch rugby, however, I held my own. Channeling Pat Rafter worked pretty well for me

and this was the good field!

2. Shooting things with my spear gun
What can I say, small things amuse small minds. In darker times, when my rat problem was really getting out of hand, I even reverted to taking pot shots in the house.  I regret doing that. I also tried to shoot coconuts off trees, but the gun’s three metre range usually wasn’t long enough.

3. Taking idiotic photos of my dogs
Kipper, Cassy, Wipu and Rosa keep me amused by being rascals.

4. Make bamboo instruments and form a heavy bamboo band
I have always wanted to form a Rage Against the Machine tribute band and to be honest, at 26, I was starting to doubt my resolve. With all the extra time I had, Rage Against the Bamboo finally was formed. It is no secret to anyone that knows me that I am hopelessly tone deaf, so I required a bit of help matching the bamboo sounds to guitar keys. Upon completion, there was two instruments with A, G, C, E, and F notes. All band members were given printed lyrics to ‘know your enemy’ and were taught the art of thrashing.  Unfortunately, we never got to record the final product, but I like to think that somewhere in the Marovo there are kids combining the happy sounds of bamboo music to lyrics like :

Yes I know my enemies
They’re the teachers who taught me to fight me
Yeah compromise, conformity, assimilation
Submission, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite

During the construction process.

5. Joke around
The kids of the Marovo have a great sense of humour. It takes a little getting used to as there is no shortage of slap stick; laughing at the expense of others is considered fair game and good fun. I can remember being slightly upset when the whole crowd started laughing at the scene where the monkey gets killed in the Life of Pi. Still, to be fair, there is a lot I don’t understand about their humour. Another thing is, when a Marovo person laughs, they REALLY laugh. It is loud, high pitched and highly infectious. Exchanging my sarcasm for Marovo frankness has been probably one of the most rewarding cultural exchanges I have been involved in.

This little fella was greatly amused at my high pitched screams when he placed a dead snake on my doorstep one morning.

6. Getting spaka with the boys
Chewing beatle-nut is a full-time occupation here in the Marovo (excluding SDA church goers). I am not really a fan of the red teeth or the nutty aftertaste, but I can see its appeal when there is nothing else to do. Beatle nut is relatively harmless when chewed on its own or with a korokua fruit or hirata leaf. When the korokua fruit is dipped in lime; however, there is a chemical reaction that gives you a strong headspin. The lime itself is created by drying, burning and crushing dead binubinu coral (orange branch coral with blue or green tips). If you ever get the chance to try it, my advice would be to avoid getting it on your gums and don’t swallow the juice as it can give you ulcers. As a side note, beatle-nut and alcohol is a potent mix and not recommended for anyone who is not a spaka masta.

7. Work in the community garden
Life in the village isn’t all sitting about. Providing a regular source of greens (beans, slippery and Chinese cabbage), fruit (bananas, pineapples and pawpaws) and root vegetables (potatoes, kumara, taro and cassava) is a full time job. To get everything done, the community is divided into the work groups of root crops, soup soup garden (village greens), bush clearers, firewood and sagu palm finders and grass cutters. The workdays are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (for about an hour) and groups are thankfully rotated every two weeks. I found that working in the root crops section was the hardest, but with a limited garden tools, the work is shared around.

The leaves on Sagu Palm trees are used to thatch rooves.

8. Go for a paddle and a fish
During the week, I tried to take Munjiki Vua (crocodile bait) out for a spin as often as I could. I never did catch anything on these trips, but it was good exercise and every now and again I would something really strange. One day, for example, I saw an eagle attack and catch a small bilikiki bird. That was pretty epic.

There is a big storm in the background that gave me a lot of trouble paddling back. Munjiki Vua was a fast canoe, but leaked like a siv.

9. Movie Night
Even though the generator has been out of action, it was lucky that the solar system at Patukae could support a projector and speakers. This was an opportunity for me to unashamedly indoctrinate the kids and the community members in my strange tastes of politics and popular culture; one that I have really enjoyed. The biggest hits so far have been: David Attenborough’s Blue Planet series, The Blues Brothers, Rambo first blood, Predator, A life of Pi and the Lord of the Rings and the original Star Wars trilogies. I get quite a kick out of explaining ‘the force’ or back stories of the Lord of the Rings to the unenlightened. A lot of the smaller children apparently had nightmares after watching The Thing and the ‘sinister influence of movies on our youth’ was a popular topic for preaching in some church services, but you can’t win them all.

10. A lot of reading and writing
Discounting writing rambling posts for this blog, I have enjoyed writing short stories and the occasional article. Ironically, the short stories I have written are quasi horror/science fiction stories, which I guess is a little weird (mimicking the main character of 1988, although not too much I hope). I most proud of the ‘The blood transfusionist’ and ‘the lost island’. The articles are a tad more politically charged and I haven’t decided what to do with them. It is good practice, nevertheless.

Thanks to my trusty kindle, I have just finished reading my 87th book. My reading tastes are just as off-beat as my writing tastes. I now have a fair understanding of Richard Nixon, Malcom X, the Argentinian Junta of the 1970’s, Espionage techniques during the Cold War, the Science of Star Trek and Admiral Yi Sun Sin. My top three most enjoyable reads have been:
1. The Great Shark Hunt – Hunter S Thompson
2. Catch 22 – Heller
3. A Memory of Light – Brandon Sanderson and (epic sci-fi is pulp, but I love it)
It has been around 4 years since I have started The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but I am nearly finished.

Cutting down Segu Palm trees for roofing

Human Jenga

Leana Via…baby

Terrrrrrrrrrible miss

The Good, the bad and the ugly: the ugly

The UGLY
When a Marovo person calls something ugly, it doesn’t mean in appearance, but in action. ‘Ihana Rengaso’ means ‘fish that will destroy’. Therefore, the fish discussed in this category, are species that you generally have to watch out for.

The Parrot Fish
The only exception to the introductory passage above is the Parrot Fish. This fish is weird! During the day, schooling parrot fish are pretty little blue and green fish that hang around the lagoon islands. In the night, however, they surround themselves with a mucus cocoon (referred in the Marovo as a spiderweb). I don’t know why they do it, some sort of defence mechanism I guess. All I know is, when I am diving at night and I see these mucus cocoons, I think Aliens 2.

I didn’t take this photo, but included it to demonstrate my point.

Grey and Black Whaler Sharks.
In the Marovo, rays and sharks are categorised as fish. The Grey and Black Whalers are simply put…the pricks of the Marovo. The Grey Whaler is called ‘Kiso ngongo ihana’, which means fish eating shark. They are a medium sized shark with black tail margin. The Greys are abundant around barrier reef passages and have a habit of appearing, often several at a time, when divers are spear fishing. They rush towards divers when a fish has been speared, and a number of spearfishermen have been bitten by these sharks. People say they are usually too timid to attack outright, but one of the well known tourist operators Cory may tell a different story after his attack. It is a given that you are going to lose fish to sharks when fishing in the Marovo, but the strange thing I have found with Grey Whalers is that they attack lures without the fish. Unlike dolphins that have sonar and aren’t stupid, I have caught Grey Whalers trawling deep diving lures, casting poppers and jigging. Once caught, getting them into the boat and de-hooking without killing them or being bitten is a bit of an art.

The Black whaler sharks are called ‘kiso ngongo makasi’. The name means ‘shark that eats bonito’. They are a lot meaner and bigger than their grey cousins. Blacks can grow up to 3 metres and are an open water shark that pursue and feed on schools of bonito. They have a quite large upper body and rather long pointed fins, so they’re fast swimmers. I have only seen a Black Whaler once when trawling in the open sea, but they are regarded as aggressive and dangerous; there have been many reports of Black Whalers attacking outboard motors.

Stone fish
This fish looks like a coral stone and usually lies hidden on shallow reefs among coral or rubble. The Estuarine Stonefish looks similar to a Stargazer with its lighter greyish colours. These fish have a LOT of sharp and highly venomous spines which can cause extreme pain. Custom stories talk of children, who are stung repeatedly, attaining considerable immunity. I have often wondered if you could eat them, but have never been that desperate…thankfully.

Striped catfish eel
This black and white striped fish swims in schools on coral reefs. It has venomous spines on the dorsal and pectoral fins which cause intense pain. I have only heard about these fish, but one of my good friends in Patukae got pricked by the spines and his leg was really swollen when I saw it and it looked particularly painful

The Good, the bad and the Ugly: The Bad

The BAD
While I consider the ihana hokara species (the good) the best to eat and easiest to predict, there is another category of species that are a rule upon themselves. These fish are called ihana lavata, which means ‘monster fish’. These fish are the top predators of the Marovo and act like it.

Giant Trevally
Giant Trevallies are the largest of the trevallies. They have a large head, big eyes and sharp scutes on the tail. Their body is silvery-white, sometimes with a darker tinge over the back. Giant Trevally do not usually swim in schools, but sometimes they can be seen following sharks in order to eat the remora fish attached to the sharks. They are considered the strongest fish in the Marovo and fishermen here call them batubatu which means ‘mighty warrior’. Unless you’re a jerk and use ridiculously heavy gear, they are a bloody hard fish to catch because they feed close to coral or rock structures. In my opinion, your best chance is to fight them out in open water where they can’t hide. Spearing Giant Trevally can be done, but is a tad dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. Most spearfishermen I know, don’t shoot Giant Trevally without a long length of rope and a float attached to their gun. Over the last few years, there has been a few recorded drownings attributed to spearing Giant Trevally.

Spanish mackerel (Kingfish or Tangiri)
The best way I can describe Spanish mackerel is a big dumb bully. They are one of the fastest fish of the Marovo, discounting sailfish and wahoo, but as my old PE teacher would say they are “all killer and no filler”. I never fully understood what he meant by that statement, but I think it is apt in this case because Spanish Mackeral will attack just about anything given the chance. They are known to form milling surface aggregations in the first and last lunar quarters, but not in the interval between them. The best way to catch them is by trolling deep diving minnows, but I have been experimenting with fishing with live bait recently and that can work as well. The only other thing I will say is that Spanish Mackeral are sprinters not long distance swimmers, so it is best to let them run a little bit before bringing them close to the boat.

Dogtooth Tuna
In my opinion, Dogtooth Tuna are the hardest fish in the Marovo to catch. They tend to stay around barrier reef passages and off the outer reefs, usually in rather deep water, and never in groups. Most people who successfully catch them use deep water rigs and really heavy gear. Similar the Giant Trevally, they will tend to swim down, not out, for coral or rock structures. I really enjoy deep water jigging, but to date, they have always tied my line around a rock before I have had a chance to stop them.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: The Good

I have encountered many a strange fish in my time in the Marovo Lagoon. Most of my learning has come through the pursuit of trying to catch dinner. Admittedly, recreational fishing has always been a personal hobby of mine, but living in the Marovo, without the availability of supermarkets and fishing co-operatives, has forced me to re-think my ‘western’ approach to fishing. In this series I will describe a few of my favourite varieties under the categories of : the good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good
The Marovo Lagoon is essentially one big shallow pond. Within this pond, there are species that I consider to be ‘ihana hokara’, roughly translated as ‘real/proper fish that you don’t need to eat anything with’. These fish are by no means easy to catch, but are clean fighters and relatively predictable, once you understand how they interact within the Marovo ecosystem.

The Silver backed and Blue Trevally
I have grouped these two species together because they share many similarities. Both take bait (bonito, squid and mussel) eagerly during the first and last quarters of the lunar month. Catching and storing bait can be tricky, however, so it is good to have contingency plans in place. Because both species spend most of their time within the lagoon, they are pretty easy to locate when feeding. This is because Silver Travally congregate in large predatory schools and are always eagerly followed by frigates and sea gulls. The most successful method I have found is to either trawl minnow lures or plastic squids slowly around the outskirts of the feeding frenzy. I had considerable trouble keeping up with the action when I was paddling my trusty canoe Mungiki Vua, so instead I found drop offs in the reef and employed the Marovo technique of strike-line. Strike-line consists of dropping four to five silver hooks, decorated with feathers and straws, to the bottom of the ocean then jigging them back up. It can be a tiresome and repetitive form of fishing, but is essentially free and good exercise. I have given up trying to spear Travally in feeding frenzies as they are too quick and I have developed a bit of phobia of swimming in open water.

The Coral Trout (panjara)
There are over twenty different coral trout varieties that inhabit the Marovo Lagoon. I consider them to be the best eating fish, but many locals don’t like their soft flesh. As a result of experiencing food poisoning on a number of occasions, I have deducted that coral trout don’t keep very well (without ice of course). Most coral trout live on the ocean-facing reefs and barrier reef passages, but some smaller fish live in the estuaries and mangroves. The square tail coral trout is the most common out of all the varieties and can be identified by its darkish skin with blue dots, which fade away when the fish dies. It forms regular and predictable large spawning aggregations in certain barrier reef passages from February to May. This is the best time to spear the square tails as they come up from the depths to breed. They have the reputation as a playful fish that plays ‘hide and go seek’ when you are diving. When spearfishing, you will miss if you do not shoot immediately. The square tail is also a greedy fish that will attack anything that swims close to their rock shelters. Trawling minnows close to the reef’s edge is a good technique that is fraught with inevitable tackle losses.
Bonito (mackerel tuna, skipjack tuna)
The bonito is a very sacred fish in the traditions of Marovo culture. Fishermen call it ihana kubekubere, which means fish with written markings. They play a central part to the ecosystem as both predator and prey. They have somewhat schizophrenic personalities that is probably derived from the endless list of species, humans included, trying to eat it. Bonito arrive in schools off the Marovo barrier reef in December and January, especially during the first seven and last few days of the lunar month. Smaller schools, however, may appear in any month. In my opinion they are the most fun to catch on a rod, but hand-lines work just as good as long as you have gloves. When fishing for Bonito, gauging the average fish size and choosing a suitable hook and lure/squid is most important. It has been my experience that bigger Bonito don’t touch the smaller lures and visa versa.

Snapper et al.
People in the Marovo will call almost any reddish fish caught in deep water a snapper or a Dovaro. This is most confusing when you are trying to categorise fish families and species. I have learnt that when they say snapper they can also mean jobfish, sweetlip, redbass, red emperor and mangrove jack. Interestingly enough, all of these fish do come under the snapper family. Generally, all of these fish, perhaps excluding the mangrove jack, reside deep along the outer reef drop-off (sometimes at depths of more than 200 metres). The locals use deep water handlines with detachable stone sinkers. I find it hard to balance getting to the bottom and feeling what you are doing. No-one really knows much about their breeding times or movements.

In Australia, these fish are referred to as ‘mother-in-law fish’. I don’t really know why that is. They have a red spangled throat so they are related to the sweetlip somehow.

The Marovo Lawnmowers

Need your lawn cut? Don’t bother with flimsy and unreliable whipper-snippers or lawnmowers.  Get the real deal and employ mass student labor.  It is cheap and you can feel good afterwords because you’ve given the youth of today ‘character building opportunities’.  Who says learning should be limited to the classroom!

A waterfall too far

Comparing the failure of Operation Market Garden during World War 2 (A Bridge Too Far) and my failed trek through Vangunu to find the Cheara Waterfall is a little farfetched and possibly insulting to some.  These two events, however, share some small similarities.

Similarity 1. Overly ambitious expectations

In WW2, the Allied attempt to break through German lines and simultaneously seize several bridges in occupied Netherlands proved to be in hindsight a tad rushed.

Similarly, my plan to paddle to the mouth of the Cheara River and walk to the middle of Vangunu Island following the disused logging road was also ill thought out.  It probably didn’t help that I left at 12:30, which was very late and at the hottest part of the day.

Similarity 2. Incorrect intelligence

In September 1944, the Allied advance was being slowed by its overextended supply lines.  There was also a great pressure to end the war quickly. When part of the Dutch underground reported that the Germans in the Netherlands had few resources in men or equipment and their morale was very poor, Bernard Montgomery devised a plan to drop 35,000 men behind enemy lines.  What good old Monty didn’t count on was that a whole division of German SS infantry would be in Arnhem, reportedly taking a holiday.

My failed intelligence was admittedly not as extreme or life threatening, but it did nevertheless cause me a lot of trouble.  Most Solomon Islanders don’t wear watches or do much travelling that is measured in the metric system.  As a result, their knowledge of time and distance can be arbitrary at best.  I should have known better, but when I asked a local how far it was to the local waterfall, he told me confidently that by following the logging road it was a six kilometre walk that would take me roughly one hour.  Even discounting the local’s incorrect perception of time and distance, the biggest failure in intelligence was my assumption that the logging roads would be easy enough to traverse.  This was not the case, as it turned out that the logging roads hadn’t been used in 10 years.  In the Marovo, a lot can grow in 10 years.

Similarity 3: Inadequate equipment and support

Without going into too much detail, much of the support intended for the Allied paratroopers either didn’t arrive or were shot up in ambushes.  When the radio sets were made redundant, the Germans closed in on the isolated paratroopers at the Bridge.   After days of house-to-house fighting in Arnhem, the paratroopers, pitted against crack SS infantry and panzers, were either killed, captured or forced to withdraw, whilst the city was indiscriminately razed to the ground.

I had the sense at least to travel with some other people, but they were typical Isabellians and trotted off, completely leaving me stranded with the dogs.  Taking along Kipper and her three puppies was a major mistake.  Not only were the dogs ungrateful to be included on this grand adventure, but they were completely useless.  The puppies ran out of steam within an hour of the hike and needed to be carried.  Kipper also got horribly lost on many occasions when chasing wild pigs.  The worst part was that the dogs complained and wined the whole way, killing morale.

Result

Operation Market Garden failed abysmally.  Only a few thousand paratroopers escaped and the remainder were forced to stay behind and give themselves up.  It is rumored that British Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning told good old Monty (who you can tell I don’t like) before the operation that “I think we may be going a bridge too far.”  Famous last words indeed.

As for me, well a supposedly leisurely one hour stroll in the Vangunu rainforest turned into a 12 hour bush and river bash.  The undergrowth was so heavy that my sandals were torn to shreds and I was forced to go barefoot.  Things got even more difficult when I reached the river itself, as the recent rain had caused minor flooding.  I stumbled and scampered my way up river, but decided to pull the plug when at 4:30 I had to consider ‘the Everest factor’ (the trip back).   I returned to my house at 10 in the evening, cut, bruised and utterly exhausted without ever reaching that bloody waterfall.

Back in Patukae, people got a lot of laughs out of my abject failure to find the waterfall ‘that was only one hour away’.  If asked again to go back to the magical Cheara Waterfall, my answer will be ‘f*** the waterfall’.

Creatively cooking with fire

In the Marovo, only the professional fishermen or tourist resorts have access to fridges or ice.  As an alternative, the people here have developed ways to preserve food by using fire.

The first method is via ‘the motu’, which if translated means roughly oven.  This is the predominant method of cooking for Melanesian and Polynesian cultures.  It comprises of making a strong fire on heat conducting stones for a few hours.  The food itself can vary greatly from fish, pig and chicken to root vegetables or pudding.  Generally what tends to happen is food is wrapped together into packages with banana leaves and marinated with coconut cream.   After the stones are well and truly red hot, food packages are buried for a few hours.  This type of cooking tends to dry food out significantly and is therefore ideal for prolonging the ‘Solomon expiry date’. Even though motu cooked food does take a little getting used to, it definitely beats getting food poisoning.

If you put the wrong type of stones on the fire, they tend to explode when they get too hot. This is a good practice joke people play on each other.

More equipped kitchens in the Solomon Islands will have their own 40 gallon ‘drum oven’.  Most drum cooked food tastes quite similar to motu cooked food. The only difference lies with the mechanics of storing heat.  A fire is used in both cases, but instead of heating stones, it heats the drum itself.  Drum cooking can also be more easily monitored and controlled.  With constant low heat, it can serve the same function as a fridge in storing fish and meat for well over two weeks.  It is also good for baking cakes and bread.  Although the bread I cook could be able substitutes for sinker lead, my cakes go quite well.

Never used to be a baker.

The last type of cooking that uses fire, excluding frying and boiling, is smoking food.    In this type of cooking, the smoke is more important than the fire.  This method is more suited to when people go camping because it doesn’t need much to make it work and finding dry firewood, suitable stones or a spare 40 gallon drum can be difficult when you are in the middle of nowhere.  I have learnt that it works best if you have a fair gap between the fire and the stand.

Smoking the night’s catch.