Fiji

On Sunday, we go to the Methodist church. We don’t understand anything except what little they say in English for our benefit. What impresses me most is the church bell. Every church we’ve been to since leaving home has had regular bells. Bing-Bong, Bing-Bong, Bing-Bong. After we sit down in this church, which we think starts at 10:00 but in fact starts at 10:30, we hear a loud Thunk...Tink-Tink...........Thunk…Tink-Tink...........Thunk...Tink-Tink. We go outside to a little gazebo where a woman swings a club against a big old hollowed-out block of wood, emitting a loud, pleasant Thunk…Tink-Tink. (page 66)

Vanuatu

On the way back, we visit Mt. Yasur. One thing we don’t miss about the U. S. is all the concrete walkways, barricades, and signs to control our access to cool things. We drive to the base and are left free to roam. We hike a short distance to the volcano’s rim to witness the best fireworks we’ve ever seen. In the States, they’d have a sign saying, “Danger, big hot flying rocks can cause serious injury or death.” In Vanuatu, they assume you know it.

All of a sudden, kawhummp, and the earth shakes, and big orange blobs fly out by the hundreds, high into the air, and then land all around the inside of the rim, mostly on the far side from where we are. Most of these rocks probably aren’t much bigger than a twenty-seven-inch television, and when they land and shatter, it sounds like a hailstorm. The volcano is less than a kilometer across at the rim, and a large number of twenty-seven-inch-television-sized rocks lie outside the rim, even as far as the parking lot. We stay alert. The heat creates a column of rising air that is replaced by a fierce, cool wind on our backs. We’re coated with ash and sand. It is in our eyes, our ears, our hair, our cameras (we got some great shots), and our pockets until we get back to Faith. (pages 72-73)