Cava in Honiara!!

Now I don’t even have any pictures of Honiara and Point Cruz, because the place is all so familiar now, and photos would not render how sweaty and hot the place is, such as piling up in small bus vans or walking in the dusty crowded streets and the traffic jams! As usual the yacht club was a real heaven and really, not much happened during these few weeks.


Being parked next to the Vanuatu Police boat made life interesting: a few invitations to share the cava (traditional Vanuatu drink containing an anaesthetic drug extracted from the root of a pepper type of tree). Really I didn’t need to try it again!
In Honiara, the cava is not freshly ground root but powder imported from Fiji or Vanuatu ( for info: available at Pidgin Holdings, in Ranadi for 200 SBD / kg) and it’s not really as good as the real stuff, plus the terrible after effects (yes, cava hungover!!) which I don’t remember getting in New Caledonia. Though the drink was served in the coconut shells, the cava session on the back deck of a police boat with ships generator running in the background and heavy lights hasn’t got quite the feel of tradition but the Vanuatu men were very peaceful and we had nice conversation. They are in many ways very different from Solomon Islanders.

Accompanying the cava, sometimes was also a nice barbecue with lots of fresh stuff imported from Australia, like steak, apples, and the rest!! A feast for the scrunging yachtie!! Explanation: the Vanuatu Police boat is in fact a RAMSI posting (Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, I don’t remember having mentioned it before in this blog). RAMSI gathered police forces from all pacific countries, including NZ and Oz in large numbers to assist reinstalling law and order in the Solomons after the tensions. RAMSI decided to import most, if not all foods, in order to prevent creating inflation and a false economy relying on the presence of a large number of expat policemen in the country. Though the Ozzie taxpayer finances flying all the fresh food weekly, the false economy has not really been avoided and house rental in Honiara compare with those of Chicago!