Waterfall in Vanuatu

If you are needing a vacation from the photos of my vacation, you might want to skip this post. I understand, I do.

While Matt and I were staying in Port Vila, Vanuatu, one day we went to the Mele-Maat Cascades. We didn't know what to expect, but I thought it might be something like this.


Which is what I'd promised you guys. I swear that Matt did purchase that shirt (I'm sure you'll be seeing it.)

But it was so much better than that. A guide showed us the way to walk through a beautiful jungle, up to the falls. We saw wild ginger.

And breadfruit.

You could never go hungry in this place, as long as you like breadfruit. It is everywhere. Combine it with coconut, and wonderful things happen. Our guide said that the falls are owned by his village, the Mele people. We asked how many people lived there, and he said over four thousand. We were like, "Whoa, we wouldn't call that a village, we'd call that a town." He said that they're one village because they have their own chief and their own dialect, so that makes them a village. According to him, only the capital qualifies as a "town," and a city is somewhere like Sydney.

I took this along the trail up to the falls. I swear, the place really looks like this, like part of a ride at Disney World. Every place we went kind of messed with my mind this way. Matt and I were discussing the way that, when you've spent your whole life seeing copies of a place--like every restaurant, theme park, or Disney tableau that is trying to look like the South Pacific--when you actually go to the real place, you can't believe it really looks like that, that you're really there. And it reminds you of every copy you've ever seen. But about one thousand times better.

At the base of the falls, there were ropes you could hold onto to climb up to the splash pools. When we got to this point, we were giddy, like kids. To get to be in that scenery, and to swim in the water and look up at the falls, which were so different from any falls I've ever seen, was totally magical. One of the best things I've ever done, or seen, or experienced on any trip.

See the creepy face in the cliff? And here we are, not quite the so, so romantique picnic couple, but having a blast.

The water felt wonderful. I didn't bring my camera up this far, but some cheeful Australians snapped this of us with their waterproof camera. Pretty much anywhere you go in that part of the world, there are some cheerful Australians right close by. Just look around when you need them. These particular cheerful Aussies actually followed through and emailed us the pics they took of us after they got home to Wagga Wagga. (Or I think it was Wagga Wagga.) Nice folks.

This has been another postcard from Vanuatu. If you haven't already, and you get a chance to go swim in a waterfall, any waterfall anywhere, please do so at your earliest convenience.