The Making of a Lava Lava

I wrote this in Yap but have just now gotten around to getting the pictures ready...hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it...

Through our travels in Yap, I’ve obtained quite a collection of lava lavas.  I’ve paid for some, I’ve been given some.  Some were very pretty, some were kind of out there and some were said to be “cheap.”  What they all have in common is their origin.  Women in the outer islands of Yap are known for their intricate patterns and creative use of colors in these hand woven skirts.  Traditionally they were made out of thread made from hibiscus bark and dyed in colors derived from natural elements.  Over the years, the process has simplified and they have begun to be made out of colorful threads found at the local store, similar to the thread we use to sew or embroider with in America.  I use the term simplified loosely as this is no simple process.  I was soon to find out how difficult it was first hand.

I expressed an interest to my Yapese friend Agatha, originally from the outer island of Wolei, in seeing how these lava lava’s were made.  I had seen the various parts of the loom and the threads in the stores, but I had no concept of how it was actually done.  What started out as a simple curiosity, soon turned into a project for both Agatha and myself.  She was going to help me make my own lava lava. 

I met her at her house on a Sunday morning to start the experience.  She had laid out all of her lava lavas and I was to first pick the pattern that I liked most.  The patterns appear to be very similar when you’re out in town admiring others, but when you sit down and try to pick one out, you start to recognize all of the small details that make one stand out from another.  Fortunately for Agatha, I’m a pretty quick decision maker, not one for too much pondering, and we were on our way to the store for step two…picking out the main colors.  Yap is a small place so it didn’t take long to find what I wanted despite having to go to two stores.  Now it was time to prepare the threads in the pattern I had chosen and get it ready to go on the loom.  Agatha and I made a date for later in the week to get started.

Our first session was an eye opener for me.  The preparation of the thread involves a piece of wood with 5 small poles attached perpendicular to the wood.  There’s lots of knot tying and lots of looping of the thread around the poles.  Agatha started and after a few dozen rows, she offered me a turn.  It took a few tries but eventually I got the hang of it.  There was so much to remember; which pole to wrap the thread around, keep the string loose but not too loose, don’t forget to go ALL the way around the back, etc.  It was apparent after about five minutes that if I were to be the one making this lava lava, we were going to have to move to Yap.  Since we were planning on leaving in a week, Agatha was generous enough to offer to make it for me, “I enjoy this.  Please let me do it.” 

The weaving itself was fascinating, but I quickly noticed that this is a social event as well.  All of the women in the house gathered to watch and help and offer opinions.  Girls are taught from a very young age how to weave lava lavas.  Lava lava is actually the English name for it.  In Yapese it’s called a toeru (pronounced tear, as in rip, with a little Yapese twist that I’m unable to reproduce with this southern drawl).  Each woman develops her own manner of weaving.  They might add a little to a pattern or take some away, but it’s a small way to show off their personal style.  The newer generations have even figured out how to weave their names into them.

 After all of the details are sorted through, it comes down to good, old fashioned hard work.  While sitting on the floor, a belt is strapped around the waist of the weaver and attached on either side to the loom.  Several rods are pushed through the threads to hold it in place and differentiate between sections.  After each pass of thread, a large wooden board is used to tighten the weave.  It’s back breaking work and I, for one, was glad Agatha wasn’t holding me to my naïve notion of “making my own.” 

Working at night on the lava lava, after an already long day at her job as a nurse, Agatha spent a long hard week finishing up.  I went to their house the day before we were to leave Yap to pick up the finished lava lava and was overwhelmed with the dedication and work that went into this gift for me.  What started out as a kind of cool thing to have turned into a bonding experience that left me with a friend for life.  I hope Agatha felt the same way.  I will always cherish my experience and friendships made in Yap and while I don’t think I’ll need reminding of how much I enjoyed it, it’s nice to have this beautiful, hand woven, one of a kind lava lava to help bring those images up whenever I please.

Splash....she's back in the water.

Savannah is safe and sound back in the water.  What a relief.  We repaired a few spots, put 5 coats of paint on her, and flipped our chain.  She’s mighty pretty!  

For those coming this way that are a little curious as to the details...here they are.  We were charged $500 to go in and out of the water (the prices on their wall say differently, so not sure if we got a deal or if that was old info), $150 for two days hydro-blasting, their guy did the work.  We were there from Tuesday p.m. - Saturday a.m. and were able to do our own work.  They may have been able to do it for us, but we didn't ask.  There are bathroom facilities (i.e. toilet, sink, shower), but only Andy slept on the boat.  Jake and I got a hotel room out in town.  Andy would have come with us, but we thought it best security wise for him to stay as there is no fence or gate.  They do have a security guard but either he was really sneaky or he didn't stick around too much.  We wanted to be dropped in the water on a Saturday and they came in free of charge, even though they don't normally work on Saturday.  They say they have hauled out four monohulls although we didn't see any stands.  I'm not sure how they did it, but according to them, it's possible.  We were the first catamaran and all in all, it was a pretty good experience....better than ok.  Not great because well, it's an old rail and our hearts were beating pretty fast.

We found a one legged grasshopper.

It hasn’t been all work and no play.  Before we hauled her out, we spent some time hiking and celebrating.  There are a few trails around here and we’ve enjoyed trying to make our way through them.  We got lost a few times and survived a few mean dogs (and Andy has some sort of rash, resembling poison ivy) but all in all we had some nice adventures.  There were some traditional stone paths as well as some really nice views.

LOTS of steep stone staircases.

 

We celebrated my birthday with the other boats here as well as our friends on shore.  One of the danish guys on Mie was having a birthday too so we doubled up and had a few parties.  Vincent was able to get the local men’s house here for us to have a barbeque and everyone came to celebrate. 

Andy had some help with the grill.

Casper and Rasmis from Denmark, onboard Mie.

Three different countries represented on that bench!  Yap, Phillipines,
and Denmark.

Trevor and Jake had some deep conversations...

It’s been a nice stay here in Yap, but we’re ready to move on now.  We’ll fuel up with diesel on Monday and try to check out soon.  

Happy Birthday to me! ...and Savannah

I had an exciting birthday this year.  We hauled Savannah out, here in Yap.  I can’t tell you how nervous I was.  First off, it’s a railroad type device that goes down into the water and then pulls the boat out.  I’ve never seen that done, so having no experience, I’m automatically nervous.  Secondly, it’s not wide enough for us, so we were going up sideways.  And third, we’re in a place where they’ve only hauled out four sailboats…ever.  There are fourths, fifths and sixths (no insurance – us or Yap in general for example), but you get the idea.

We had lots of volunteers to help us and Andy had done some very careful planning on exactly how we were going to get this thing done.  With the winds blowing while trying to get into some tight spaces combined with people from four different countries (and languages) helping, communication was key.   We had a few missteps along the way, but they weren’t major.  In the end, it all went pretty smoothly.  So we’re up out of the water now.  She’s been hydro-blasted and Andy and Jake are in the process of sanding now.  Hopefully we’ll start painting tomorrow and we’ll be back in the water by the weekend.

Happy Birthday to me!

Hydro-blasting

Andy's measurements were spot on for not running into the wall!

Hanging out

We’ve finally found something that keeps Jake from asking to play on the iPad.  We had a late Christmas present arrive from Amazon last week…remember the board game Risk?  Me neither, but Andy did and told me he thought Jake would like it.  That’s the understatement of the year.  It’s perfect.  It’s all about world domination with hundreds of armies.  We bought a newer version that also allows you take over water territories and territories on the moon.  They have cards that allow you to drop bombs on your opponents, go into stealth mode, and gain more territories.  While I can’t say it’s my favorite game, I can say it’s really fun to watch Jake play.  It’s totally a strategic game and is more complicated than any child’s game I’ve ever seen, but he grasped the idea right away and hasn’t stopped playing sense.  The other cool thing about it, as that it has so many pieces and parts that he’s perfectly content with making up his own games as well…which means I don’t have to play it every day.  His Yapese friend, Trevor came over last weekend and listening to Jake try to tell Trevor how to play was hilarious.  He actually did a pretty good job for a 7 year old but in the end, they just made up their own game.  After all, it did take Andy and I two hours to figure it out and we had the directions right in front of us.

This is Jake's "I hate school" face.  I get it about once a week.
Today, I was lucky enough to get a note.  His spelling had him
writing a note to his teacher telling her what he liked most about
school.  His said, "deer mommy, I do not like school.  luv, Jake"
I'll cherish it forever. :)

So, there you have it…that’s what we’ve been doing for the past week and why I have no exciting pictures of us doing cool touristy things.  Andy’s foot pain actually got worse and was so swollen he couldn’t get his flip-flops on.  It looked like a giant sausage.  So he started his own round of antibiotics.  For obvious reasons he didn’t leave the boat and Jake and I just got lazy.  Between the board games and school, we just haven’t really done anything.  But we’re all healed up now and are re-motivated to get back out into the world and participate.  Hopefully our next update will be a bit more exciting.

Andy did go diving yesterday, so I’ll leave you with his latest…

Anenome shrimp

Nudibranch

Nudibranch

Flatworm

Tropical Infections

From the day we left California we heard nothing but warnings about how the tiniest of cuts could get infected in warm, tropical climates.  We always took care to keep things clean and bandaged up (or whatever was appropriate for the wound).  Andy, having had EMT training back when he was in the Navy, is our resident doctor and has kept us fairly healthy since we left.  So I am happy to say, we have never had a crazy infection from a tiny little cuts or even those nasty sting ray attacks back in Mexico….until now.  And now every one of us is a member of the club. 

These pictures show us all on the mend now, but imagine
this with puss and goo.....ewwww.

Andy’s started with a mosquito bite on his big toe that he scratched until it turned into a sore.  Then, while in Lamotrek, the flies made a meal out of him mostly every day.  He tried covering it with a Band-Aid when we went to shore, but has anyone used a Band-Aid lately?  Remember when we were kids and tearing a bandage off would take all the hair off your arm or leg?  Remember how your parents told you to do it really fast so it wouldn’t hurt and then it still left a huge red mark for days?  Well, we must have whined a great bit, because they don’t make them like they used to.  We have four different brands on board and not a one of them sticks.  So, Andy eventually abandoned them altogether and went to burying his foot in the sand to keep the flies from eating on it and then when he got to the boat he would clean it up.  Pretty soon there was puss and redness and well, a month later, he’s still whining about it.  To top it off, he now has a mysterious sore on his other big toe and it’s turning red.

He's still cute...but ewwww  again.

Jake is a nasty little creature.  He’s a booger picking, nail biting, rear end scratching petri dish.  He’s your typical little boy.  He’s been using those same fingers and touching his face so much that sores have developed on his nose.  Once the sores came up, then he started picking at them until we finally had to tape a bandage over his nose to keep him from touching it and making it worse.  It’s beginning to heal now and just looks like a sunburn gone bad…let’s hope it continues to heal and he doesn’t have to have the whole thing cut off (something I keep ensuring him is going to have to happen).

The purple stuff is actually medicine, but the rest is just
gross.

I was feeling appropriately sorry for my two men, yet was getting tired of the whining until… I got my pedicure at the local spa.  I went running a few days afterward and my second toe started hurting.  I assumed it was my running shoes making a callus on my toe (I’m one of those freaks who’s second toe is longer than the first).  Since I had toenail polish on, I didn’t consider it might be my toenail.  Eventually, I noticed there was no callus but the pain was worse.  I took the polish off and my toe was totally white.  The rest were pinkish (as in, blood was present).  But this one was white.  As the days went by, the toenail started to come off and puss started to ooze out the tip.  Then my toe started getting red and hurting really bad.  Yesterday morning, there was a huge build up of puss at the bottom of the nail bed.  Andy lanced it and I decided to start a round of antibiotics.  Now some of you nature people (I really don’t know what the official name for folks who are opposed to antibiotics is) are starting to moan at me, but I’ll tell you this.  You do not want to have to deal with a severely infected toe at the local hospital here.  That’s where you go to get sick.  I rarely take any medication but I felt strongly this one was needed.  I can do without a stub of a toe, but I can’t do without my whole foot, which is what I was afraid would happen if I didn’t take some drastic measures.  Last night I told Andy my toe was feeling a lot better and brought it up for him to look at.  I almost gagged as my toenail was hanging by a string.  He pulled it off for me, doctored me up and all looks pretty good this morning (day 2 of antibiotics) – or so he tells me.  I can’t bring myself to look at it.  One more day of the meds and I think we’ll be back in business. 

I can’t say as we’ve learned our lesson because well, we haven’t done anything differently, so...the moral of the story?   If you’re cruising in the tropics, stock up on sticky band aids, keep your hands off your face and poo poo the pedicures.

Sight seeing in Yap

OK, I look like a cow and you can barely see the Manta,
but it's me and I saw it!  Andy went to get Jake so
pictures were at a minimum today...but Jake was on a high!

We finally got the chance to come up from grocery shopping and laundry and actually play tourist this week.  We rented a car and drove around the island for a few days and today, we dove with the giant manta rays!  I'll start with today and move backwards.

One of the dive resorts here (Manta Ray Hotel) has given us the local rate for diving and agreed to let Jake sit on the boat so Andy and I can both dive.  Today, they picked us up at our boat (that's service!) and then we rode through the mangroves at break-neck speed to our dive site.  There is a manta cleaning station in the channel and after a short swim, we were perched on the side of a reef ready for the show.  It took a while for them to show up, but once they did, it was incredible.  Due to the weather  recently, the visibility wasn't so great, but these things fly right over your head so close you could touch them....visibility didn't matter!  The mantas that live here range anywhere from 9 feet to 13 feet in size (wingspan).  If you've never seen one, it's almost like a ballet in the water.  They are simply amazing.  We saw one from our dinghy in the Tuamotos, but I've never been in the water and up close to one like today.

So, apparently, I wasn't the subject of today's photography (only an afterthought)
as you only see one shark behind me.  There were at least a dozen,
but I just got in the way of the flash....

I could go on and on, but I won't...I'll just check that one off my list of cool things to do in life!

In addition to the diving, there are other interesting things around here to see.  The main one being the stone money.  Yapese have used stone money for  centuries and according to the tourist brochure, it's found nowhere else in the world.  Here's what it says...

This is probably very disrespectful, but the hole seemed the
perfect size for Jake's head...made for a cute picture, I think :)

"The first stone money quarrying in the Palau Islands may have begun as far back as 125 A.D.  The sparkling rock is a form of crystalline calcite that is found primarily in the colorful glistening walls of limestone caverns.

Hundreds of voyages followed the initial trip to Palau.  Many men attempted the hazardous passage and more than a few perished in the process.  The 360 mile canoe journey took about five days one way if the weather was good and required skillful sailing.  The larger pieces of stone money that are now a familiar fixture in most Yapese villages was an arduous task to make and return to Yap, increasing its value greatly."

Kind of interesting, huh?  Anyway, it's still around and used in some villages today.  It's not exchanged anymore, but sits in "banks" (the side of the roads in the villages) called Rai.  We snapped a few pictures as we drove along.

There were also a few Japanese zeros left over from WWII....and a Continental flight gone bad....

It took a while, but we finally found it... a japanese zero.
Jake was ecstatic.  He loves this stuff.

U.S. Hellcat...apparently, it was hit by enemy fire, then
collided with another US aircraft in the bay.
There's a memorial set up for the young pilot.

Continental gone bad....

In between our touring, a miracle has happened aboard Savannah.  Jake has shown an interest in sports.  I know...Dad, Cary....hold onto your hats and don't get your hopes up too high, but yes, my son has asked to "go play some sports."  We took the soccer ball (there goes Cary's hopes...), a baseball glove and some balls, a frisbee, pads to practice his Tae Kwon Do, and his new bike to shore a few days this week.  He says he isn't yet ready to focus on one thing, you see, so we try to cover the basics that you guys at home may laugh at...  Remember, we don't get TV so he isn't showered with college games all weekend long like he might be at home.  Let's take the rules to kickball for example, a favorite of every elementary school age child in America....it's kind of difficult to play a full game with only three people.  Do you know how hard it is to explain to a six year old what "man on first" means when you need to come back in and kick?  Or why he can't move the bases into a rectangle instead of a diamond?   Or, when Andy rolled him a "ground ball" with the baseball and instead of throwing it back, he rolled it back....to "practice" his ground balls.  We already covered basketball back in Lukenor when he was playing with the local kids and tried to kick it to them.

My family is either laughing hysterically right now, or they're crying...  It may sound like I'm making fun of my child and well, I guess I am.  At his age, I was twirling the baton (pretty well, might I add), cheerleading, running track and tap dancing.  My brother was playing baseball, basketball and football.  We were coordinated kids.  I can't help but laugh when I watch Jake as he is not very coordinated at all...he'll get it, I know.  He's already improved immensely and me not really being a sports freak myself, I really have no concern (or even care if he ever improves).  But I know others do and I thought I would give an update.  Good news is Andy says he was a late bloomer and he is a very coordinated adult....there's hope.  But not too much hope for team sports...aside from Jake growing up on a boat (which limits your options), his dad is a solo kind of dude...Tae Kwon Do (blackbelt though...see he is coordinated), sky diving, kayaking, scuba diving...you get the picture.

Now we're getting ready to go have some cocktails on a new cruising boat that pulled in yesterday...it will be nice to have some folks to hang out with after going such a long stretch without other cruisers.  We still have a few weeks here as we're waiting on our bottom paint and then we're going to attempt to pull Savannah out and give her a fresh look.  Cross your fingers.

Happy New Year! Yap Style...

Andy went diving with the giant mantas this week!

Happy New Year to everyone out there!  New Year’s here is a bit different than at home in as much as there are fewer people and fewer places to go and things to do.  The hotels and restaurants here in town each had something going on, but we opted to make it an early night and spend it on the boat.  As Andy and I sat on the front of the boat (Jake only made it to 11:15, then he was pooped), we watched people shooting off flares as opposed to fireworks.  It was pretty, but we held our breaths as each one was fired off and the wind would blow it over Savannah.  “Please don’t fall on us, Please don’t fall on us,” we chanted. We were lucky enough not to catch on fire but we worried even more as we saw one being carried right over top of the fuel depot behind our boat.  Lucky for the small town of Colonia, it passed on by.  We were energized by that time and ended up staying up way too late calling people in the US (it was morning time there).  We paid for it when Jake jumped in our bed at 7:30 with his usual “Get up! Get up!”

Yapese fireworks...aka Flares

A few mimosas later and we were all in the spirit of things.  We had been invited back over to our friend’s house for a New Year’s barbque so I spent the day making deviled eggs and crab cakes.  We were trying to think of something American to take over and with the limited selection of food here, we opted for the deviled eggs again.  They were a hit in Lamotrek, so why not? Andy went over to see what time we should arrive and they gave him two mangrove crabs.  So he cooked those up and I made them into crab cakes (my favorite food of all time).  Both items turned out to be a first for everyone and they loved it.  I’m always worried about taking food over to people’s houses because while I think I can cook, you never know what other people’s taste buds are like. 

Just like last time, we had a great time with Vincent and Agatha.  Jake got to play with Trevor again and it seems like we’re all old friends now.  It’s really easy to talk to these guys.  They’re very open and eager to share with us how their culture works (and their turtle), yet they’re still interested in us as well.  I got to ask some questions that sometimes I’m not always sure I should ask.  I’m also able to be myself and wear my little filter on my mouth, as opposed to that big fat one I’ve grown accustomed to putting on.   I learned some little things like the outer islanders are the only ones allowed to wear lava lavas here in Yap.  The main island Yapese women wear a special Yap skirt (not sure about this yet) and they are the only ones allowed to wear that.  The part I never did figure out is who are all these people walking around in western clothes?  Can both types of people wear those?   I also learned that they talk differently to their uncles, aunts and cousins than they do to their friends and immediate family.  It’s much more formal.  And if it’s the wife’s family, then the husband is expected to use the same tone and words as she does with her family as a sign of respect.

Random child running around, but he was cute.
He got dirtier and dirtier as the day went on, covered in
sand, soda and whatever that blue stripe is on his
head.  Agatha said he looked like something
from Avatar.

I was trying to describe the atmosphere to my mother and the best way I could describe it is like being out at my granny’s house when I was little or at my Aunt Jean’s house with her 10 kids and their 100 kids (and some of their kids).  Everyone is family but no one really knows who belongs to who.  But it’s all very loving and welcoming and feels like home.

Jake, sanding his sword he and his daddy carved.
Getting ready to take it to play with Trevor.

So today, Jake is having a little play date over with Trevor since it’s his last day off of school (Trevor’s).  I can see them from the boat running around with their wooden swords and stopping to chat every once in a while.  It’s really nice to have someone for Jake to play with that enjoys his company and likes similar things… I know I say that every time we find a friend, but it really is important to me for him to have things to do besides hang out with us all day.

I’ll do a little year in review post later, but wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and may this year be better than ever!  Enjoy a few of Andy's photos from his dive this week...

Merry Christmas from Yap!

The view from our hotel room...Savannah right in the middle.

Christmas came and went in a whirlwind!   Santa found us and brought Jake a bright, shiny, new bike (yes, this is his third bike and no, he can’t ride it yet…bikes and boats don’t mix but we’re going to try one more time).  He also brought just about every dinosaur Lego set possible.  We spent the entire morning putting together legos and our main salon has been taken over (I can’t seem to find the pictures of Christmas morning so I’ll have to post those later).

As for Andy and I….Jake and I bought Andy some new filet knives and lures and Andy got me a massage, manicure and pedicure at the local spa here.  As a gift to the whole family, we spent a night in one of the resort hotels, used their stand up showers, swam in the pool and watched cable tv!

Jake enjoying the iPad with free wifi in the hotel room.

Ice cream at our friend's house on Christmas Day.

I got up early Christmas morning and made homemade cinnamon rolls, chocolate milk (for Jake) and mimosas (for us).  After Jake opened all his presents and we had breakfast, our new friends here in Yap came and picked us up.  This is the couple that we brought back some stuff from Woleai (where they’re from), so to thank us, they had us over for a bar-b-que.  Their house is literally behind our boat and it’s a good representative of Yap; a strange mix of old, new, and somewhere in the middle.  They have a stove inside their house, but they prefer to use the old cooking house outside.  Vincent and Agatha (our new friends) wear western clothing while others in their family are more traditional (lava lavas sans shirt).  They have pigs and chickens, but the chicken we ate off the grill came from the grocery store.   It’s indicative of most of what we’ve seen in Yap.  Some people have spent much time away in Guam, the US, or some other country and have adapted their ways.  Others are holding tight to the old traditions.

Vincent and Agatha have a 10 year old son, Trevor.  He speaks perfect English and seems excited to have met Jake.  He and Jake played together well and we have future plans for Trevor to come out to the boat.

All in all, it was a great day.  We did have the chance to eat more turtle, but after a few bites, I decided to call it quits.  It’s one thing to try it, but another all together to get a taste for it.  Plus, the dogs pulled it off the grill and then Vincent rinsed it off and put it back on…I’m not sure how many times that happened before we got there.  When it was all picked over, he gave it to the pig.  The dogs snuck in again and took off down the road with it.  Quite the comedy.

We really like it here and have decided to look into getting Savannah hauled out.  We are in desperate need of bottom paint and we heard rumors it’s cheap to pull out here.  We would also like to take a look at some of those leaks we’ve been fixing along the way and see if there is any welding to be done.  There is a trolley that would be fairly easy to go up on, but we would have to go sideways…and then there’s the chore of trying to get the paint here.  I don’t know how feasible the whole thing is, but we’re going to look into it.  If it could save us a few thousand dollars, then I certainly think it’s worth it.

The weather is starting to ease up a bit, so it looks like we might get to go diving next week and not have our tails handed to us.  We haven’t done much in the way of tourism at this point, so lots to see and do in the next few weeks…