6/19 AAA, Day 6: Coif No More

FINALLY a good night's sleep. The dogs, mosquitoes, fowl, heat, rodents and my own slippery head had all conspired to keep me on a 3-4 hours a night schedule which was awful. But no more! Susan had a gentleman caller and I slunk away out of respect and slept from 10pm to 9am with a two hour break from 3-5 in which I wrote. It was a rainy, muddy day in Vila and I finally said goodbye to this ridiculous tangle of hair which had done nothing but mock me for days:The way it happened was a bit... odd. I borrowed clippers from a Peace Corps cat and got all amped to do the deed, until I realized Susan's bathroom has no outlets (what?!?). The only other place to do it was on the covered indoor patio section, but no outlets there either. What I had to do was plug it into the kitchen and stretch it all the way out there where I stood, stark naked, dropping massive chunks of hair onto her floor. Then the gardener came by and looked in the window. I just smiled and waved... what else was there to do?
Met Susan (yes, that's her, and yes, she does vaguely resemble my mother-- yipes!) and caught a bus out toward the airport for Rob's birthday lunch which featured barbecue, pina coladas and cake. A quick aside to explain the 'bus' situation... they're just big ass vans, or sometimes cars, and they're all privately owned and operated. They all charge 100 vatu per ride no matter who you are or where you're going, and they'll take you anywhere, albeit by a very circuitous route. Good fun-- nowhere else I know can you literally lift a pinkie and a van full of people going the opposite direction will slam on the brakes, flip a massive bitch in traffic and zoom back to pick you up. Hilarious. Anyway, when the bus drove us back, I jumped out downtown and made arrangements to fly to Tanna on Friday morning, visit a Kastom village, climb a volcano, see the John Frum Movement in action, stay the night, then fly back. I'm told there may be live chickens on this flight. Sweet!

Drink Count: 6

Not bad for a solo, nude, semi-public (I almost typed pubic!) job, eh?