Traveling Light

Travel book of the month: Getting Stoned With Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu, by J. Maarten Troost

J. Maarten Troost's 2004 literary debut, "The Sex Lives of Cannibals," did not actually deal much with the sex lives of cannibals.  Rather, it detailed — in often hilarious fashion — Troost's two-year sojourn with his aid-worker girlfriend Sylvia in the Equatorial Pacific island-nation of Kiribati.  In a light, self-deprecating voice, Troost detailed the challenges of isolated island life — from swimming on beaches full of soiled baby diapers, to eating little else besides fish, to waiting weeks for beer when a supply ship is late.

This month, Troost makes a literary return to Pacific island life with "Getting Stoned With Savages," which picks up where his last book left off.  Back from Kiribati and working at the

World Bank in Washington, D.C., Troost has access to all the amenities he was denied on the island — but he finds he doesn't truly enjoy them.  "It was as if the sensory overload that is American life had somehow led to sensory deprivation," he writes, "a gilded weariness, where everything is permitted and nothing appreciated." When Sylvia (now his wife) lands a job in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, Troost is more than happy to leave his stressful, micromanaged office life for a return to the Pacific.

Life in the easygoing Vanuatuan capital city of Port Vila turns out to be much more comfortable than Kiribati, but Troost manages to explore the quirks and idiosyncrasies of this new island nation — from spectacularly corrupt local officials, to the foul-tasting (yet strangely addictive) intoxicant kava, to the dangers of sharks, earthquakes, and volcanoes.  Later, when he and Sylvia move on to Fiji for the birth of their son, Troost has humorous encounters with transvestite hookers, enthusiastic rugby fans, and backyard mudslides. 

A fast and entertaining read, "Getting Stoned With Savages" doesn't have quite the charm and energy that distinguished Troost's first book. A lot of this has to do with the relative comfort of the author's new destinations — and Troost acknowledges this by the end of his tale.   "In Fiji, as in Vanuatu, we were expatriates," he writes. "When we'd lived in Kiribati ... we experienced the island much as the I-Kiribati did. Partly, of course, this was because there was no other way to experience it. The isolation was absolute; the deprivation universal."  By contrast, his well-appointed expatriate stint in Vanuatu and Fiji is a bit lacking in cross-cultural intimacy. 

Still, Troost manages to teach us about the basics about life in these far-flung places while giving us plenty of laughs along the way. Curious about life and travel in a part of the world that's rarely in the news, I e-mailed the author for some insights on the South Pacific.

The Pacific islands you've experienced are well off the more beaten path of, say, mainland Australia or Southeast Asia.  As a traveler, what's the best way to approach this part of the world?

J. Maarten Troost: Whenever I travel in the South Pacific, I feel like I've left the planet. The islands are far away, hard to get to, and the continental world soon feels like nothing more than a distant dream. It's a good place to just disappear for a while. If I were looking for a beach vacation, I probably wouldn't go any further than Hawaii. But if I were looking to just fall off the map for a while, there's nothing quite like the islands of the South Pacific. Each is its own world.  

Is it possible to travel the Pacific islands independently, and on a modest budget, or does the isolation of the islands make this too difficult?

JMT: Traveling by air tends to be expensive in the South Pacific. Now and then, Air Pacific — Fiji's national airline — offers some good deals, particularly if there's been a coup recently. Air Nauru can also be a cheap option for travel within the region, though one should be aware that Air Nauru is a one-plane operation and that the plane is frequently impounded for its failure to pay its bills. Travelers expecting reliability shouldn't go anywhere near this airline, but if the prospect of being marooned in Honiara doesn't cause you to weep in despair, then you might want to roll the dice and buy a ticket on Air Nauru. In general, flying from country to country can be pricey in the South Pacific, but island-hopping within a nation is usually fairly reasonable. Locals travel this way. And landing a Twin Otter on a slab of coral can be awfully exciting.

Also, if one has the time and the inclination, there are a lot of yachties in the South Pacific who are willing to take on crew. The sailing season is roughly April to October.

What would you recommend as a starting-point for the first-time South Pacific traveler?

JMT: Fiji. It's the hub of the Pacific. Most of the region's airlines fly to Fiji, so if you're traveling to more than one country in the South Pacific, Fiji is a natural place to start. Plus, it's a great place for travelers. You can pretty much find whatever you're looking for in the South Pacific in Fiji itself - beaches, diving, trekking, a strong indigenous culture — and it's the most affordable country in the region. 

What's a more far-flung island you might recommend for saltier South Pacific sojourners?

JMT: Well, I'm partial to the outer islands of Vanuatu, especially Tanna and Malekula. Tanna, in particular, is a great island for those looking to get off the beaten track. One can stand upon the rim of an active volcano and watch lava bombs arching through the sky, visit with one of the region's most enduring cargo cults, and experience a fascinating local culture.

But for a real off-the-map experience there's nothing quite like the outer islands of Kiribati. These are atolls, no more than a couple of hundred yards across, and rising just a foot or two above sea level. The big downside of traveling to Kiribati, however, is that the odds of being marooned on an island are really high. If there is a more unreliable airline than Air Kiribati, I cannot imagine it. They make Air Nauru look like Lufthansa.  

What perspectives did long-term expatriate life give you in Kiribati and Vanuatu and Fiji that you might have missed if you'd just been traveling through?

JMT: It's difficult to generalize. The islands of the South Pacific are astonishingly diverse. But what I absorbed was the idea of island-time. I'm still on island-time.

Getting Stoned With Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu (Broadway Books, $12.95) debuted in bookstores last month.