訪瓦努阿圖島,尋原生態快樂
My teenage daughter is standing in a lineup of tribesmen and she is angry with me. As I lift my camera, she says, “I look hideous,” unaware of the irony of being surrounded by tribesmen wearing next to nothing.
我十幾歲的女兒正站在一羣部落居民中間，生我的氣。當我舉起相機時，她說：“我看起來醜死了。”被幾乎什麼都沒穿的部落居民圍繞着的她並沒覺察到這刻的諷刺意味。We are in the Yakel Village on the South Pacific island chain of Vanuatu. I grew up in the South Pacific. Back then, Vanuatu was one of the poorest nations in the region, with little to recommend it to tourists. Within the last five years, however, it has become a hot spot for adventure travelers and now boasts several swanky resorts. In 2006 it was voted the happiest place on Earth by the think tank Happy Planet Index.
我們正身處位於南太平洋瓦努阿圖列島的雅克村。我在南太平洋上的島嶼國長大。那時候，瓦努阿圖是該地區最貧窮的國家之一，幾乎沒有什麼值得觀光的。然而，在過去五年裏，這裏成爲了探險者的熱門旅行區，已經建成了幾個一流度假村。2006年，瓦努阿圖被智囊團“快樂星球指數”評爲地球上最幸福的地方。
The reason they’re happy is not that Vanuatu have the most stuff. But Vanuatu has idyllic white-sand islands, clear waters, waterfalls, great diving, the world’s most accessible live volcano and food that grows faster than it can be picked. They share almost everything and, most important, there’s no cultural yearning to keep up with the Joneses. I decided this concept would be good for my family, and so my husband, Greg; daughters, Indigo and Sofia; and I spent 10 days here last July.
瓦努阿圖當地人之所以幸福，並不是因爲他們擁有得多。而是瓦努阿圖有詩意美妙的白沙島、清澈的海水、瀑布、很棒的潛水區、世界上最易到達的活火山，還有收割不盡的糧食。那裏的人們分享幾乎所有的東西，而且最重要的是，這裏沒有愛攀比、追潮流的文化。我覺得這個觀念對我的家人很有好處，所以我和丈夫格雷格、女兒茵娣格和索菲亞去年七月在這裏度過了10天的假期。
After several hours with the Yakel, we said “tata” (goodbye) to the tribesmen, and our driver moved on to Mt. Yasur, one of the most spectacularly active volcanoes in the world. If you’ve ever fancied getting close to a volcano, here’s your chance.與雅克村人度過幾個小時後，我們向那些部落居民說着“塔塔”（再見）道別。司機載着我們駛向了亞蘇爾火山，它是世界上最壯觀的活火山之一。如果你曾幻想近距離看火山的話，來這裏你就能圓夢了。
We pulled up before sunset, watching as gray cloud as tall as multi-storied buildings mushroomed from the crater. We climbed its flank and approached the rim. It struck me as odd that there were no railings, no warning signs, no ropes and no rangers keeping visitors away from the edge. A part of happiness, I figured, must be managing one’s own fate.我們在日落前到達，看着灰色雲狀物如雨後春筍般從火山口處升騰，足有幾層樓高。我們爬上火山的側翼並靠近其邊緣處。讓我感到詫異的是，這裏沒有欄杆、沒有警示標誌、沒有繩索、也沒有管理員阻止遊客接近火山口邊緣。我想，幸福的部分含義就在於掌控自己的命運吧。
As darkness fell, we could see the gray, ashy plumes turning brilliant scarlet, red and purple, shooting fireball rocks wildly into the night sky. We were transfixed. We had expected to spend two hours there and we spent five, trying, in vain, to capture the exhilaration on film.隨着夜幕降臨，我們可以看到灰燼似的灰色羽狀煙雲變成了緋紅、赤紅和紫色，將火球岩石胡亂地投射向夜空。我們被震住了。原本打算在那裏呆上兩個小時，但實際上我們呆了五個小時。我們想盡量把那些激動人心的景色留在膠片上，卻發現那根本是徒勞的。
Accommodations on Tanna were basic. White Grass Ocean Resort is as good as it gets and is pleasant and fun, although the rooms are Spartan and small. You don’t go to Tanna for luxe digs; our three days there were sufficiently stimulating.塔納島上的住宿條件比較簡陋。白草海洋度假村則很不錯，房間雖然簡樸狹小，但住起來還是很舒適有趣。去塔納島並不是爲了住豪華寓所。我們在那裏玩的三天時間已經夠振奮刺激了。
In 2004, a French businessman cashed out, bought a yacht and he, his wife, and two small children sailed the world looking for their dream island. They spent more than a year looking, eventually wandering into the friendly waters around the large northern island of Espiritu Santo. There they discovered Ratua, a 146-acre coconut plantation surrounded by turquoise water, tropical fish, powdery white sand, and abundant plant life.2004年，一位法國商人把資產套現，買了一艘遊艇，帶着妻子和兩個年幼的孩子航行世界，尋找他們的夢之島。他們花了一年多時間尋找，最終徘徊在聖埃斯皮裏圖島北面那片美麗的水域。在那裏，他們發現了勒杜瓦島，島上有一個佔地146英畝的椰子園，島的四周環繞着綠水白沙，熱帶魚遨遊水中，植物生長茂盛。
Indigo and I decided to visit the mainland of Espiritu Santo to explore the Millennium Cave, which, as evidence of Vanuatu’s remoteness, was first explored in 2000. We left behind Greg and Sofia because the trip was labeled unsuitable for kids under 10. I rarely pay attention to things labeled “tough” because it’s often an overstatement, but “tough” in Vanuatu really means, “Holy smokes, what have I done?” After a jarring one-hour drive, a 45-minute walk through a steamy bamboo forest, a stop at a village long house and an incomprehensible briefing from our village guide, we were off.茵娣格和我決定去聖埃斯皮裏圖島探索千年洞。千年洞見證了瓦努阿圖長久以來的與世隔絕，該洞穴在2000年才被探險家發現。我們把格雷格和索菲亞留了下來，因爲該行程不適合10歲以下的孩子。我很少理會那些標榜“艱難”的警告，覺得往往言過其實，但“艱難”二字在瓦努阿圖卻名副其實——“上帝啊，我究竟做了什麼？”先經歷一個小時顛簸的車程，再在潮溼的竹林裏步行 45分鐘，接着在村莊的長屋裏稍作停留，費解地聽當地導遊解說一番之後，我們才真正出發。
There was a one-hour trek through knotted jungle and several steep descents on ladders fashioned from branches lashed together with palm fronds before we finally descended into the cave, which stretched, pitch-dark, for two miles. Any pride I had about my fitness was dashed, and I emerged with my legs shaking. Indigo, a sprightly 13, was grinning madly and claiming she wasn’t tired at all.我們長途跋涉一小時，穿過枝纏葉繞的叢林後，再依靠以棕櫚葉捆紮樹枝製成的梯子走下幾條陡峭坡路，最終進入了山洞。山洞寬約兩英里，洞內伸手不見五指。我顫抖着雙腿行進，對自己體力所懷有的任何驕傲都消失殆盡了。13歲的茵娣格則活蹦亂跳，在肆意地咧着嘴笑，聲稱自己一點都不累。
But wait. There was more.然而，等一下。還不止這些呢。
After a sit-down and a sandwich, we were handed a child’s blow-up swim ring and told to get in the river. The only way out was to swim down a canyon, get out, portage your body around rocks, swim under waterfalls, get out again, climb a cliff and then traipse back through the jungle. I had never been more exhausted, but it was a true-blue adventure and I would do it again in a heartbeat.坐下來吃了一個三明治之後，有人給了我們一個兒童充氣游泳圈，並讓我們下到河裏去。出洞的唯一辦法是：遊進一個峽谷，然後出來，繞過岩石，游到瀑布下面，再出來，爬上一處懸崖，然後穿過叢林走回去。我從未試過如此精疲力盡，但這是一次真正意義上的冒險，如果再有機會，我還是會立馬答應。
Back at Ratua, guests were invited to go outside on a deck cantilevered above the lagoon. Below us, a group of women in grass skirts waded into the sea up to their waists. They began to sing and rhythmically beat the ocean with their hands, performing the water music. An ancient ritual performed only by women, this performance seemed to prove that humans will always find a way to make music.回到勒杜瓦島後，遊客被邀請去懸架在瀉湖上的平臺上。在我們下面，一羣穿着草裙的婦女在深至她們腰部的水中涉水。她們開始唱歌，並用自己的雙手有節奏地敲打大海，表演着水上音樂。這是一個只由婦女來表演的古老儀式。這樣的表演似乎證明了人類總能找到創造音樂的辦法。
Vanuatu had become one of my favorite places. In a world where most places are thoroughly explored and exploited, it felt untouched, blessed with abundant nature and kind people.瓦努阿圖已成爲我最喜愛的地方之一。這個世界上的大部分地方已被人類深度探索和開發了，而這個有着衆多自然風光和友善居民的地方，卻還是一片聖潔無染的處女地。
