Trip across the island

I drove in the mud across to the Southwest side of Tanna. Needed the winch to pull me up in five different places, and I came to the conclusion that if you need the winch five times, you probably shouldn't be driving. At one point, I was going up a steady incline that was too muddy, so the truck slipped. I slammed on the brakes, and the truck began slipping backwards despite me standing on the brakes. That's a terrible feeling! Jakob grabbed his girl and jumped out of the truck. I had him rip out the winch cable and wrap it around a tree so the truck wouldn't slip any further. At one point, the truck was bogged down in a river, the water was about as high as the tailgate in the back left wheel. Wish I had pictures, but, those times are so stressful, I'm not in the mood for taking pictures!

On the drive, I also so the first Digicel Cell phone tower to be knocked over and destroyed by the inhabitants of Yenfitana-- that is, the very people that the tower was benefiting destroyed it, after just one year of cell phone service. Actually, I'm surprised it took a year for one of those towers to get destroyed. Tried to take a pic of that-- very sad to see this huge tower laying on its side; but my camera battery was dead. Vanuatu's Mobile Force and police were coming up the track behind me to see if they could arrest someone for destroying the tower; but their truck couldn't make it up the hill.