Alain Funel from New Caledonia

I had 2 weeks off work and which country should I visit? Preferably something with a different culture and language. The holiday was planned on quite a short term and I had only 4 days to look for a host. During this period I needed to turn down a nice request from nice people from Ireland. After browsing the net, I decided to write to 4 hosts and 3 hosts said yes. Woohoo........

Air Calin or Air Caledonia started late and I arrived at 8 pm. I was looking for my first host Alain Funel and he was already waiting at the airport. Normally I don't ask people to pick me up but with the poorly organised public transportation in New Caledonia, I was more than happy to accept his offer to pick me up. He was shorter than I expected but I have been realy impressed by his warmhearted kindness. We arrived at his house and greeted by his girlfriend Yolande and the 2 students from Vanuatu.

We had a lovely meal and again this was not anything that I expected. Fried manioc with prawns. Alain was my only host who grew up in New Caledonia but born elsewhere. All my next hosts immigrated to New Caledonia from metropolitan France. Alain took me to his office which was in the center of Noumea, the capital city of New Caledonia. He gave me the address of a lady who worked for the tourism office and I noticed that he knew a lot of people. We went to the night fair showing traces of the original indigeneous culture of New Caledonia. It really felt that I was not a tourist and his friends treated me exactly like a local.

Alain had time for me after work and he showed me around the city in his car. We went to a cava bar to sample cava, a typical drink from Vanuatu. I do know that the cava cava plant contains analgesia which can be effective for arthritis. The cava bar is a Vanuatuan tradition where people sit there in the dark cave, drink cava and socialise. Alain warned me already that it could become heavy and make you tired. I tried them and you could spit it somewhere in case you hated it.

Walking through Noumea gave me a lot of insight into the New Caledonian culture and the very subtle conflicts between the ethnic groups. Not only that my French language improved but I could also learn about the diversity of the various ethnic groups. Very soon I realised that I needed to walk a very fine line in order not to offend any group. Indigenous people spit on the ground which was something I needed to get used to. Time passed by very quickly and it was about time to say a temporary goodbye to Alain to continue my travels to the New Caledonian bush. Public transportation especially the long distance buses are a very special topic in which I'll talk in the next article.