Here in Vanuatu

I had a whole update typed up and saved on my flashdrive, but this computer can't read it so this is my best attempt at a lot of information in a few minutes.
We arrived in Port Vila, Vanuatu on Saturday, having missed Friday entirely. The time here is 16 hours ahead of the east coast, USA. We have found it easier to add 8 hours to our time and then remember it's actually the day before on the east coast. So it is 5:15 Tuesday evening here in Port Vila and (8 hours ahead would be) 1:15 am on the east coast, but Monday night/Tuesday morning. Got that?

This is the airport in Port Vila. We "deboarded" to really nice weather, cool (by my definition) and breezy. The PeaceCorps volunteers were waiting for us, you can see the people above the airport waiting and watching from behind the fence. The volunteers met us outside the airport after we cleared customs in a receiving line. We were given leis, a coconut with straw for the milk, a lava lava (the traditional wrap), and a name tag as we traveled down the row. See image below. :)


Port Vila's essence is not hard to imagine if you have visited a Caribbean country and actually toured or walked the areas where people live, not just the resort or tourist areas. The main roads are paved in the city but outlying areas have crushed coral roads, most of the buildings are made of cinder blocks and are one story tall, though there are exceptions. Shrubs and trees grow where ever they can. The roads are really busy during the "rush hour" times with minivans that are buses or taxis and pedestrians walking to work or the nearest bus stop. Other times of the day, the roads are pretty empty which is nice because the drivers don't give you a lot of space as a pedestrian. The bougainvillea and hibiscus are blooming but the smell is of fire. There is always a faint smell of smoke in the air because many people here burn their trash.

This is a picture of a small portion of the main road through Port Vila. The road follows the curve of the harbor and is never far from the water. Most of the businesses are closed on Saturday afternoons and Sundays (when this picture was taken). The second picture is a view of Irriyikki Island (not sure about the spelling) which is a resort island in the harbor.

Several of the other trainees and I spent our free time on Sunday walking around the city. In the afternoon, we went to our country director's house for a tea. We got to try a number of local fruits--soursop is a fruit that is fleshly kind of like a pear but tastes more like citrus and pampamousse is a lot like grapefruit only not as tart. We got to sample our first traditional foods on Monday during our first day of training. The PC staff laid out quite a spread for us. We had lots of fresh fruit, including pampamousse and mango and several kinds of bananas. There was pumpkin with coconut milk, taro with coconut milk, curried fish and roasted fish (a whole BIG one), barbecued beef filets, potato salad made with yams and purple potatoes, coleslaw, and the traditional Vanuatu dish, lap lap. Lap lap is a little bit like a pasty or meat pie. There are vegetables or meat inside of a shell but the outside is thicker than crust. It's more like mashed potatoes spread around the meat only it's made from manioc or taro or plantain. It was delicious.

Today was the day for shots--4 of them today. I'll have to come back for 3 more in a few months, finishing up the heptatis series. Other than getting over the jet lag, those have been the only low points. :)

I have lots more to write, but I need to conserve my internet cafe minutes. Hopefully I will be able to figure out a way to type up my posts on my computer and paste them here. I'll be able to say a lot more that way!