Blogs from Hideaway Island, Vanuatu, Oceania
September 23rd 2008
Since we arrived on Saturday afternoon, Sunday was ours to regroup and familiarize ourselves with our new home. A group of us took the advice of current volunteers and took a bus to Hideaway Island. When I say bus, think the Mystery Machine meets Volkswagon Van type vehicle. For 100 Vatu (Vatu are comparable to pennies, so think $1) we can get anywhere in town. The bus itself actually took us to a ferry, which then took us across about 800 meters (yes, meters, everything is metric system here: meters, kilograms, celsius, etc) of water to a very touristy little island. Peace Corps is very positively received among the Ni-Vanuatu. By claiming we are Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV), we get a discounted rate on the buses as well as the island fees that some islands incur. ... read more
February 13th 2006
Today we headed to Hideaway Island :) It seems we picked the perfect days to do the majority of our tours, as it was just us on the bus to Hideaway Island. This suited us to a tee and meant that we got some one-on-one time with the driver and could get to know more about what life was really like in Vanuatu. Hudson (the driver) was from Ambrae and moved to Efate in search of work. Work is very scarce on the outer islands so most people have to move to Efate if they want a job. We had been talking about doing a trek around one of the volcanic islands (Ambryn, which is near Ambrae) at a later date so Hudson was able to give us quite a lot of info on this and ... read more
