Blogs from Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu, Oceania - page 3

It's raining raining raining! The rain is beautiful here because, as of yet, there hasn't been any thunder or lightning. Just the calming sound of rain. Some volunteers complain of rain making them depressed or mellow, but I am rather hyper about it. The fauna of the area definitely reflect the constant rain and warm weather. Even our hotel has a mini rainforest in the center. One bad side effect, however, is that the rain drives the cockroaches up to higher ground - this morning we found a dead one in our room. This week, our training group has been taking classes on everything. We have learned how to use iodine to prevent against infection, about geography and ocean currents around Vanuatu, brushed up our our sex ed knowledge, some history on Bislama, and even how ... read more

2 things upfront: 1) Vanuatu's newspaper is online! AND, our training group is in it! Now, I haven't taken the time to look up the article on the website, but here is the site in case you'd like to keep up on the news: www.dailypost.vu 2) I'm rating this entry "PG." Moms and Dads, you may want to glance through this one real quick before reading aloud with your kiddos. Alright - Kava. My understanding of kava is constantly under reconstruction. I will tell you what I know and modify it as need be. Kava is a ceremonial drink that comes with it's own set of unwritten rules. Our first night in Vanuatu, some current volunteers took us out for kava so that we could learn a few of those rules and not offend any of ... read more

Hi friends! I am finally here in Port Vila, Vanuatu! We arrived Saturday and it has been a busy and incredible few days already. When we first arrived in the airport after a long trip (and almost having to stay in the airport another week because some of us were accidentally booked on standby) we were welcomed by smiling faces and a string band playing as we waited in line for customs. The island is beautiful and the weather is perfect. The airport in Port Vila only has one baggage carousel for all of its flights so there are bags everywhere and it's kind of a mess trying to pick out everyone's bags, but luckily we all had our luggage. When I went through customs, I had to declare any food items, so I gave the ... read more

Vanuatu is a great place. It is only a two and a half hour flight from Brisbane, it is a tax haven and has been voted the happiest country in the world – as the sign in the customs area of Vila airport reminds us. Unlike the brochures in a travel agency, the 8km drive from the airport to the city of Vila does not drum up feelings of idyllic beaches and happy locals – rather it made me think that it is more like a third world country. One thing to learn about Vanuatu and the south Pacific is that things are generally done on island time. Places close down between noon and 3pm daily for siesta and Sundays are purely a day for church gatherings. I stayed at the Sebel, a beautiful hotel on ... read more

July 22, 2008 Port Vila, Vanuatu I’m sorry to be so slow with the updates. It’s just that my time here doesn’t belong entirely to me. There is a major time crunch with the purchase of supplies and I find myself with little time to upload photos. To catch up a bit… There we were in Fiji. Lautoka turned out to be smaller than Suva but equally as dirty. It’s an industry town with a container ship pier. One of Fiji’s greatest exports is sugar and the country’s largest refinery was there in Lautoka. The smell of factories left much to be desired, but the pollution made for great sunsets. We were only there for a few days but I took off for a recruiting trip anyway. Luc the Frenchman was leaving our number and we ... read more