This Post by Marie

Port Vila is much larger than Espiritu Santo and more beautiful. As the ship entered the harbor the view was of pleasure boats, resorts, and a distant Volcano. Port Vila is also the capital of Vanuatu. In my mind Michener wrote about this place. He may have lived on Espiritu Santo but he traveled throughout these islands and I can see this island as his inspiration. The people here are very diverse looking-- Square faces, round heads, dark, light, wide nose. They come from far away islands to work here and most speak perfect English. In the craft market many women sell their home made clothes sewn on manual sewing machines. The women breast feed their babies while younger children play nearby. They don’t seem to be acting pleasant on purpose, in order to make a sale. They like to chat. The most complicated conversation I had involved the location of a far away island where a Vanuatuan man had emigrated from, in which “magic” was still practiced. Did this mean he grew up and smoked pot for the magical experience; or that he dabbled in the occult. I couldn’t communicate” to worship” via prayer hands and although he spoke English he couldn’t find his description either. I bought a wooden carving of his. It looks like him. I learned how they extract every particle from a coconut and now I can go home and make coconut soap. The rats are a problem because they eat the coconuts. So, they eat the Rats. They net the trees in order to catch the coconuts but have acquired a taste for rat and you guessed what they cook them in….coconut oil.

Ken, one of our tour guides is a full time land diver. He showed me a picture. Clad in a loin cloth with a rope attached to his one ankle, atop what looked like a birds nest made of very tenuous looking sticks, splints and vines entangled to make a 5 or 6 story perch in which to dive off of. It’s a right of passage for men in his village. Wish we could see this! Pigs and cattle are an important commodity here—it determines a person’s economic standing. I learned that the biggest cattle ranch is owned privately by an Aussie and another large one by a South African. Many Aussie men have married Vanuatuan women in order to acquire ranch land.

Our Snorkel & Sail water adventure was exciting and not only because of the snorkeling. I did find some interesting shells and a beautiful coral stone that fits in the palm of my hand. It’s like a large cauliflower with hard nodules and is perfect for stretching my arthritic right hand. I’m so thrilled with this. Fits like a glove. The teak floor of the boat was very slick. Many older people were doing splits as they climbed the ladder to re board the boat. It was painful to watch. The wind picked up so the wave action caused quite a bit of rockin and rollin. People entered the water with their gear but without life jackets. Of course fins help but as time went on the waves got bigger! The largest American woman on board got into the water easily; she jumped from the boat but upon returning got stuck on the ladder, and panicked. One of the boat mates wanted her to swim back to shore and send in the motor boat to take her back, but she refused because she said she could never get into it from shore. Of course I helped her and Stewart another mate tried his best to shove her from behind. Of course not one man on board from our ship (except Tom) came to assist. Many people were still treading water waiting to get onboard. We finally were able to muscle her aboard. The snorkeling was good but not as interesting to me as were my boat mates.
After Snorkeling we found the town to be delightful and finished with another Tusker Beer at a nice pub overlooking the Harbor and outer islands.