The next morning, we made an easy breakfast and spent the day walking through town. The directions to get into town were a bit confusing, something about finding a small dirt path off of a main road then stairs and boom you’re in town, so we asked for directions along the way. We found “the path”, which we definitely would have missed, because it looked like it went to a person’s backyard. It did, in fact, go through backyards, a teenie alleyway with jagged, sharp, broken and rusted pieces of metal fence reaching out to snag your skin and clothes, and then back behind the jail, in easily the sketchiest part of a walk we’ve been on in ages; we both agreed that if we were going to mugged, it would happen in that location. Finally we found some steep stairs heavily obscured by overgrowth before landing boom…definitely not in town. So we kept walking and walking and THENNNN we made it to town. It was a bit of a hike from the hostel, but there was absolutely nothing by our hostel except more houses, the grocery store and a big graveyard. In town, we found tons of souvenir and duty free shops and lots of palangis walking around. Vanuatu’s main economy comes from tourism, and everyday…literally, we were told every single day, a huge tour ship arrives, offloading tourists to meander the streets of Port Vila for a day. I will note that Port Villa is both the capital and the largest port in the island, and for being their sole major port, I saw absolutely no ships ever, except the cruise ships; there was no importing or exporting of goods that I could see at all. Anyway, we walked from one end to the other, and spent most of our time in the tourist office making plans for our stay in Vanuatu. Jared had booked a diving spot on one of the outer islands, Santo, but I couldn’t find a flight there for less that $400-500, so I opted out, instead deciding to stick to the main island for exploring. On that note actually, at some point, I think in the airport, I saw a sign that said “Port Vila is not Vanuatu”; clearly it was for tourists to encourage them to purchase tickets to some of the outer islands, but I gotta say, if I was a native from Port Vila, I’d be pissed!! Anyway, Jared got his accommodation and confirmed his activities, we made some plans for the next day and looked into Christmas options, and I figured out my solo options for staying on the main island of Efate. We walked around a bit more, discovering Jungle CafĂ©, an awesome palangi run coffee shop with wifi and awesome “ice” coffee, which really meant cold coffee topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate powder; of course it’s not a dessert…it’s just ice coffee! We played around on the internet a bit, while I savored my coffee. We made the walk back to the hostel only midafternoon, but we were already tired; I think the heat and excessive constant sweating really takes it out of you. First move after returning to the hostel was taking a shower. As you can tell, the heat and humidity there was overwhelming. Our hostel was not by the water, and for the most part, we were fine with living in a constant state of wetness, but the issue is not so much being soaked all the time, as being HOT allllll the time. If you are staying in that type of heat, you need some source of water. Anyway, I made a different, much better dinner that night of tuna with coconut milk and curry. FYI, coconut milk neutralizes metallic taste, so we were actually able to salvage the previous night’s dinner, before calling it an early night with a movie.
The morning of the next day was a bit frazzled. We were supposed to get driven to the airport by Terry, the owner of the hostel, to pick up a rental car for the day. Things started off slowly though. Terry was late driving us, and then I guess misunderstood us and drove us to an area with different rental car companies, instead of the airport where we had already reserved a car through the tourist office. Got to the rental company late, then tried to pick up our luggage, which we were told still hadn’t made it to Port Vila. After three sweaty days in the same clothes, we were not ecstatic, but we were owed $70, so they told us we had to go back into the main part of town to pick up our money; oh and no, they couldn’t give us a copy of the paperwork (aka the proof that our bags had been lost), because the copy machine was broken, but they would definitely call ahead to the office and let them know we were coming. UG! Ok, luckily, we had this nice rental car, so we headed into town, parked, and had to walk for ages to find the stupid office. When we finally arrived, shocker! They had no idea we were coming, didn’t understand why we couldn’t show proof that our bags were missing blah blah standard bureaucratic cock up. The woman, moving at a snail’s pace, called the airport and had a back-and-forth with them about why we were in their office…didn’t we know this type of thing is processed at the airport not at that office? Oh, hell no!! We were not driving back to the airport. By this point, we were already so late that we were missing a cultural village demonstration in one of the villages outside of town, which we had reserved the day before through the tourism office. Anyway, then the woman claimed a man was being called in to process our complaint, and he’d be there…in an hour! At which, point, Jared threw his own little temper tantrum and sauntered out (I really must teach him that when throwing a temper tantrum actually leaving the scene of where you need to get stuff done is not effective); anyway, I got on the phone with the guy, trying to explain a) our situation and b) that we were fine waiting an hour for him to come in, AS LONG AS he brought whatever he needed us to sign, AND $140 in cash for compensation so we could all shake hands and be done. With that, he was totally confused; why did we need $140 again? Oh god. Thankfully, a woman with a bit of brains finally stepped in, wrote our names and passport info on a paper, got out the petty cash safe and handed us our compensation, apologizing for a clear breakdown in human brain function. SO, a few hours late, we set out for the long walk back to the car, and discovered total gridlock on the one road through town. It was one way also, so there was no getting around it. Well, you know what fixes most problems of frustration in sweltering heat? Non-dessert dessert ice coffee!!!! And a bit of wifi. We hung around hoping the traffic might clear a bit, which it did not, so after at least being in slightly better moods, we set out in the car. Once we got out of town, the drive was actually quite nice. We stopped in at a few locations, hoping for some sort of village cultural experience, but they were all very touristy and focused on odd highlights, like fruit tree identification (“yes, that is a banana tree”) and garden walks, so we moved on around the island. As with most of the other islands we’ve visited, there was one road that circumvented the island. One of the highlights of the island (according to all the guided tour itineraries, which we were kind of trying to follow) was Eton beach. As we drove, I spotted a sign saying Eton “something” with an arrow directing cars off the highway, so I slammed on the brakes, and made my way down the road toward the ocean. After about a minute, we realized the land on which we were driving was actually being sold off as private lots, so there was a bit of construction going on; we weren’t sure if there was the right place to be, but after asking, one of the construction workers told us we could access the beach farther along the road, so we kept going until the end, and found ourselves in front of a great lagoon beach with no one around. We took advantage and swam around to our hearts content, swimming through coral rocks and out to the reef, before hopping back in the car. On our way out, we spotted what looked like an expat family getting together for a nice buffet lunch. In reality, I think we were actually on someone’s private property that they had purchased and on which they were going to build. Oops, but we didn’t have to pay and they didn’t say a word, so we made our way back to the main road and continued driving. Farther along, we found the actual Eton Beach area for tourists, which was on the privately owned land of a local village, and required and entrance fee, so we dodged that bullet! Though, to be honest, I usually don’t mind paying the villages for things like that; they made very little money, and I don’t see why they shouldn’t profit for allowing foreigners on their land. However, we did get into a bit of a sticky situation (which, by the way, I knew was going to go down in the manner in which it did, but Jared was baffled); we spotted a really nice looking beach with a bunch of kids splashing around in the water, so I pulled off the main road into a village. Straight away, I introduced myself to a man who walked over to the car and informed us, that we would have to pay for coming on to the land. We didn’t have time to stick around and swim etc, so we thanked him anyway, and just decided to move on, BUT just as we were leaving, Jared wanted to take a few photos, so instead of just taking a shot through the window of the car when it was back on the road, he got out of the car, walked under the fence to the beach and stood on the village’s property to take pictures. That was our downfall. The man came running over to Jared, outside of my earshot, and when I saw Jared’s arms waving in the air, I knew things weren’t going well. I guess the man tried to make us both pay, and Jared said I shouldn’t have to, then the man shorted his changed. Anyway, the second Jared took that step across the fence, I knew we had a duty to pay, but he was more reluctant that me to admit that. Off to our next locale, we stopped at the Blue Lagoon, which was a nice salt water wading pool for locals and tourists alike. There were some rope swings for added fun, which I super gracefully slipped and rolled down a few steps, while attempting to grab. We continued the drive along the coastline of beach, occasionally stopping for some photos at some of the volcanic rock beaches and getting some nice views of the outer lying islands. Normally, when driving, it would take us flying by a spot before we realized it was scenic at which point we’d hook a U-turn and return, the same such moment happened just before the longest steepest hill I’ve ever driven down. There was definitely no turning around, so we got all the way to the bottom before turning around and making the slow climb back up; I couldn’t even move beyond first gear, but the top of the hill did reveal the best view of the island we had seen thus far, which of course we had to pay for, as it was private land. We returned to the bottom of the hill after trying to get our entrance fee’s-worth of photos, and arrived at the Mele Waterfalls, which was actually Trip Advisor’s first or second recommended site in Port Vila, but it was unfortunately closed. Our last stop of the day was a bit further down the road at the Tanna Coffee store where we purchased a surprisingly good cup of coffee and cake and chatted with the ex pat family that owned the plantation. We got back to the hostel early evening and enjoyed another good dinner before heading to bed. That night was Friday night, so we heard some of the neighbors starting to party and celebrate the season. We fell asleep to the sound of music, singing and firecrackers.
We also woke up to music, singing and firecrackers; that party did not stop until around seven in the morning! Boy Vanuatu…ans…ites (??) know how to party! Just think there was also a litter of kids running around the area; man I can only IMAGINE how that would have gone down in a small neighborhood in the US…not well. Anyway, early that morning, Jared had to go to the airport for a trip to Espiritu Santo, one of the larger outer islands of Vanuatu for some diving. I drove him to the airport just in time to drop off the rental car and waited around for a bit for Terry to pick me up and drive me back to Wai Melomelo. I didn’t do much the rest of the day except go to the grocery store and get some Christmas shopping done in town. I spent a few hours reading by the bay and listening to the locals walking by enjoying the evening. Of course, however, the first night Jared wasn’t around and the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in real life appeared crawling along the walls of my room. Thankfully, I scared the bejesus out of an unsuspecting male walking around and had him come in to scare the spider away for the night.
My time much of the next day was also occupied by reading, as it was Sunday and pretty much everything was closed as usual in the islands. A few new people did move into the hostel, and we spent the evening drinking some of their duty free liquor and hanging out.
Monday morning I decided I could waste my days no more in lovely Vanuatu. The other travelers and I headed out to town and over to one of the city’s resorts, Iririki Resort. There were several resorts sprinkled along the harbor coast, but Iririki Resort actually occupied its own small island set in the middle of the harbor. There was a ferry from the city center over to the island, taking just a few minutes, and costing about $7, BUT the amazing part was that once across, the resort gave you a $7 voucher to use at their restaurant. In fact, the resort was the most inclusive and welcoming of any I’ve been to; normally, resorts are not really the type of establishments to welcome in people off the streets to use their facilities, but Iririki let visitors use their beach, snorkel equipment, kayaks and even small catamarans for free! We spent a few hours on the beach and kayaked over to the snorkeling area, before heading to the pool and restaurant for free pizza (the pizzas cost $7 each, so with the voucher they were free!). We lounged around the pool until the evening came when the resort started handing out free appetizers to everyone around the pool and a cocktail!! Coolest resort-we-weren’t-staying-at ever! Anyway, we all indulged in our freebies before hopping back on the ferry and returning to the hostel for a small snack and bed.
I woke up to a rainy start that next morning, and hoped it would clear up for my sailing trip to Moso/Tranquility Island that day! Finally, the skies opened up, the rain stopped, and my pickup came right on time. We drove around picking up the last few guests and made our way about 45 minutes outside of town to a small ferry boat out to our sail boat. I have to say, I really dislike when I join a “sailing trip”, and we use the motor the entire time, which has happened every single time I’ve been on sailing tour trips. Anyway though, the group was mostly couples and families, but everyone was very nice and chatty. Our first stop of the day was a turtle sanctuary right on the beach, which was both super cute with the teenie weenie turtles the size of a chicken egg and also a bit tragic; the turtles were kept in little tubs and small above ground pool things. There could be a hundred of them in a container the size of a bathtub all swimming all over one another. There were gathered as hatchlings, the smallest we saw were six days old, and they are reintroduced to the ocean after months, when they can fend for themselves. After a round of terrible photos, we made our way back to the boat and around the island to a small deserted beach where we spent the next few hours snorkeling and having a beach BBQ. The day rounded out nicely as we returned from Tranquility Island to the mainland and drove back to Port Vila, where I was shuttled back to an empty hostel for the evening.
How many more night-nights till Christmas?!?!? ONE!!! Which meant last minute shopping. Jared was coming back into town that afternoon, so I had a few hours in the morning to finish up a few things I needed to do before the big day, and get back to the hostel with enough time to shower and look inconspicuous before Jared arrived. When Jared got back, I checked out some of his photos and vids, quick did a bit of laundry, before the two of us spent a bit of time in town. We stopped at the grocery store for a few dinner items, had dinner and got into bed early for SANTA!!! We did not get to bed as easily as we hoped though, because the neighbors started celebrating again. Honestly, we were kinda bummed they didn’t invite us! But again, the party went on all through the night. I don’t know how they expected Santa to sneak in with all that racket, but they seemed to enjoy themselves none-the-less. Jared also got attacked by fire ants or something in bed, so he didn’t sleep especially well.
When Christmas morning rolled around, I was as siked as if I’d just gotten back from the party, but Jared did not have the excited and prompt start to the day that I had hoped. In fact, he basically missed the breakfast that I had spent the previous three days learning to make. Has anyone ever pouched eggs in plain water before; oh right, without anything but a mug, knife, fork, and spoon? It is not as easy as it looks, especially without good equipment. The first time I attempted the whole thing just fell apart, and the rest of the attempts weren’t much better; I watched a few youtube videos and kept trying, until I got one right. Anyway, didn’t matter because he slept in too late, BUT when he finally did get up I got to surprise him with his gifts, which included the Christmas stocking that he made himself last year and thought he’d thrown away (he had, I just fished it out of the garbage), hiking socks, a loofa, and Doritos, very exciting stuff. After the gift opening portion of Christmas, came the eating portion of Christmas! We had arranged to go to a resort in town on the water, Moorings Hotel, for their Christmas buffet lunch, so we got Christmas-pretty and walked down to the resort, completely ruining our pretty and turning into sweaty messes. We made it down to the resort with plenty of time before lunch started and even met up with Nina, a woman we met in Tonga who had mentioned she was going to visit Vanuatu over Christmas as well; we had played a bit of Facebook tag, but could never coordinate well, because I only had internet sporadically, so we were happy she turned up. The three of us spent the next few hours filling up on great food, especially a fantastic smoked ham, grilled chicken, shrimp wrapped in bacon, steamed veggies with gravy, cheese and coconut cream veggies, couscous, fried rice, some veggie thing that looked like sushi, and thinly sliced fish and beef. We were able to have a few rounds of that whilst listening to a Christmas carols sung by a man who sounded exactly like Rick Astley. Honestly, if he doesn’t sell himself as a Rick Astley cover, I think he’s missing out on a business opportunity there. Anyway, by the time dessert rolled around, we were basically rolling around ourselves, suffering from the classic holiday ailment, over-eating-itis, but were able to squeeze in a few ginger bread cookies…and raspberry merengue cookies…and sweet crackers with a whipped cream and passion fruits sauce…and chocolate crumbed pie with merengue and pineapple jelly filling. You know what they say, there’s always room for dessert. Washed down with a few cups of coffee, and we were officially in pain. We sat around, unable to move much, until we were the only ones left, and switched to a waterfront cabana for good sunset seating. At that point, we started mixing in a few festive cocktails and some good conversation with random guests until finally, we all decided to move the party allllll the way to the other side of town to a waterfront bar. Though Jared and I were tired and trying to figure out ways to wiggle out of it, we ended up joining and had a great time drinking beers and shots till late with a group of Australians. The walk home was long, drunken, and creepy in the pitch black through bush and backyards, but good for our digestion.
We had originally planned on getting an early start the
morning after Christmas in order to head over to Iririki Resort and try our
hand at sailing the small catamarans; unfortunately, we were predictably
hungover, and seeing as how we are no longer veteran drinker, morning movement
was dragging. I would also like to blame
our laziness on the weather, which I can legitimately, seeing as how it did
rain a lot of the morning, but truthfully, the rain didn’t start until well
after we should have been up and running.
Our day didn’t actually start until the early afternoon, when we figured
we’d try to get something done or at least walk around town. Turns out the day after Christmas is
completely dead in Port Vila, which isn’t surprising given how they party at
night. We walked over with Jared’s
laundry, and absolutely nothing was open.
Honestly, I had a craving for that non-dessert ice coffee! Instead, we
decided to head back Moorings Hotel where we spent Christmas to get some internet,
and eat some greasy hangover food. We
spent a few hours there and finally decided to walk back to Wai Melomelo a bit
before dusk, picking up a cheap dinner along the way, and watching TV and
movies until we went to bed.
The next morning was our last in Vanuatu. We woke up early and packed all of our
things, ate the last of our food for breakfast, and were taken to the
airport. As we checked in, the attendant
at the desk asked if we had purchased our “transit visas” for Australia…our
what? Oops. No problem, she said; we could purchase them
at the airport through their staff.
Phew! Off she went to arrange our
visas, which cost $50. Turned out that
if we had known about the visa requirement and purchased it ourselves online,
it was FREE!! Yes, free. But instead, we had to pay $50 so THEY could
type into a computer our names, passport numbers and birthday. Clearly, that work warranted $50. Anyway, obviously we were pissed at our
oversight, but traveling like this is a learning experience, and we have now
learned to be more vigilant in regards to issues of transit. As we waited around in the airport, I could
tell something was brewing, because Jared kept eyeing the duty free section of
purchased items (if you bought anything from the duty free shops in town, you
could only pick it up at the airport on your way out). Jared might be new to Christmas trickery (not
the same as normal lying, because it’s in relation to Christmas gifts and for
that reason is considered benevolent), but I am NOT!! Turned out, Santa left my gift at the
airport! A shiny new digital
camera! Perfect to start our next, and
most anxiety-riddled leg of the trip, Papua New Guinea.
