Vanuatu

Hey guys – guess what? Vanuatu was a new nation for us! Yay!

We have added to our countries traveled list. Vanuatu is a nation island with over inhabitants. They speak English but seem to have an island language as primary. The natives were very friendly and only wanted us to exchange paper for their trinkets...lol

There was a Market Maze set up just off the ship. You had to meander through the maze in order to get outside the docking area. We just barely made it without any purchases (I knew we had to go back thru to the ship lol) and found the water taxis that took you across the bay to the city. The cost was $5 and the ride was quite pleasant. The difficulty was climbing in and out of the boat. B scored 8.5 due to his finesse, skill and degree of difficulty. Lol The boat was a small speedy one and the crossing lasted about 10 minutes. I enjoy that kind of ride because it is about 10 people and open air. The water colors ran from shimmering navies on one side of the ship to pale turquoises on the other and all the while the constant hum of the outboard engines as we traversed the harbor.

The town has a local crafters market and further up the road, the local farmers market. We explored both a bit until B spotted the grocery store. He headed that way for soda and I moseyed through the t-shirt market. Everything here was much higher priced that in Thailand: t-shirts were $20 and elephant pants were $15...almost 3x's as much... I wanted a piece of art work, being Vanuatu was new place for us, but didn't find any I liked. I did buy 1 $20 t-shirt because it was so unique for a gift – then got back to the ship and discovered it was the wrong size! Grrr! I am mad and sad...oh well... Jess, keep counting calories - maybe it will fit after all...lol! We did go to the post office and B bought a few stamps for postcards, so our basic missions were accomplished.

Vanuatu is a lovely island with some nice beaches, waterfalls and great people. We would not make an extra effort to get here, but if it was on the itinerary we would definitely enjoy....

on to Hawaii, so I will say Aloha for now.

water taxi

hmm coconuts - 

native braiding palm leaves

boys on a bench..LMAO!

thank goodness we did not have to unload more watermelon! lol

local fruit market