During the current school break, a friend and I took a trip to Santo, a nearby island, to visit some friends, do touristy things, and go shopping. Luganville, the second largest town in Vanuatu with about 16,000 people, is in Santo and where we stayed. It's a smaller and more laid-back version of Port Vila. From East Ambae it is a quick 25 minute plane ride, but the $145 plane ticket will prevent me from coming often!
Luganville, being a town, has many tourists seeking out attractions and foreigners working for aid organizations. I was in Luganville for only a week, but during that time I met people from New Zealand and Japan working for aid organizations and two Australian cruise ships docked. It was interesting to see so many foreigners walking around and to have ni-Vans assume that I am a tourist, since on Ambae people either know who I am or they assume that I am in Peace Corps and speak Bislama.
Luganville has many stores so I went overboard on shopping, stocking up on things that are either unavailable or more expensive on Ambae, such as lentils, spices, and school supplies. It's hard to balance buying all the things I want with the 10 kg baggage limit of the small planes! Also, with the lack of availability of many items on Ambae, when going to places such as Port Vila or Luganville there are requests from people in the village to bring things back (requests have ranged from chocolate to printer ink to a dog collar).
My friend and I were fortunate to stay the week with a Peace Corps couple who work at a large school in Luganville. Their house is similar to a small American house so it was nice to spend the week cooking meals such as pizza and pasta in a real kitchen with a fridge, to sleep without a mosquito net, and to use the internet. It is interesting to compare our sites, and to reaffirm that no two sites are the same! I'm reminded that each site has their own challenges- while the access to stores and modern amenities is enviable, they don't have a village community which has been a highlight of my time here.
It's amazing how within such a small country, each island is so different. While Ambae is very dry, Santo is filled with rivers. There are many blue holes- fresh water that is such a bright shade of blue and gets quite deep in the middle. We went to Riri blue hole, a beautiful place to picnic and swim and dive and jump off a rope swing.
Another day we went to Palekula Point, a long land area with white sand and a very old ship. We spent the day snorkeling and picnicking. Whenever I swim in the crystal clear water here in Vanuatu, I wonder how I am ever going to swim in Lake Erie again!
A third day we went to Aore, a small offshore island with a resort. We spent the day eating western food, relaxing at the beach, and snorkeling with lots of fish. The rest of the time we helped out with a big sports tournament occuring at the school, wandered around town shopping, and ate delicious food. A perfect week during the school holiday!
