Hello Friends! We told you a few days ago that we would write a bit about Port Vila, the place that for the time being we are calling our home.
First of all, let me start by making sure everyone understands that Port Vila is NOT our ultimate destination. We will not be carrying out the ministry that we have shared with you here in Port Vila. You can think of Vila as our 'home base' while we gather information, learn some language, and survey the specific island and language group the Lord is ultimately calling our team to serve.For example, now that the wives and kids are settled in homes here in Vila and working on learning language and culture, the guys will be leaving next week for a survey trip to an outer island (more on that later). This trip will be the first of many.
(The above picture is of Vila Harbor near sunset.)
So that being said, let us share a little with you about where we are based for the time being...Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, is one of the two cities in Vanutau. The other city being Luganville on the island of Santo. Vila has a population of about 30,000 people and is very much a growing third world city. It is the center of business for all of Vanuatu, and honestly nothing like what I was expecting. Jim visited here last year, but even he said it has changed a lot since he was here.
There were a few suprises, but Vila still basically the same. There is a post office, bank, police department, schools, the Univeristy of the South Pacific, and other things you might expect to find in a city. There are a lot of Chinese shops that carry a variety of goods. They are a good place to find things like flip-flops, skirts, dish soap, etc. There are super markets, kind of like foreign 'Albertsons', but not. Sometimes they have what you are looking for, and sometimes they don't. At any of these places, when they are out of something, they are out... no garauntee that they will be getting it again.
The streets are busy and full of garbage. Right now it is mostly disarded mango skins and pits. The Mangoes are in season and are mostly used as an island 'juice box'. You nip a hole in the end, squeeze it, and suck all the juice out. Then you just toss it wherever you happen to be at the moment. You definitely want to watch where you are stepping. Especially when stepping off a curb. I learned that lesson tha hard way one day when I stepped straight into a gapping hole in the street. Thankfully I wasn't physically hurt, only a little embarrassed.
This first picture here is of the busiest intersection in downtown Vila. Not the place to be waiting in the rain to cross the street. Oh, there are no crosswalks ...and you cross at your own risk. Seriously. For the most part, they do not yield for pedestrians. Crossing the street here is very different than in the States. But then again, everything is different here than it is in the States. (By the way, this picture is deceptive in that it makes the city look a lot bigger than it really is. You could walk from one side to the other in well under an hour.)
We live just up the hill from downtown Vila. It is a nice location just because we can walk just about anywhere. So, looking at this last picture... if you turn right and walk up the hill, there is a set of steps that takes you up to the top (kind of a short cut), cross the street and then cut through Independence Park (all uphill), then take this 'road' that is kind of like an alley full of potholes with a rubbish/burn pile on the left (also uphill). When you get to the top of this road, cross the street (this one is not quite so busy as downtown), cut to the right and then head up our sreet (you guessed it... also uphill), and then you are in our neck of the woods. Needless to say, we are getting into shape, it is good for us. We usually walk, unless we have a real heavy load from the market, then we catch a 'buss'. More on the busses at another time. They are a very intriguing part of Vila.
One of the major changes is the recent addition of cell phones. ...yes you read that right, cell phones, or 'mobiles' as they call them here. It is not Verizon, that is for sure, it is Digicel and it is definitely a blessing. Everything is pre-paid, no contract. It is 2000 vat (or tweny bucks) to buy the phone, then you just buy credits and use them up when you call someone. It costs us the equivalent of about twenty-three cents a minute to call a number anywhere here in Vanuatu. Or eight cents for a text, so we do a lot of texting =). Jim checked the coverage and they will even have access when they make trips to other islands, supposedly. So anyhow, we have a phone... doesn't cost us a dime (or a vat, rather) if you call us, so if you would like the number just email us and we will pass it on!
Let me tell you a little about the market. It is my favorite place to go. It is pictured here on the left from the outside. On this particluar day there were a ton of these beautiful tropical flowers for sale. That is the only day that I have seen it like this. Isn't it beautiful?
The market is where we get a majority of our food. On the subject of food... you really can get just about anything at the stores here in Vila, that is if you want to pay for it. Eggs are about $4.50 a dozen, milk is about $8 a gallon, a box of Cheerios is about $18, and a box of oatmeal is about $12. Then on the other hand, daily fresh french bread is only about sixty cents a loaf, and hambburger is the equivalent of $4 per kilo (or two pounds). There is a large ex-patriate population here in Vila and most of them appreciate having food that they recognize, and they pay for it. Our family on the other hand, have gone the much more affordable route... island style. Which means we eat a lot of island food like... kumala (sweet potato), popo (papaya), mango, bananas (of all kinds), taro (a root veggie), susut (choco in English, but I've never seen it before), oh and dont forget the coconut, and rice (imported). It all tastes especially nice with a little Tobasco or chilli sauce =). That is about all the island foods that we have learned how to use.
There is a lot left that I need to learn about... what they are and how to use them. It was just the other day that we learned how to use taro. A nice woman from a small island north of Efate who was in town to sell mangos came to our home with her mother to teach me how to prepare taro. They taught me how to cook it and serve it with coconut milk. And I shared with them some banana bread. It was a great afternoon. We made some new friends and got to 'storian' in Bislama. The woman was suprised to hear that the forks we used to eat were bought right here in Vila!
Back to the market... Also in the market we find things like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, herbs, squash, lettuce, cabbage, and green beans... familiar things that I know how to cook with, so not everything is
completely foreign. The market is set up with several stalls of produce, much like a farmers market in the states... the big difference it that is where the women that are selling the goods live for the week. They work, eat, and sleep there, along with their infants. The women there are very friendly. They are helpful in answering our questions about what different things are and how to use them. We can also buy prepared foods in the market like 'tuluk' and 'bunia' to go, or we can sit down at one of many booths and the people there will prepare us a meal for the equivalent of $3.50 ...but we will tell you more about these another time.
Port Vila is also the tourist center of Vanuatu. Cruise ships are in and out of the harbor on a weekly basis. We try to avoid town when the cruise ships are in as the prices sky rocket during that time. Vila has what you would expect at any major Port in the South Pacific. Touristy shops, cafes, restorts, gift shops, etc (try not to think of these things in terms of what you would find in the States, remember third-world... thatched roofs, pot-holes, and trash in the street). We pretty much steer clear of the touristy stuff.
There is definitely a line drawn between the ex-pat population and the Ni-Vanuatu. Life is very different for the two, especially here in Vila. It is as different as night and day. Life is hard in Vila for the Ni-Van. They have no room for gardens, and everything is very expensive. Most of them come here to work just long enough to make some money and then they go back home to their village on whatever island they are from.
That is all I am going to write for now. This has turned into a pretty long post. I am glad it was interesting enough to read it all the way to the end =). I hope it has given you an idea of where we are right now, what life is like for us, and maybe even a glimpse of what life is like for the Ni-Vanuatu in Vila. Maybe next time I will show you some pictures of the house we live in.
Ale, ta ta!
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