Gift giving and farewell to Serendipity and the Galahs

Anastasia
Phil May and Andrea Twigg
Fri 13 Jul 2012 06:33
Yesterday we had a traditional welcome ceremony and gift exchange with the local villagers.  The festivities were preceded by some dancing and speech making and followed by a feast prepared by all the local families.
Dancing at the welcome ceremony 
Every crew member got a hat to wear and a coconut to drink.
The crews of Serendipity and Glamorous Galah, who sadly leave us today, bound for New Caledonia and Australia.
The stack of goodies for the ARC fleet.  The green palm baskets are full of fruit and vegetables.
Some of the more exotic vegetables in our basket.  Snake gourds (taste like beans and are going into the pasta bake tonight), plantain, tarrow and crystophene (tastes a bit like celery when raw, or like squash when cooked). 
It rained in Vanuatu for the first time this morning.  Andrea got this picture of the boats under the rainbow.