A trip around Port Vila, Efate

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Tue 15 Jul 2014 22:36
On Friday we left Tanna. We had planned an extra night there, and had booked another lunch at Lea's restaurant, but the anchorage was so rolly overnight that we decided to leave after lunch. It took about 20 hours to motor up to Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, situated on Efate island. Vanuatu is a group of about 80 islands grouped into about 5 provinces. Hopefully we will get the opportunity to visit a few more on our next visit.
Saturday in Port Vila was quite busy, the market was on, but most shops only stayed open until lunchtime. The market here opens on Monday morning and stays open round the clock until Saturday night. The stallholders go back to their plantations on Sunday to restock. During the week they sleep in the market hall. If they sell all their goods, they will go home and restock mid week. As well as all the fruit and vegetables for sale, there was a large section of prepared local food, mostly laplap which is either fish or meat on top of a slice of cassava, which has been baked. Ivan bravely tried the octopus laplap. I tried a small piece and while it was nice and tender, I am still not convinced about eating octopus!

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Ivan choosing his octopus laplap

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The bustling market place. The stallholders bring their goods to the market on Monday and stay until everything is sold, sleeping on mats beneath their stalls. The market is open 24 hours a day from Monday morning until Saturday afternoon. When the stallholders run out of goods to sell, they go home again to restock.

The town is quite cosmopolitan, with bars, cafés and restaurants. There is a certain French influence noticeable in the cafés and the supermarkets where you can buy just about anything. Not great timing for us this time though as apart from the fact we are leaving the rally in a week or so, the Australian quarantine rules are so strict that anything fresh will have to be thrown out before we get there. We have a list on the front of the fridge of what we are allowed to take in, it's not very long! No fruits, vegetables, live plants or herbs, no eggs, no raw poultry, the list goes on and on. We have also had to check the contents of the freezer to see where the food has come from and eat everything from banned countries such as Fiji. All the crews will be well fed on this leg I think!
As usual, World ARC had arranged an island tour for those who wanted a look around. It was a full day, starting slightly late due to the World Cup final, which we watched at 6am on Monday morning, not a very sociable time, but as there are a few German boats and one Argentinean boat, there has been some friendly rivalry!
The first stop was at a gorgeous lagoon for swimming. The water was too cold for most of us so we just took in the view. After that we were off to the beach for morning coffee and biscuits.

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The blue lagoon, great for swimming on a warmer day!

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A nice view with your morning coffee

The first proper stop was at a market garden and village where we were told about the origins of the Vanuatuan flag and taken to a taro plantation. We each got to plant a taro, and they explained how it was harvested and used. We also got a taste of wood smoked taro, served with coconut and navarro. This was a new taste for us. When the coconut sprouts again, the coconut milk inside solidifies into something with the texture of cotton wool. Quite interesting, and still tastes like coconut.

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Planting a taro

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The cooked version ready for tasting

After is we took a ride in a dug-out canoe and tired another local dish, sweet potato and banana, again cooked in a traditional oven. We seemed to get fed every time we got off the bus, so by the time we stopped for lunch we were all full, which was a good job really as lunch was nothing to write home about!

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The canoe pilot in full traditional dress

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A very leisurely way to travel

In the afternoon, we went to a traditional village. The whole island is one of great contrast. There is the main 'City', not what we would call a city, but definitely what would pass for one over here, and traditional villages in the country. At the edge of the village, there is a Tarmac road, with painted lines and road signs which seems a bit incongruous. The local traditional housing, such as we saw in Tanna is side by side with the more solid, breeze block houses of the ex-pats. One thing you do notice again though is the gardens, they are all beautifully kept no matter who owns them. Currently, there is a project underway to get electricity round the whole island. In the villages, life goes on as it always has. The houses are made in the traditional style and all cooking is done over wood burning fires. The villagers grow their own fruit, vegetables and animals and catch fish as well. The village we went to were very welcoming, they gave us refreshments and sang songs and talked about life there. One of the sad things, and something you see more of here than Tanna is trash. The city gets many more western imports of food and other goods and unfortunately the island simply can't recycle the packaging, a common problem everywhere we have been. A lot of rubbish is still burned here. One of our cruising guides, I think for Tonga, suggested taking rubbish to the beach to burn, but I am not sure about actually doing it - it seems wrong somehow. This is despite the fact that if we put our rubbish in bins ashore in a lot of places, it will almost certainly be dealt with in the same way.

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As kitchens go, this is not quite what we are used to!

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A view of the village

After the village, we went to a local school to meet the children and then onto Survivor beach. This is the setting for an I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here style reality programme. An interesting choice, as we had coffee in the cafe which also served meals, so surviving here would not be such a challenge!
The last stop was described as a 'secret stop'. It turned out to be a nakamal, a kava bar. In Tanna and the other islands where tradition is more important, women can't drink in kava bars, no bad thing, here however, no such rule, so we all had a taste. The kava here is reputedly stronger than Fijian kava, with a bit more of an effect. It still tastes horrid though! The whole kava drinking experience seems a bit odd. Vanuatuans head to these bars after work, such as we might go the pub after work, and drink kava. The problem is that it tastes so horrible, they drink it down in one go, standing at what looks like a urinal so they can get water quickly to take the taste away. They also have a large selection of snacks for sale, again with the sole purpose of getting rid of the taste. So much seems to be done to try and combat the disgusting taste that I am amazed it has ever taken off as a social event. I had a slight tingling feeling in my lips but nothing more, definitely not worth the effort!

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John about to drink kava with our tour guide

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John made me promise to put this photo on - kava is not my thing!


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