Vanuatu
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sun 18 Aug 2013 21:25
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We are enjoying Vanuatu very much, great winds for
sailing between the dramatic volcanic islands and we seem to have left the
hoards of cruisers behind and are enjoying quiet anchorages to
ourselves. The locals who call themselves Ni-Vanuatu, are very
friendly, polite and gentle people.
 We dropped anchor in a beautiful bay and
within five minutes a local arrived wanting to barter some bananas in
exchange for magazines, old newspapers and anything else we might like to give
him. They manage to do it in such a nice way that it is pleasant doing buisiness
with them. They have very little and they live in very remote islands so it's a
win-win situation, we gain fresh fruit and veg and contact with the people. All
the produce is organicly grown over the whole of the country including all
their meat and it tastes wonderful.
 We went ashore the next day for a walk around the
villages. It was a small island only 1km in diameter but had three
separate villages each with a village chief and about 200
adults in each and at least the same number of children. They
live in very simple huts with no electricity or running water but
very clean tidy and organized.
The photo above is of a lady making a matt for
the floor out of pandanas leaves with her daughter learning the
trade.
 Her two other daughters were preparing lunch in the
kitchen, rice and fish wrapped in coconut leaves and soaked in freshly squeezed
coconut juice and cooked over the wood fire.
 Here is a traditional dugout canoe drawn up on the
village beach. Ironically the next day when we
sailed away we passed a 190' super yacht en route
to the same island - Twizzle (they have a website), registered in the Isle of
Man and with ten crew.
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