Friday, July 4, 2008

getting to know Vila



Our friends Olivia and Ching-Wei arrived from Oakland yesterday. Olivia and I start working at the hospital on Monday. So my stint as a tourist is about to end. Rob leaves tomorrow and we are deciding what our final tourist activities will be...

SO far we have been having a great time. Eating good food and walking hours every day. We also have been taking buses especially at night. Buses here are just a privately owned mini van with a driver who picks up anyone who flags him down anywhere - very convenient. It does go against conditioning to flag down a stranger's car and jump in and ask to be taken somewhere... The buses provide for some interesting views into neighborhoods we have not yet explored and some circuitous trips around the city - quite fun and all for 100 vatu per person just a little over a dollar. What a deal for door to door service!

The other great thing about buses is that there are so many of them you rarely have to wait more that a minute or two for one to drive by. the bad thing about that is they run on deisel so by the end of the day you can actually wipe the deisel soot off your body... Bleh

So i thought i was getting used to the heat and them i had a rude awakening. It had actually been cooler for two days and then we had a hot humid day again...

i have had requests for pictures. i will send some photos when i get a chance. it takes a REALLY long time to upload them so you will have to wait until i get home for the majority.

3 comments:

blindmouse2 said...

Hi Michelle,
Loved your news about getting around in Port Vila. What a great adventure you are having. I'm eager to see more posts from you! Hope Rob has a safe trip back home. Write more! : )

Anonymous said...

This is so similar to Moscow's "gypsy cab" system. The difference is that here, any car is a potential cab. People will just stop and see if you are going somewhere they don't mind going on their way to wherever they were originally driving to. We tried it once and failed miserably...we got out of the cab further from our destination than we started after the driver realized he was going the wrong direction and changed his mind about driving us. Vanatu's system seems much more reliable!

I love the updates! Keep them coming! xoxo

Kirsten @Apothecasf.com said...

Hi Michelle! Dr. Laura told me your blog was up and running. I'm so excited to read about your travels. I just read your posts aloud to Desmond-- got to instill a love of adventure in this one early. Can't wait to read more. ~Kirsten