Vanuatu - part 1- Port Vila and Tanna

HELLO!  So we got back from our wonderful trip to Vanuatu last week and I have been laying low and getting back into my normal routine, and am now FINALLY getting to writing about our 1 year anniversary, happy 30th birthday Brian vacay!  It was so amazing, so eye-opening, so adventurous :)  Dont feel bad if you have never heard of this beautiful country in the South Pacifc, we had not either until some friends of ours (Lauren and Tim!) went early this year.  It is not too far from Australia--a 5 hour flight and pretty close to Fiji (yet not near as developed).

We flew into Port Vila and went straight to the "Cascades" waterfalls which you walk up.  It was beautiful and a great start to our trip. All of the locals we encountered were so friendly and nice.  Our "bus driver" stayed at the bottom of the falls the whole time so he could drive us back to the hotel afterward.  It was about an hour and half.  Here are some pictures from DAY 1--PORT VILA.

The rest of the evening we sat at our hotel bar with a fabulous view and had many Tusker (vanuatu beer)  It was already so beautiful and we were not even at one of the islands we planned on spending time on!!!  The next morning we went to our next island (of the 83 in Vanuatu)  TANNA.  We were pretty excited to see the main attraction-- an active volcano!

Tanna is VERY primitive.  In an amazing way.  It was so refreshing and eye opening and spectacular!  I felt like if we got ship wrecked on a deserted island it would look just like Tanna.  :)  There were no paved roads so going anywhere took ages--  Driving slowly over the million potholes!  We passed villages and jungle on the way to our hotel, Tanna Lodge!  We decided to get settled in and then take the trek to the Volcano!!  Our room was GREAT!  We even had an outdoor shower (which looked and felt amazing but I never was quite as clean as I would have hoped)

SHOWER!

Tusker and fresh mango juice= happy BK

our bungalow

Ok so now we did the most incredible thing, the volcano.  Seriously, the most incredible experience.  We drove about an hour and a half thru the jungle, we got near the volcano and everything was black ash covered plains, then we kept driving thru a dry river bed, and finally we got to the volcano.  We parked and still had to walk a 10 minute hike straight up to the rim of the volcano!   Did I mention it was raining.  The volcano didnt care.  It was so loud I jumped every time it went off.  So insanely loud that you could visually see the shock wave, the sound made me think I could lose my hearing-- I felt like I was in a thunder cloud while it was thundering.  It was scary.  That is just the sound.  I haven't even mentioned yet the fact that the lava rocks were flying up about 1000 feet in the air around us.  (the rocks were on the ground near where we were standing- a clear indication that they could easily make it as far as we were)  It was frightening but we couldnt stop staring.  We were there for over 2 hours watching!  And when the sun went down that is when the show really started!  Here are some pictures, plus the video-- I would watch (it takes a minute until the eruption but still, just watch!!)

the mountain's getting steamy :)

The next day we woke up to a serious tropical storm!  We decided to still try and get out so we saw a near by "custom village" a village where the residents still live as they did for forever.  We rode 4 wheelers there and with all the mud it was so fun-- mudding through the jungle!  This was quite the experience.  The kids were beautiful and lovely and I wanted to take them home :)  I cannot imagine that in 2012 people still live like this but they seemed very happy.

I loved being there and the people were so great and so special.  We hung out there for awhile and rain kept us even longer.  They let us hang out in their home/huts until the rain died down a bit which was so nice.

Back at the hotel it was a mess, palm leaves were everywhere coconuts were all over the ground and the rain was still pouring.  We hung out on the balcony and watched the monster waves and drank coconut water from some coconuts which we cracked



The next day we went to the local supermarket-- or the fresh fruit and veggie mart. These were the only stores, only open on market days. The people there mostly just live off the land. They speak pigeon english- Bislama- so we can read it.... ie: the fish mart= i gat fis...but I couldnt speak it! They talk too fast! After the market we went to the GIANT BANYAN tree! Unfortunately, our camera ran out of battery so didnt get any pictures but it was HUGE. And the vines hanging from it were very fun to swing from. Me Tarzan You Jane :) haha   

Our final adventure in Tanna was another 4 wheeler trek to a water fall.  Along the way we stopped for some yummy berries and also got a follower.  This sweet little boy (who was carrying a machete-- kind of creepy but still...)  By the time we got to the waterfall we had a whole crew of little ones!  

The waterfall was actually really scary.  We had to jump off a really high cliff with a waterfall on the other side!  I took so long to jump and all the little kiddies were laughing at me!  I have a video of Brian, but I had the camera side-ways and cant seem the change it!  We also stopped by on the way to the hotel for some Mangos!  Our tour guide (the son of the hotel owners) climbed up so high in the tree to knock some down and I am telling you they were the best thing I have ever had!  

We went to the airport afterward to head to Santo, our next island destination!  

All in all Tanna was an amazing place to be.  I loved getting so see a place so natural and beautiful.  The people were great and we had a nice stay at our hotel .  Our stay at Vanuatu was half way over and we had already experience so much with so many more adventures to look forward to!

Ill try and get part2 up soon :)