In the meantime...

After my last blog post, it started to rain. And then it RAINED. Like I haven't seen in years, like a big push-up-the-stormdrains Hawaii storm. Kids were running down the driveway and steeper roads sending little boats made of bits of trash into the new-made rivers. We sat in our little cabana-thingy and waited, sleepily, for the rain to abate. Which didn't happen. Intent on beating the time change, we refused to fall asleep, and instead went to the pool and swam as the downpouring rain began to overflow to the deck.

A bit over an hour later (time really can crawl when you're trying not to fall asleep, can't it?) we made the decision to walk into town, rain or no rain.

This may have been a mistake. Ankle-deep fast moving water all over the roadways carrying god-knows-what. We got a few encouraging words from the locals: "you beat that storm!" in addition to the usual "hello." As we passed a school, a bus (van) sent up a mighty splash, soaking the last bits that our umbrellas were protecting. This amused the children greatly, but the way they laughed and waved felt friendly rather than mocking.

Despite all that, we had a good outing. We went into Port Vila:





We walked through the main town, made our way to the waterfront, and made a portion of our return trip along the water. There, the rain let up enough to take pictures:



Although not quite enough to explore the open market we saw there. We re-entered the town strip at the very-amazing market; so much stuff available! The exchange rate is around 120 Vatus per US dollar; the humangous(!) avocados in the picture are less than a dollar. The greens looked beautiful. Many local people were at the market eating or lounging (or doing both of those things while attending tables).






We came back to the "resort" in time to sit with the other guests at the weekly barbecue, drink a beer and have some lovely grilled fish and edible steak. We made our way back to our room (all 50 feet away), exhausted, to finally sleep.

I didn't sleep well, but I did sleep.

The coffee maker we requested apparently went to the (happy recipients at) next cabin over, so we're drinking coffee brewed in a pot until the grounds settled and then poured off the top, courtesy of T. Brilliant, I say. Who cares if it's chewy, it's caffeinated! I made some omelettes. We opened an avocado and discovered that it needed a while yet to mature.

On to the hospital today to make ourselves known.

(I don't know why some of the pictures are showing up smaller than others, sorry).