adventures in vanuatu: wakobaot week

shit, something deleted the second half of this post. ill fill ya in on life on ambae once i get to site! happy living, everyone

this post is going to be short because I have plenty of time (two years!!) in the future to write about my permanent placement. I only took a handful of pictures because I’m trying to avoid being the person with the camera while simultaneously being the community guest, if that makes sense!

The flight to Ambae was great. The original plane was overbooked, so peace corps chartered a small 8 seater for most of us heading to Ambae and Maewo. Maewo is a remote island close to Ambae with no airstrip – you have to fly to Ambae and then take a small boat over to the island. 5 health volunteers + Steve (he’s English, but his wife Alexis is health) will be in Maewo. Steve and Lexi’s site is Naviso – a village so remote that peace corps wasn’t positive they’d be ready for volunteers because the only way to contact them is word of mouth! Steve and Lexi will be going with a satellite phone, but other than that, they have no access to service of any kind. It takes them 3+ hours up a mountain to get to Naviso! All pretty nuts, but they’re an awesome couple and up for the challenge. I’m excited to visit their world once we’re all settled in!

Anyways, the plane ride was beautiful. The 8 seater meant guaranteed window seat! When we were approaching Ambae, the sky was too cloudy to see the landing strip so we took a half hour trip around the island until it cleared up. It was great! Michelle, a current Ambae vol, pointed out my school to me and it got me even more excited to arrive.

Thank you for the lovely birthday cards! I had some great laughs (with myself) and displayed them proudly in my little house. Turning 23 will always stand out in my mind and you haven’t a clue how special you made it.