The Santo Story
Our love for Vanuatu is incredible, the people and culture and the pure essence of happiness. This is our raw honest and humble experience of over 3 years of owning land in the tropical Pacific Island of Espiritu Santo
Prologue– 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 –13 – Epilogue
Markets and Setting Up Camp
Dawn, it’s early but I just have to get up, check the fire…. It’s almost dead from the rain in the night. Just enough embers to stir it back into life.
We have to get moving as Moses and Brownie are due to start at 8am. Elena’s going to show him what we want done while I go to town to return the rental car to The Espiritu Hotel and Car Hire. The car’s due back at 8am so we have to split up this morning to get everything done. Breakfast is a simple affair. Elena makes Grenki (a Russian bread and Egg dish fried in a pan) and is washed down with coffee. The $10 traditional mat is proving a winner and as we have no chairs it’s the only clean place to park your bum when outside the tent.
It’s 730 and I’m gearing up to head off to town as the boys arrive. Brownie explains that he has something else that has to be done today and Moses can’t start now until Monday. This happens here, and I can’t expect that the guys can start with only 24 hours notice. Not to worry there’s a lot the Elena and I can get on with over the weekend.
We decide to leave camp, the boys said they’ll keep an eye on things for us as they’re working on the property next door. Never the less we still lock the tent with a tiny padlock.
It’s 830am when we get to town and it seems everyone is in Santo this morning. There’s even small market stalls appearing outside a few of the shops. We drop the car off and head to Hibiscus Attraction Centre, as. It seems that Bruno (our neighbour) didn’t collect the spare crash helmet when he picked up his bike yesterday. This was also a good time to check in on the internet. Marie and Lois wanted to here how our first night went and how we’re set tinting in. Elena explained how her back was sore and the she needed a thicker mattress.
