September 2008: South Pacific
Luganville, Espirito Santo, Vanuatu pt 9 (S 15.30.905 E 167.11.027)
Aore Island, Vanuatu (S 15.32.252 E167.10.810)
Our little road trip was just that. We did not go very far into the interior and really only saw a small section of the southwest corner of the island. The contrasts are extreme. There is some display of prosperity on the main road that fronts the water as well as some of the houses on the hillside. Everyone in town wears westernized clothing and only once did we see a native with a loin cloth. In this town that aspect of their culture has disappeared but we hear that up in the hills it is still the common practice. On our drive thru one of the villages we saw several people in loincloths. But, the overriding image is that of shorts and t-shirts and muu-muu’s (sp?). We saw first-hand that this culture is eroding. For the more adventurous there are longer day trips that go way up in the hills to see the villages that are very much untouched by progress.
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