Vanuatu

I arrived in Vanuatu about a week and a half ago and somehow managed to bump into two other medical students on the plane who were doing their elective at the same hospital, which was helpful.
There are currently 18 students here so there is always something going on, whether it's a day trip to a beautiful beach or island, diving, walking through caves or just relaxing at the hospital and playing frisbee!
It's always warm here and never really gets hotter than about 30 or colder than 25. The locals are all really happy and friendly and will smile and say hello as you walk past and the kids wave and smile at you. It's not hard to see that it really is, as was found in a recent survey, the happiest country in the world!
Kava drinking was a new experience. Kava is an intoxicating drink made from the root of a pepper plant, but it's not alcoholic, it's an opiate! To go for Kava you basically walk down a dark back street until you see a kava bar with a red light bulb on outside (indicating that they have fresh kava). You then go into a dark room and order either a 50 vatu (25p) or 100 vatu (50p) coconut shell of kava. As an indication, 500 vatu worth is enough to get you truly kava'd. It basically tastes like the water you get in the washing up bowl after peeling potatoes, and you have to drink it in one. It really is a strange experience, not least because most of the time is spent sat on wooden benches on a mud floor in pitch black with everyone quiet (kava makes your eyes more sensitive to light).
We're planning trips to Champagne beach, Millennium caves, Port Olry, blue hole and Aore in the coming weeks. More updates should hopefully be on the way soon.