We had heard that there was going to be a big parade at 0800. Today was going to be an exceptionally busy day, but we didn’t want to miss out on the public celebration of a big holiday, the 27th anniversary of the country’s independence. We were in town right at 0800. It turned out to be a ceremony, not a parade. Across from the produce market, in front of one of the government buildings, there was a small podium set up. There were a dozen official looking people seated behind the podium. In the street was a small squad of soldiers. The whole area was surrounded by police. The spectators mostly stayed on the sidewalk by the market. The ceremony began with the usual formalities flag salute, reading of a portion of the constitution, etc. Everything was in French, English and Bislama, so it took a while with the three translations. Then the president of Vanuatu gave a long speech. Not long after he started, it began to pour down rain. We feel sorry for those poor soldiers that had to stand in the rain. Here is a photo of the president greeting the soldiers before walking up to the podium.
We listened to the speech for a while, but we realized we were running out of time and Continue reading
