te mau motire meitetaki
The Intrepid Jerry is doing the cruiser thing of waiting for parts in exotic locations. Our autopilot will not reach the Gambiers until early July. Once we get Jerry ship-shape, which now includes having TWO entire autopilots and assorted parts in triplicate aboard, we are considering sailing on to Tahiti.
One would think that people as nomadic as cruisers would get restless after six weeks in one region. After all, there are so many pictures of beautiful islands one can take. If Mel searches her iPhone’s photo gallery for the word “sea”, 3500+ results turn up. Most of these photos are expendable, looking like many others in the gallery, striped with different shades of blue with a sliver of yellow or green in the middle, failing to capture the emotion of the moment when displayed as a search result. Moving anchorages mixes things up a bit, but the opportunity to look at pretty things is not enough to keep one going in this sometimes-difficult lifestyle.
This must be why National Geographic has text as well as photos. Exploring the local people and culture is what sustains us now.
Before coming here, we had heard that one of the wonderful things about the Gambiers was its welcoming local community. We have been thrilled to confirm this through our positive interactions with local shopkeepers, tour guides, and residents, despite the fact that we cannot speak French. We have attended Sunday picnics at resident homes, played volleyball with locals, met some interesting characters during beach cleanups, exchanged provisioning tips with American expats living on Mangareva, frequented almost every shop on the island, and, bedecked in our new black pearls, attended many cultural events, including the school dance recitals pictured at the end of this post. We also have learned about Europe and Australia through our interactions with the large and wonderful cruising community here, which is slowly making its way to the Tuamotus.
We are having so much fun attending festivals that we plan to sail to Tahiti next in order to catch the Heiva i Tahiti cultural festival that runs until July 18. Mel is especially excited about watching the Tū’aro Mā’ohi traditional sports competition, which includes events such as Polynesian stone lifting. Even after being in French Polynesia for more than six weeks, Mel’s mind is still blown whenever she witnesses a cocoa-skinned, heavily-inked, musclebound man speak French. Certainly a different visual than what is seen in a Paris café! Move over, Jean-Claude Van Damme!
In the meantime, Mel has assigned herself a French Polynesia reading list. She is currently reading W. Somerset Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence (admittedly not entirely about Tahiti). Other books include Bungalow: A Novel by Sarah Jio, Island of Shattered Dreams by Chantal T. Spitz, Daughter of the Reef by Clare Coleman, and Frangipani by Celeste Vaite.
AI tells me the title of this post means “beautiful children” in Mangarevan. I hope it is right! Below are photos of some of the amazing young people of Mangareva, celebrating the end of their school year. This post is all about the kids, so let’s get to it! If you are a woman of Mel’s generation, be forewarned – viewing these photos will methylate your DNA and activate any grandmother genes you may possess!
