Qui veut des bananes? Free bananas!
Moondance
Alex Belmont
Wed 27 Jun 2012 20:32
Comme c'est difficil de se dicipliner et de s'asseoir quelques heures et
vraiment prendre le temps de vous ecrire... Ouf! Cette fois-ci, c'est pas
mal plus facile puisque nous n'avons pas encore gonfles le petit bateau et
ne le ferons probablement pas puisque nous sommes entoures de corail, ce
qui le percerait sans doute bien facilement! Par ce fait, je vais devoir
nager jusqu'a la plage si je veux passer du temps sur terre...
Nous avons passes 8 jours a naviguer de l'ile Nuku Hiva ou je vous ai deja
mentionner tout le plaisir et l'accueil sans pareil... Eh bien je ne suis
pas partie sans le meme traitement qu'a l'arrivee! Ayant passee beaucoup de
temps avec Damas, son frere Taniha, sa soeur Tehina et sa famille, le jour
officiel de notre depart de l'ile et la veille en fete, il pleuvait des
cadeaux! Je suis maintenant dote d'un couteau don’t le manche est fait d'os
de chevre, et que Damas a gravee quelques designs traditionnel, dans un etui
de cuir! Un colier et des boucle d'oreils en nacre de Rose-Marie, leurs
maman... Une pierre precieuse de l'ile Eioa qui lorsque mouillee ou bien
taillee rend visiblement homage a son nom: la pierre fleurie (photos a venir
un jour, probablement dans quelques mois) de Tehina... Ainsi que 2 pareos
colores a la Marquisienne de Taniha et sa maman, sans oublier tout les
fruits que Taniha m'a offert, ainsi que le trajet a dos de cheval dans les
tropiques de Taiohae, en passant par Hae Otupa, Eva Kua, Kahara, Pou Oa, Ua
Uka et finalement Haka Tea jusqu'a Haka Ui. Tout ces lieux leurs
appartiennent depuis leurs descendance Royale et c'est vraiment, vraiment
beau! Sans mots j'ai eu droit a de superbes vues du Pacifique et des iles
environnantes qu'aucun autres voyageur a bord des voiliers n'a
habituellement droit puisqu'ils ne peuvent pas l'abandonner sur le bord par
peur de pirates et mauvais temps... Foutaise! De plus, Taniha m'a appris a
depecer une chevre une fois chassee et j'ai garder le "kii kahui komai mene"
afin de me faire une petite bourse! Vous pouvez vous imaginer c'est quoi je
pense... Petit indice, c'est doux, il y a deux cailloux, mais avant de le
garder, faut les enlever et le faire secher! Hihihihihi...
Au final, je suis ici sur Manihi, entourree de palmiers remplis de coco et
nous avons a bord tout pleins de bananes que nous a offert Kua et Teiki...
Qui reellement nous ont donnes un regime complet de bananes qui est environ
150 petites au totale... J'ai fait tout mon possible pour les faire secher
au soleil, mais ca marche pas jwalvert... Quand on est en bateau, sur la
mer, il y a trop d'humiditer la nuit, et le jour, trop peu de soleil. Sur
terre, au soleil, il y a trop de foutu mouches! Alors quoi apres? Hein?
QUOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! Je deteste gaspiller de la nourriture. Alors j'avais
penser les echanger pour des cocos, ou les donner a d'autres bateaux autours
de nous, mais il n'y a personne! A voir. On va y arriver. Je trouverai avant
de tout les perdre, ce qui je crois, sera ce soir! Elles ont decides de tous
murires en meme temps en plus!
Allez, plus de nouvelles un autre jour! Maintenant, a l'aventure!
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Hey guys! Me again, this time I'll take a few more minutes to translate, yet
I will still keep it short as I am beginning to have short temper, sitting
out here in the sun typing isn't easy! ;)
After the beautiful horseback riding day with Taniha, whom I met the 2nd
night on Nuku Hiva, we stayed a few days in Haka Tea, which according to
Taniha will be his bay, one given day. All the cruisers call it Daniel's
bay, but let it be known, not one local likes to hear that name! First off,
Daniel is dead. Second of all, that is how Haka Tea and many other regions
risk losing their original names and disappear off the map... So if you are
reading this, learn a few words in Marquesian and you will have the best
time of your life in this paradise! After a nice walk alone to the cascades
and planting a few prune trees, I was heading back to the boat when I
crossed Taniha again (not very unlikely since there might be 20 habitants
total in Haka Ui) and he invited me to plant some coconut trees! How
delightful... the next day, I hopped on a fishing boat with his brother
Rissa and other friends and nephews of the family and we returned to the
village we landed in where I went for Father's day and spent a few days with
locals partying and eating! Their bbq's are enormous, think about the fish
they put on there! Not the same kind we are used to ;) The last two days on
Nuku Hiva were very emotional and so much fun yet it was perfect timing to
head out for the next set of islands... I left with lots of gifts from my
new family of friends; Rose-Marie (the mother) offered me a mother-of-pearl
necklace and earrings, Tehina (the sister - really cool!) offered me a
semi-precious stone that when wet has flower motifs, Damas (brother & friend
who invited me the first night to their bbq & beer on top of the hill)
offered me a hand carved knife he made with a goat bone in a leather case!
And Taniha (brother & friend) offered Alex and I lots of fruit and taught me
all of their traditional ways of hunting and preparing goat and pig
(although I didn't go pig hunting by lack of time). It was with the promise
of returning with tatooing skills that we finally left Nuku Hiva on Monday
the 18th, 2012.
We arrived last night on Manihi island, an atoll in the societies which is
completely covered in palm trees and coconuts! I want sommmmmmme... We have
lots of ripe bananas to trade having been given a real bunch of bananas on a
stock, which gives 150 nice little cooking or fresh eating fruit! Only
problem, we are close to having a potassium overdose... Therefore, FREE
BANANAS! Come on up! Other problem with that, we are the only boat in the
lagoon! Ha! We'll be signaling passing pangas soon enough, I'm pretty sure
they won't refuse and maybe I can find out at the same time what there is to
do for a young adventurer as I on this very island!
Last night we could hear the sound of traditional drums, which was pretty
similar to what I heard AND saw on Nuku Hiva for father's day. In other
words: AWESOME! And so powerful... After a good meal, several sad 2 month
old potatoes (which were real good by the way) nicely fried in oil, curry
powder, garlic, oregano and lime juice accompanied with some canned veggies
and fried potato skins as appetizers and a glass of white wine, I can't help
but say that my adventurous side hid away and fell asleep right after a nice
cup of tea! And oh what dreams I had in this still anchorage.
That said, stay tuned for later postings! Photos will probably only come in
August or later...
Hope to hear from you guys soon!
Take care -
Audray-Rose