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Blue Pearl - HIVA OA



It took us 17 days and 20 hours across the Pacific Ocean to arrive at
Hiva Oa Tuesday night , we could smell the Island way before we could
see it because of all the flowers on the Islands, and in a couple of
hours we will move on to our next Island. That's how the rally goes. Too
many Islands to visit.

Our two days at Hiva Oa were actually very interesting. It is a good
thing we are moving on because, apparently, this is the last place on
earth where cannibals were active, who knows if any are still hanging
out in the forest and dense vegetation the Island is covered in? We
explored the little village where Paul Caugin and Jacques Brel are
burried (not entirely sure why they were here), visited a really
interesting covered art market and bought some cool stuff and Jean took
us on a trip around the Island.

Jean is married to the lady who helped us at the art place, she
introduced us to him. Actually Jean also picked up our laundry and
picked us up in his taxi from the grocery store but that is before we
knew he was Jean. He also has a fishing boat but he is too old to go out
in it any more so now his son does and his son caught a 150 pound tuna
yesterday. Jean doesn't look Polynesian and that is because his
grandfather was a cruising type who visited from France, made a baby,
Jean's father and left the Island never to show his face again. At least
that how Jean tells the story.

Jean also has a cousin at the other side of the Island. We stopped at
his place on our tour around the Island and he served us lunch. Very
nice lunch. Tuna, chicken, rice, mango salad, lemonade etc. Our tour was
mostly on dirt roads but that was only because there are no other roads
on the Islands. We went to this village called Puau Mau which is the
main attraction on the Isand. We also went to a banana plantation which
is owned by a family who originally came from Ireland. Unlike Jean's
grandfather they stayed on the Island and know own a whole mountain. We
did get a banana stalk which we have on the boat and a bunch of
grapefruits the size of soccer balls which are absolutely delicious.

I could tell you a lot about the village but I know you'd forget so I'll
just mention that we learned about the MANA which is the most important
concept of Polynesian religious philosophy. So, The Mana is: "The highly
fickle essence of everything that be" . I thought about that for a while
and think it means: "You never know what the f... is going to happen next"

So, our next official stop is Nuka Hiva, on Wednesday of next week. In
the meantime we'll visit some of the Islands on the way there.

Write soon again.

Captain Ruud.



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