With love... from Hiva Oa

Ever since the epic excursion to the summit of their mountain, we have been adopted by the community here on Hiva Oa...
lucky, lucky us!

There was quite a large and somewhat unpleasant, weather system that came roaring up rom Antarctica... 
it turned Paradise into a few days of heavy black  clouds, high swell, wind and rain. Boats large and small, came crowding into the anchorage, seeking refuge in the tiny, rolling harbor.

It made for a tight and sometimes rather challenging fit, especially when many of the boats were arriving after a long and difficult crossing. I think Jon must have assisted in at least eight dragging anchor rescues.

It made no difference to us...

weather be damned, the party continues aboard Pura Vida!

We were constantly hosted or hosting impromptu gatherings ( what  else do you do when canoes loaded with locals arrive at your boat, bearing food and flowers?).

Everyday, we receive giant bags of fruit, entire stalks of bananas, 

We are endlessly and continually, invited to lunch or dinner at someone's home...

Mo-ie hosted a giant BBQ at her house.

We brought a Thai shrimp curry, which I  had cooked in the giant earthenware pot that had been left at our boat the previous night -when 7 of our new friends turned up unexpectedly. Just as we were wondering what we would make for supper, they knocked  on our hull, bearing bowls of rice and a vat of pork stewed in spices and wine,  they brought more bottles of wine to drink and bags and bags of perfect mangoes. 

We kept the anchorage awake all night, singing  and laughing. 

The men taught Jon to chant the traditional  hunting songs and handsome, young Tahiki played and sang us French love songs and American country music on Hunter's tiny guitar. 

The other cruisers couldn't exactly scold us for the late night party, becuase we were hosting the locals after all...

The Marquesans will not eat until the end of an evening.

They prepare all this fantastic food and let it rest while everyone drinks and sings( but the guests must eat, of course) and then they all eat at the end of the night and promptly fall asleep....

On our deck.
We love them. 

They are the most enthusiastically generous people.

Always, we must agree to see them the next day for more meals and visits and hugs and kisses- or they will just come out to the boat, anyway.

They insist on making us try every yummy, traditional  thing they have on his island; chicken curries and roast pork, BBQs that you cannot believe, bananas in coconut cream, poisson cru, local tiny crabs roasted in butter, the most delicious sashimi in honey sauce...oh, it's just ridiculously, awesome.

Jon has agreed to go with our new friends to Joseph's valley for boar hunting-this is a very serious and dangerous event and will apparently take place at night. There will be sleeping in the jungle and hunting dogs and knives and chanting and much sacred juju. 

Kai is beside himself that he cannot go- but children are not allowed on this event. Needless to say, I am greatly relieved by this rule.

When the men return the next day, we will sail to Mo-ie's village (everyone will load on our boat and also on our friends on SV Marionette who have just arrived from Baja)  and we will all roast the boar on a spit on the beach and sleep in hammocks in the trees and....

We could not possibly imagine a better South Pacific adventure, especially as we have made such wonderful new friends and are now joined by other cruisers we just love.

At Moies BBQ, Jon received a boar-tooth necklace from her and Joseph that an uncle had carved for him. 

Mo-ie's nephew, Viri made us hair pins carved from ironwood and ivory.

I also received a pair of earrings made from the ribs of a horse. 

The men honored Jon by giving him a Marquesan name...

Tematiu - the Mountain.

This is how you are "made", here on Hiva Oa.

Watching Jon hanging out and talking to the men, in French and Marquesan, learning their chants, making them laugh...

I think that somewhere in his distant karmic past,

he must truly have once roamed these islands.

The fit is just too good.

The next day we were tattooed. 

Rinaldo's (the artist) house faces Tematiu.

A rainstorm was raging across the island that day...

great, grey sheets of warm rain drifted across the valley, 

we stretched out on the tattoo bed, 

(which is set up under the  coverd porch of Rinaldo's totally stunning house that he built with his father)

Drinking in the smells of the hundreds of orchids that grow on his property, 

we were surrounded by the sounds of the island;

chickens and horses, pigs snuffling around in his garden, neighbors laughing and singing as they walked up the road...

Rinaldo's beautiful wife nursed their baby as we watched fat raindrops roll of banana trees, grandfather, father, uncles and aunts all passed through to inspect his work...

This was the day Jon got his first ink.

It couldn't have been more perfect.

Rinaldo gave Jon a turtle, surrounded by Marquesan symbols for father and son, waves and the ocean,  teacher and student. The piece is led by a Tiki in a canoe ( symbolizing Jon and his previous big adventure), signs for protection and strength...

I added to my already rather large piece.

A motif of waves and four curls symbolizing birds ( for the four of us), a trail of flowers, flowing like hair ( female) down my back...

It's almost time for us to be moving on from this magical place...

When we do, we will certainly leave behind a large piece of our hearts. 

We have grown to love the warm, singing, generous people,

and the deep green beauty of this formidable island.

This is why, we will (forever) carry now,

a little Hiva Oa, wherever we go.