Author: Pam
When we left San Francisco one of our agreements was we would not do laundry by hand if we had other options. Well, those words have been eaten since arriving in French Polynesia. In Mexico we were spoiled by the many options for someone to do your laundry for you for nominally more than it would cost to do it yourself. In Nuku Hiva we paid $40.00 to have our laundry washed and line dried. After the state it came back in I decided I wasn’t paying that much money to get back clothes that were barely cleaner than we when dropped them off. Hence, let the laundry perfecting technique begin. We learned about Oxyclean from our friends on Novia right before I went back to the states. So, not only did I bring a tub for them, I also brought back one for us. On Saturday night I put the first load of washing in to soak overnight with Oxyclean and Tide. I gave it a few plunges with a small plunger and let it sit until the next morning. This load included Scott’s fleece sleeping bag. We had heard it cost $25.00 to get a blanket cleaned, so I decided with access to plenty of water I could tackle the furry beast. On this day we became one of the cruising boats with laundry hanging on the bow. I decided I don’t mind hand washing, but only if I have access to lots of water for rinsing. I won’t like it if I have to be careful how much water I can use, so the hose coming from the quay is the perfect answer. I foresee laundry as part of quite a few upcoming days since we haven’t done any for over two weeks and there is more bedding. It is a great arm workout.
After our day of chores on the boat we were rewarded with our first true Polynesian dance and music performance. We met Ann and James from Novia to head over to the Heiva Festival after a quick dinner of noodles with black bean sauce and chicken on the boat. Before we came to the South Pacific we had heard Bastille Day (July 14th) was a big celebration, but it turns out since the changes in government and the desire to be independent from the French government Bastille Day will not be recognized and the Heiva festival will take the front seat. Heiva is a celebration of the Polynesian culture which includes cultural displays of the art of dancing, drumming, canoe races and spear throwing. The show we attended was sold out. The dancing and the costumes were beautiful, how do the woman move their hips that way and that fast? The drumming was exhilarating, it almost made you want to get up and dance. The first half of the show was the amateur dancers, the middle of the show was a Tahitian choir, the last half of the show were professional dancers, the audience was asked not to take pictures during this portion of the show. The only disappointment was we did not understand anything that was said, it was all in Tahitian and French. There was clearly a story being told during the second half, but besides the dancer playing the role of chief we didn’t have a clue what it was about. It was a little surprising there wasn’t a program or some translation, since there were many tourists who spoke English attending the show. It was a lot of fun and we had great seats with a good view using our monoculars.
Monday morning began with a trip to the post office to exchange the phone card Scott had bought that stopped working after one short phone call. I then called Air France to make arrangements for them to deliver my bag. They confirmed it had arrived the night before and it had gone to China and then back to Tahiti via Australia and New Zealand. The agent said he would call a car and it would arrive in twenty minutes. We stood on the quay near the boat and waited for the world traveler to be dropped off. No more than twenty minutes later a woman came rolling the 69.5 pound beast down the quay. We wrestled it into the dinghy and onto the boat. On the way to the boat Scott commented “the bag smells like it has been in China.” Oh no, I had a sinking feeling in that moment, I had chanced packing two bottles of light soy sauce in my luggage. Sure enough one of them didn’t make it through the many tossings and had leaked all over all but three pieces of clothing and some paperwork. I did think twice about putting it in my luggage, but I really didn’t have room in my carry on and I didn’t think it was going on a four day journey. Lesson learned. Huge bummer, I ended up hand washing all of the clothes I had had the luxury of washing in Richard and Joan’s washing machine in SF. The good news, Oxyclean came through and all of the soy sauce came out.
Once we finished the initial bag reconnaissance, we headed out for an afternoon of errands. We first ate lunch at the local Market, pizza by the slice. It wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t say it was good either, mediocre is a good word. We then headed to the industrial area to believe it or not look at a large tub we had seen. I was thinking I would like a larger tub if I am going to be doing hand washing, but the tub was too big, I will stick to the five gallon buckets. We returned a couple of things Scott had bought and headed back to try to get my bangs cut, unfortunately the shop was closed.
While we were making phone calls that morning Scott called the mechanic to cancel the appointment for Tuesday morning. We didn’t feel comfortable with his estimate or his lack of enthusiasm and we don’t have the part yet. We also called Antoni, a man we met in Nuku Hiva who lives in Tahiti part of the time and Thailand the rest of the year. He said he will come by the boat sometime to say hello. It will be nice to see him again and to find out some local information from him. We are also hoping he might know a mechanic that could take a look at our poor sick outboard engine.
What’s a day without laundry? While I was on the side of the boat on Tuesday morning furiously rinsing out yet more laundry, Antoni stopped by to say hello. We made a plan to have lunch with him on Thursday. On our way over to the Internet café, we stopped by Novia to say hello. They were in the midst of replacing several shrouds, the last project on their list before leaving Papeete. We offered to come back and help James go up the mast when he was ready to install the new ones. We were speedy at the Internet, you have to be when you are paying by the minute and then set off for round two of the bang trim attempt. We found the shop open, but she couldn’t squeeze in my shaggy bangs for an hour. I was determined to get the mop out of my eyes so we decided to kill the time by window shopping. We ended up at a shop with a really nice pareo selection and Scott finally bought one. I had tried to talk him into one in Mexico, but he didn’t think tying a large brightly colored piece of cloth around himself was for him. After hearing a lot of men that are cruising find them comfortable to wear on the boat, he began to change his mind and then it only took seeing a really nice one with a big lizard on it to clinch it. He didn’t end up buying the one with the lizard, he got one with turtles instead. We decided to shop around for the one with the lizard at the Market for possibly a better price. Pareos are one of my favorite things to wear when we are at sea, the light fabric is really comfortable. I can’t wait to see Scott on the boat in his, it could be a picture for the website. The woman who cut my bangs did not speak a word of English, another customer was kind enough to translate. When she was finished with the lopping I asked how much and she waved her hands to gesture it was free, that was a surprise since everything is so expensive here.
We finally made it back to Novia just in time to help send James up the mast. He got his shrouds in the first try. We invited them over to the boat for a glass of wine to celebrate the completion of their project and it looked likely no one was in the mood to cook, so we would probably head to the trucks again. The options on the table ended up being McDonald’s or the trucks, the trucks won. Scott, James and Ann had steak and were very disappointed, I think there were secret regrets that McDonald’s hadn’t been the vote. I had stirred fried beef and onions which I thoroughly enjoyed.
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