Taravao

We’ve been in Tahiti for two weeks now; anchored in Baie Phaeton near the small town of Taravao. While we are busy organizing the repair to one of our engines and doing regular maintenance on the boat, we have been here long enough to get to know the village a bit.

Jon and I spent the first weekend here walking all over the isthmus that separates the larger volcanic mountain of Tahiti (Nui) from the smaller one (Iti). Taravao might be considered a small village compared to Papeete (pronounced quickly as Pa-Pee-Yah-Tay). There are three grocery stores, one quite large and several restaurants, buses and many cars. This was a big change from the previous 5 weeks in the outer islands. But roosters and hens still roam free around here, and there are little stands on the street where one can buy fish, coconuts, or in this case, flowers for Mother’s Day, which in France (and thus Tahiti) was Sunday May 30^th.

Flower arrangements and flower tiaras were being sold everywhere. The whole weekend I was wished “Bonne Fete Mere,” even by the checkout lady at the grocery store. We attended church services nearby and were once again treated to beautiful harmonies and joyous singing. The priest, at the beginning of his homily, turned to congregation and asked (in French), “What made you get out of bed this morning and sing with such joy in your hearts?” His happiness was infectious and it didn’t matter that Jon and I didn’t understand any of the Tahitian and only picked up bits and pieces of the French. That day was a blessing.

I found a chiropractor to help me un-kink my neck, and a wonderful Moroccan esthetician gave me a much overdue manicure and pedicure. (It’s hard to remain a lady when living on a boat.) Her name is Fatiha and I consider her my friend. We also found Granny’s Sports House: “Everything you need for extreme sports!” How could we not love this place?

When we go ashore in our dinghy, named Doodlebug, we tie her up near the local canoe club. Here, as everywhere else, the outrigger canoes, called pirogues, are out in force each evening. Just past the canoe house is a bit of flat field and a shed with what looks like a bar. It’s the Boulodrome, or Bowling Alley. Because we are in a French territory, the game of petanque is very popular here. It is similar to the Italian game of bocce, but the balls used are metal instead of wood.

Petanque players take their game very seriously and there are tournaments here on the weekends. The Glaudemans clan has been bocce players for years, especially when at the beach. In the early nineties Jon discovered petanque when we were in Paris and bought a set of boules (the metal balls). He briefly thought of bringing his set as we were packing up our house, but didn’t. So when we discovered the Boulodrome, we naturally stayed for several hours to watch the matches.

The players were very good. When we saw young children playing along the fringes of the field, it was easy to understand. They start from a very young age. It's a very relaxing way to spend a weekend afternoon, and it was wonderful to be so readily accepted into what seemed like a long established group of players and friends.

The Boulodrome is run by a man named Marcel. He is the DJ, and has quite a set up of speakers, monitors and computer to ensure a continuous flow of music, mostly Tahitian with an occasional French and American song thrown in. He welcomed Jon and I to stay as long as we liked, and burned a CD of Tahitian music for us.

Food, beer and water are sold at the bar. Laura is the scorekeeper and collects the 1,000 Polynesian Francs (about $11 US) required to enter the tournament. On Mothers’ Day, she wore her flower tiara as naturally as we would wear a headband. The Boulodrome has lights and on the weekends the games, eating and music go on until well into the early morning…..we can hear the music from our boat. The Tahitians may a bit more hurried and cosmopolitan than their brothers in the outer islands, but they are no different in their belief that the weekends should be for party, BBQ, sport and church on Sunday morning.

Jon and I bought a set of boules this week, had a practice match at the Boulodrome during a weekday afternoon (people were there, but not like on the weekends), and we might even enter the tournament this weekend. Yes, I now have metal balls; three of them in fact. Will keep you posted.

In the meantime, we have scouted and secured our place to watch World Cup Soccer matches. The Coup de Monde, as it’s called here, will be shown in at least two restaurants, one of which is close to the Boulodrome. Yea!!!!! Because Tahiti is 12 hours behind South Africa, we are only assured of watching the games that begin at 8:30 PM in South Africa. That will be 8:30 AM here. The 1:30 matches might be a go, but I doubt we’ll be able to see any of the 4:40 matches. Oh well. We will be at the France-Uruguay match tomorrow morning and the US-England match on Saturday, watching with our British friends Andy and Rhian. We are really excited for team USA and wish a special good luck to U.S. team members Maurice Edu and Clarence Goodson (former college teammates of our son, David -- Go Terps!)

Jon plans to wear his oversized US flag he found on a beach in Florida, while visiting his grandmother; the World Cup just seems to bring out the best in each of us!