This festival in Polynesia is really a very big event. I don’t know from how many islands participants are coming, but per islands 150- 200 participant are coming. Considering that even Maoris from NZ are people from Hawaii, because they are Polynesians, there must be several thousand participants here in Taiohae and neighbor bays. I know 5 islands from which are people here. That amounts to about 1000 already. And I only know very few islands.

All these people are fed Polynesian food free of charge. One only needs is to bring a plate, container, or a big banana leave etc, and get whatever you can eat. Fish, pork, goat, vegetables, fruits. Tools to eat had everyone: fingers.

I found a stand selling drinks and a normal size plastic container for about 250 CFP (about 2 Euro) and ask for rice and poisson crue. I love this light and delicious way the Polynesian prepare raw fish. Completely different from the Japanese or Korean way to prepare raw fish.

To eat my food I asked if I can sit down at table and everybody welcome me to sit down. The couple from Tahiti sitting at my side gave me a banana, and a small bottle of home made lime lemonade. People here are friendly and easy going.

A very interesting food container I saw often, was made from bamboo. A piece of bamboo, about 10 – 15 cm diameter, length between 30 – 60 cm. The wall is remove over the full length and with a width of about 8 – 10 cm. The bamboo nodes create a natural division for the various food. Having seen this here, I wonder why the Japanese are not using such natural food container. Qqq

The performance place in Taiohae is not as big as I thought having seen such place in Atuona, Hiva-Oa or in Omoa, Fatu-Hiva, but groups with 150 – 200 people can easily perform there.

There are also cultural exchange programs concerning singing, dancing and playing the pahu, the Polynesian word for their drums. This program is unfortunately only privat on the the ground of the College de Taiohae, thé local college. It is a part of the program “Archipels Connectés and “Campus Connecté”.

It’s hot today and on land there is no cooling sea breeze. I’m sitting in the shade of open building where they qsell cultural pieces of art. At the first glance I would have said they are selling souvenirs for tourists. They definitely do that, but I got the impression that’s also a place where Polynesians buy Polynesian art.

In the afternoon there is live music at the stage of the Polynesian cultural center, the place where the dances are performed. The music partially unplugged, has an easy going, Polynesian rythm. I enjoy the sound. But right now it’s short intermezzo of Caribbean reggae.

I create a pause here and will write another narration about what I see during the rest of the day.