Maupiti wins my heart

Trip Start Sep 18, 2005
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Trip End Dec 20, 2005


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Flag of French Polynesia  ,
Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Needing a break from a break, I decided to travel to Maupiti for a spell. The Maupiti Express travels to and from the island a few days a week, and takes about two hours each way, depending on the weather. My travel companion for the day was a beautiful french girl named Sophie whom I had met earlier in the week while sunseting at the hotel bora bora. She has been working on the island selling pearls for about five years, and seems to be waiting for the courage to escape back to france to start a new life. It is difficult to be a romantic caught in the vacuum of what should have been perfect destiny. Being only 23 I see my life as a future and a now, but I know at some point there will be more past than future, and diminished hope may ensue if I have not grown to a new state of mind. Such growth is nearly impossible in island communities and small towns where your mistakes haunt you and new perspectives are more of a rarity than naturally found perfectly round black peacock pearls. I beleive, however, that as long as your heart beats red passionate blood, and you hold on to selfish desire as a quality and not a fault, you will find your path regardless of circumstance.

The boat arrives in the morning and leaves in the midafternoon, and if you don't mind spending a few blissful unhasseled days in a resortless, nearly tourist free oasis, don't get back on A view from the mountain
A view from the mountain
 . As fortune would have it, the owner and captain of the maupiti express owns a pension on one of the motus (pension poe iti) and runs a free shuttle service from the center of town. After a lunch of grilled mahi mahi we took the trip out to the motu to see the captains pension and home. Seeing as how the only english speaking person on the motu was the captain, aparently away at the time, it was a good thing Sophie came along. After a few minutes of discussion with the captains wife(a polynesian women in her fifties who wears flowered dresses at all times, smiles with her whole face, cooks like my italian grandma, and calls me Char as she can not pronounce my whole name), I had a private, newly constructed, air conditioned bungalo, and free access to a kayak whenever I wanted for 7000 pacific francs a night. After a short kayak around the end of the motu, I accompanied sophie, the captain, and a few other guests to the docks to bid them farewell and good luck.

I spent the next five days touring the island, hiking the mountain, lounging on the beach (painting and doing handstands), kayaking around the motu(this involved weaving a sail out of a palm leaf and getting weird looks from local fisherman), playing volleyball and basketball with the locals, and feasting like a king at the family table of the captain and his wife. It was the most isolated and yet warming experience of my life. For me, the highlight was hiking to the top of mount Teurafaatiu, engulfed in a cloud, hearing only the sounds of the birds and the passing wind decayed front
decayed front
 . Later that day I was invited to take refuge under an awning at the home of a local family which seemed to consist mostly of children playing in the downpour. I spent about an hour sketching the youngest and cutest little girl who would simply stand in a puddle and smile at me when I wasn't looking. Towards the end of the sketch, the whole lot of them were standing around in silence watching me work. The younger ones would take turns touching me and then jumping back as if I was a hot stove. I had them stand for a picture which is posted with this entry. See if you can spot the girl from the sketch(also included in the pics).

I probably would have stayed longer, but the pension was closing for the hawaiki nui race and I didn't want to miss the action. The voyage back was sunny but turbulent as the swells were quite large and moving toward us as opposed to with us. I spent most of the trip engaged in conversation with Nina, a blonde girl from holland whom I had met earlier in bora bora, and unbeknownst to me had also spent the weekend on the island. We were both staying at the villiage pauline and for the rest of my time in bora bora she was my wingman at the bar and always seemed to offer an interesting perspective in conversation.
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