Aug. 21st – Had a fabulious local cultural experience today

Hello to everyone

John has been sick with the flu and sleeping all day and all night and
seems better today. Yesterday we were bobbing up an down at anchor in
Bora Bora hunkered down because the wind is blowing from the southeast
at 15 to 25 Kts. making two to three foot choppy waves with the fetch
the whole length of th inter lagoon. We’re anchored in a bay right next
to the main town on Bora Bora. I went ashsore to do a couple projects on
the dingy and walked into town to a big pink church where services were
just starting. I entered and was treated to the most beautiful sing and
service. While being greeted at the door upon leaving I was invited to
feast to celebrate baptisims of a number of people from Tahaa that they
were having at a building a little way down the road looking out on the
bay where INTENTION was anchored. It is a meeting hall, living area and
rectory for the church. Inside the hall were individual place setting
for about 125 people.
At each place setting was a topped green coconut for eating the meat and
drinking the milk with your food, a shallow bowl in which to put your
food, and a napkin. There were platters of pork and baked breadfruit,
possion cru (raw fish in coconut milk and grated carrots, cabbage, and
bell pepper), spinach and chicken, raw tuna and mahi mahi, three
different types of taro(yellow, green and brown), baked banana and
shreaded coconut, and a number yellow and of sweet gelitan substances
that was not Jello. Also were bottles of coconut milk one very thick,
white and rich and the other thinner, almost clear and not as rich and
sweet to be mixed with all your food. There was a pitcher of pompomouse
juice as well.
Eating was done with you hands as there were only serving spoons to
scoop the bountiful food from the platters to your plate after first
pouring in a liberal amount of the coconut milk from the bottles. After
watching how the others at the table did it I then began breaking up and
crushing the taro with my right hand into the coconut milk to absorb it.
Doing the same with each different dish in turn. All the food was
delicious but the breadfruit and raw fish with the cocomilk had an
extraordinary taste.
The band started and clean-up was handled with much fun and efficiency.
There was enough food left over to feed everyone all over again. They
even let me help by drying some of the just washed dishes with a towel.
This Whole experience was done in Tahitian and a little very broken
French.

Love
Jim