Monday Day 12 Fakarava Tuesday Sea Day #13

 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2013

Monday Day 12 Fakarava Tuesday Sea Day #13

Got myself in an awkward place a few times trying to pronounce this Island, try saying it, for that matter try saying it three times in a row--it's a challenge.
I woke up, said my little prayer for the day, no scriptures, I ate little breakfast, not feeling too well today. The Island is flat, not any mountains, we took the tender to the Island and were met with singing Polynesian music by four women. Dressed in traditional Tahitian clothing and so happy, I tried to give them a tip, and graciously they refused, how many times has that happened? I still insisted and got a kiss on each cheek, well worth the money.

Jesus, Antonio and Eric were off to find either a boat to take us out snorkeling, or a car to drive around the Island. NOTHING--Jesus and Antonio came back to tell us there was nothing available, I said, "Where is Eric?" they looked around and, well I guess the only way I can explain Eric is he is a salesman and does not take NO for an answer.... He went door to door. He found a young girl said something to her in French and off she was on her bike.  I walked out to the beach to look and some pictures, soon the girl came back and Eric said, "let's go" He found Fernando--a young man who was willing to take us all in his truck on a trip around Fakarava.  As a new set of people arrived off the tender to the Island, a husband and wife asked if they could go with us, and they were willing to sit in the back of the truck, Fernando said, "Wee Wee" and off we went.  Fernando comes from a family of seventeen children, he is number ten.  Born and raised on this Island, I wondered if he ever thought about leaving or exploring other places in the world.

This Island has been protected and preserved, not much has changed here from the beginning of time. This Island is literally filled with unexplored beaches and villages.  The pink beaches, shaded by coconut trees and crystal-clear waters.  Fernando took us and showed us where he lives and helps with his grandmother, then we went to one of his uncles land and Fernando picked green coconuts for each of us, chopped them at the top and gave us a taste of the sweetest coconut milk I've ever had--I don't like the mushy insides of the green coconuts so I went and picked a brown one, shook it up to see if it had any juice in it.  We chopped it up and we ate the meat from this coconut--I love the raw, natural taste of organic coconut--I ate the whole thing--no sharing.

While we were exploring the ocean waters, just a few feet from me were a shark--ummm---I was running out of that water faster than I ever did in any race I've ever done, it totally freaked me out.  Fernando laughed, I looked over at him and he was making everyone's hats out of palm leaves--it was so sweet. Then he surprised us by putting his hands down these holes in the sand where crabs were living, after several holes were dug into viola' he pulled out a crab, crustaceans are just one of the things the people from Fakarava are proud of.  In the village of Tetamanu stands the oldest Catholic church in Polynesia. This is also an amazing place for divers, drift diving is extremely popular here, the coral colors were beautiful.  This Island only has a population of under one thousand people. I told Fernando "No wonder you can't find a wife, you may end up marrying a cousin."  Eric had to translate it in French, I was glad he laughed, I wasn't sure how he would take it.

He drove us to places and showed us amazing scenery that I know no one else on that ship got to see--although this was a short day and we had to be back on the ship by five it was fun.

The Fakarava School Bus

flat land coconut trees everywhere

She chopped open a coconut and we drank

white sand beaches, full of seashells, and beautiful coral

driveway to the beach

Thinking of Vi

These rocks were stacked all along the beach

put a rock on top for goof luck--mine is on the top

how'd you like this to be your backyard view?

I'm actually in the water, and a shark is within a few feet

beautiful beach views

the crab Fernando dug up

The home Fernando shares with his Grandmother

can you see the shark?---I didn't realize it until it swam just behind me

what can I say?

Mr. CocoNUT

He thinks if he holds a machete and 3 coconuts I'm impressed.....

I just loved this abandoned little port

I loved this homemade picnic table they made on the beach for the kids

Fernando's truck and the guys in the back

Fernando showing off the crab and the hats he made for everyone

I could sit here, in this place all day under a coconut tree

Tuesday SEA DAY--more like SEASICK day for me by day 13, I was physically exhausted and really missing home, my children and grandchildren.  I stayed in my room a lot of this day, not feeling well, not because of being seasick, I had a migraine, and was fearing another mini stroke.  I looked out my window and saw a half rainbow--it reminded me of Haleigh and when she and I went to Hawaii just a week before I was diagnosed with cancer, and then the day I finished chemo, the most beautiful full rainbow appeared out of the window where I was sitting--Rainbows are always a sign to me that something good is coming--

What a beautiful sight

This evening I got ready for dinner with  our new friends Antonio and Maria, Jesus and Conchi & we were invited to sit at a special table with the cruise directors on the staff.  We wondered why they invited us and we soon found out, it was because they wondered "why and how, people from Spain, Canary Islands, and the United States could all communicate and have so much fun together?"  They also wondered if something was wrong with Eric,  both of the cruise directors spoke perfect English, Russian, Spanish and French, they asked me "what language does your husband speak?" when I asked them why they said "it sounds like he puts Spanish, French, English, and Filipino all together in sentences" I laughed and responded, "nothing is wrong with him, he speaks fluent English and French, knows a tiny bit of Spanish, and any Filipino he has learned has been on this ship from the workers, he just wants to speak all of them fluent so he throws a few words of each language in here and there. it drives me crazy"  They then understood Mr. Eric.  As far as the question they had about our instant friendship with Antonio Maria, Jesus and Conchi, I told them that normally I would stick to myself, for fear of offending someone when trying to speak with them and help them understand, but they all wanted to know English so badly, they would ask us about everything, soon we were able to communicate--not sure the translations all were exactly correct, but I really fell in love with all of them.  We are hoping to see Jesus and Conchi in New York in November.  After dinner tonight I went off to bed while Eric went with the rest of them to the top of the ship to see a spectacular view of the stars.

Jesus and Conchi Antonio and Maria Eric and I

Huahine Island French Polynesia

 

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

Huahine Island French Polynesia

Thursday Day 8
Today we woke up in Huahine.  Eric was like a child waiting to open Christmas Presents, he woke up early--I was still sleepy, so he went for a walk and breakfast--however, breakfast was not ready. For Heaven's Sake it was five in the morning.  I don't think the sun was even up yet.  Oh, I forgot to mention we are now on a cruise for the remaining Islands we wanted to visit.  I finally opened my sleepy eyes prayed, got ready, ate breakfast, and made the second tender to the Island.  We decided to find our own tour guide instead of using the ship tours, they are twice or even three times more than what we could ask local people to do for us. 

We took a free shuttle into town and rented a car, not from a car company, Eric just went around asking locals if he could rent their car. A woman Eric found let us use her car and have it back by three.  We rented it for about $40 and she was so happy, the ship wanted $140 for the day. We went to a local store, picked up some baguettes and juice, and we were off to drive the entire Island. We saw blue eyed eels, & Tahitian ruins. We stopped along the way to take pictures of this beautiful place. On our journey we saw two senior missionaries sitting on the side of the road looking out into the ocean, we pulled over and Eric spoke to them in French. They have been on this Island for fourteen months, and they are the only missionaries on the Island. On this Island there is only four hundred members of the church, and two buildings, they invited us to Church on Sunday, but we told them we would be on a different Island, then sadly, they told us the church on that Island starts at 8 am and we will not be arriving to the Island until noon. They kissed us on each cheek and said goodbye.

At dinner tonight on the ship, we made a reservation to eat at the French restaurant.  I was not too impressed with the menu, Eric was extremely happy, he loved everything on the menu. We were laughing at the man next to our table who had ordered tartar and for those who do not know what that is---its raw hamburger meat with seasonings--sounds like a night hovering the toilet to me--We started to laugh because Eric said he knew the guy had no idea what he was about to eat, and the 1st bite he made a face we will never forget, then rudely we laughed until we cried, the waiter came and asked him if he like it, (remember he ate the entire plate out of respect) but had no problem saying when asked if he like it "No, not really"  We had a great time today, but I miss my kids.

One of the locals

The baguettes--We cant get enough

Senior Missionaries

LDS Church Building

one of the homes in the lagoon

Bora Bora Day 9 & 10

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

Bora Bora Day 9 & 10

 Friday Day 9
Bora Bora is so commercialized. Most people who hear Bora Bora usually think it is the most beautiful of all the Islands, not me. It was nice but not the most beautiful, the most expensive and most commercialized. There are many celebrities who visit this Island, and this is the enticement--celebrities do not easily impress. This was just another Island to me.

Woke up, said a prayer that I would be able to enjoy the day, this is officially the longest we have ever been away from our children, and we have no communication with them at all.
We took the second tender into the Island and immediately Eric was talking to the local people, the ship charged $199 each for what we did and more for only $40 each.  We went in a 4x4 up a very steep mountain, they wanted us to see the canons from World War II, that were never shot off, the story was amazing. There were seven thousand men waiting on the top of this mountain, bunkering in waiting to be bombed, ready to shoot the cannons for defense of their land.  These men hid out for 7 years, I was astonished as the locals showed us the ditches, they hid in.  The bunker they kept the food in was still there, and I am not sure how they kept it cool and good enough for eating, they ate a lot off the land with all the fruits in season and fished for fresh fish--as many of them still do.

On this adventure we were joined by Maria and Antonio from Barcelona, and Jesus and Conchi on their honeymoon from the Canary Islands.  Jesus spoke little English, some French and they all spoke fluent Spanish.  Eric of course spoke all the languages at once--ha ha--one thing I can say about Eric is he tries so hard to understand and learn the culture and languages.  We spent the rest of the cruise with all these people, they were amazed at how much money they could save on excursions, and we loved the company.  For us the language was not a barrier, we tried to speak as much as we could in Spanish and they asked how to say everything in English.

Today is Friday and I cannot stop thinking about my children, Kaitlyn is off work, more than likely spending the day with Kayla and the boys.  Jeremy is now working in Prescott and is only able to come home on Friday's. He leavess Monday at 3 am to be at work on time--I worry about them, but the blessing is that Jeremy has a job. It may be difficult for Kayla, but she will manage, she is strong.

Eric and I had some good conversations on this trip, we are happy with all the decisions our children have made so far.  Being an empty nester has been extremely difficult for me; there is a time and a season for all things. I've learned that even at our age it is important to reevaluate decisions and goals. Satan works on the strongest and will take the weakest link in them to make it sound enticing and glorious--in this time of my life my goal is set on nothing less than the Celestial Kingdom--how do we do that? Serve others, even your spouse, encourage them in all they do and have done to help you, sharing the gospel with others, and living the attributes of Christ, this for me, is the only way to return and hear those words "well done thou good and faithful servant."

ONE OF THE LOCALS WHO TOOK US ON THE TOUR

THE OTHER TAHITIAN ON THE TOUR

ERIC AND I ON ONE OF THE CANNONS

ERIC IN THE LOOKOUT READY FOR FIRE

THE OTHER CANNON

THE BUNKER WHERE THEY KEPT FOOD

THE BEAUTIFUL OCEAN VIEWS

ERIC READY TO SWIM

ANOTHER VIEW OF ONE OF THE BAYS

This is a famous restaurant, celebrities come sign a $ and staple it to the wall

Today was an enjoyable day getting to know our new friends from other countries, we are looking forward to tomorrow with them.

Day 10 Saturday Bora Bora

I am excited to spend the day with Maria, Antonio who have been married for 40 years, they do not drink alcohol and are just fun to be around--they try too hard to learn English every day. I must admit I don't try as hard as they do--but we are able to communicate well--Jesus and Conchi are adorable and have invited us to stay with them in the Canary Islands, which happens to be a place Eric would love to go.  Jesus is in the supply chain management business with pharmaceuticals and can speak with people from different languages and backgrounds so communication with him was much easier but not perfect--it was funny at times because our translations are not the same and could even be considered offensive, so we were easy to explain those times to them as well as them to us.  We took a boat ride out to see mantras with 12-15 wing spans--don't even ask if I got in the water the answer was NO. 

There were lemon sharks and even some tiger sharks--Eric and the rest of them had a fun time while Maria and I visited on the boat and took pictures.  We were able to go around the entire Island, go to the motu and have lunch and then back to the ship to get ready for dinner.  The ship only had 186 people on it, including the crew, so most of the people wondered how the Americans, ended up being such close friends with the people from Barcelona and the Canary Islands--We laughed all night, in fact we were the last to leave the restaurant.

The beaches are beautiful

Dinner, Jesus, Antonio, Eric-Conchi, Maria and I

Eric and I at dinner

What a fantastic day in Bora Bora

Day 10 Saturday

We spent another day exploring the Island with our newfound friends--

There was a movie filmed here called "couples retreat."

This is what we saw all day.
I could post them all but that would get boring