We had a very good night’s sleep no nightmares about rats! It was drizzly and cloudy when we woke up which felt so unusual, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I managed a cup of tea without melting in sweat! We had endless admin to get sorted which took most of the morning. We then decided to find a chandlery that was a good walk away. The key thing I wanted was a ladder to get up the side of the boat, as the deck is so high off the pontoon. I can’t easily get off the boat on my own. It is an enormous stretch for me to get over the ropes at the sugar scoop and onto the pontoon, there is nothing to grab on to. We walked miles to the chandlery through drizzle and puddles, and finally found the place in a rather grungy part of town, only to find that their lunch break was from 11 to 1:30pm. We got there just before 1pm, luckily we found a little shelter under their awning as the heavens opened and it poured down while we waited half an hour for the place to open. We were joined by the motliest 3 rather vicious looking dogs, Pitbull style with their ears cut off to little points. We both eyed each other out, nobody wanted to go out in the rain! The shop was a great disappointment with nothing we needed and what they did have was so eye wateringly expensive we could not bring ourselves to get anything.
On our way back, on a very busy road we found the most amazing patisserie, the smells outside were amazing so we went in to find something for lunch. This very sweet old man showed us all these amazing sweet treats, so we decided to take two chocolate ones home with us. I asked him if he had anything savoury for lunch and he said no. Then when he was packing up our purchase, he asked if we wanted quiche, which we jumped at. He came back from the kitchen with two enormous delicious smelling quiches that had just come out the oven. We sat down and we each had a serving, it was absolutely delicious, the egg was so soft and light it was amazing with a wonderful flaky light crust. What a find, we were in our element. There was only one other man in the cafe, who saw our quiche and had some too! Not speaking French i’m sure we miss out on so much.
We finally got back to PolePole, diverting through the market where I managed to pay £30 for about 10 tomatoes! They are definitely a scarce produce at the moment. We opted for a quiet night in, and enjoyed a huge big salad made with wonderful tasty crisp lettuce that we bought in Moorea.
In the setting sun we watched from the back of PolePole, the locals having a race in their Polynesian canoes, called va’a, an outrigger canoe. Spot the Gin Palaces behind, one with a helicopter, we haven’t noticed any Russians here!
Really hard work, but at least the water was quite flat
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