Day 2 - Hiva Oa from Lexi and Tristan

LEXI:

Hey it's Lexi! we just got back from an amazing tour of the island. We visited many beaches and ate lots of new fruits, My new favorite fruit is called Ramboutans. It is red with spikes sticking out of it and is sooooo delicious! One thing I have learned from the island is that EVERYONE is related either by marriage or family, And when i say EVERYONE I mean EVERYONE. The families are super nice and welcoming, Our tour guide took us to see his family and they gave us food and drinks and let Mimi and Alina chase the goats and chickens while me and the rest of the family sat and talked with them. We went up on a hill that overlooked the ocean after that and played with wild goats and fed them pieces of bread while Alina rode one of the bigger ones without horns, and me? I was scared to death that the giant macho goat who thinks he's all that because of his giant horns was going to throw us of the cliff. We learned a lot about the island like how the most beautiful woman in the tribe used to be thrown of a 200 foot cliff into the 4 foot deep water and killed as a sacrifice to the gods, our tour guide didn't like that he said "What a waste. Why cant it be a goat instead?" we also went to visit the smiling tiki who if you were the first to see the tiki you would be smiling all day. As my luck would have it, Tristan was the first person to see it not me. But we did visit an ancient tribe site and he explained that only the first born child could get a full body tattoo and that on his head would be a manta ray, a gecko, and a turtle those animals symbolized wisdom. On his arms would be words that mean strength and on his chest his family, his legs would be decorated with words of speed. The rest of the children could get tattoos but not full body tattoos. The tribe would set up arranged marriages by sending boys to war to see whose the strongest or throwing sharpened rocks at them to see who's the best if they came back alive then they would be able to marry girls based on their "ranks" with the tribe. The island is an amazing place with rich history including cannibalism and bizzare sacrifices, and I look forward to seeing other islands and finding out what secrets they have hiding in their mountains, valleys, beaches, and meadows.

TRISTAN:

Hey it's Tristan and the Passage was awesome because we all had a really good time learning French and playing games. When we saw land on the 19th day everybody flipped. We were all going crazy about how beautiful and big the island was. When we got to the anchorage it was really nice not having to hold onto anything to stay upright. When we headed onto land to check in we were all feeling a little dizzy, but Lexi actually fell over. The women who helped us check in was Sandra she helps with the tourism. After that we went exploring the island. It was awesome everybody was related by either family or marriage. We went to the library, art store, the bank, the grocery store, and the soccer field. The end of the day was my favorite because when I was going to bed I wasn't rolling around. The next day was the first day of homeschooling at the island and of course none of us wanted to do it because we were on an island that costs a lot of money to get to. After homeschooling we went exploring through the grocery stores and found that they import a lot of food from the USA. We spent a lot of time there and on our way back found a bunch of chickens, horses, and goats. The coolest part about the island is that there are wild pigs and goats and horses. At night we found this awesome guy named Fifa (Pifa). He going to take us on a trip to see the tiki sights. So the next morning we got up early the next morning and Fifa picked us up when we thought we were on time(8:30), He told us it was 9: 15. When we left Fifa took us to the first tiki sight, it was called the smiling tiki. His family owns 500 acres on the island and it is full of Bananas, Pompamoose (Pamplemousse), Guava, Lime, Avocadoes, Bread fruit, and Mangos. He has a really big family tree his dad has 16 siblings and Fifa has 8. There are so many of them that they own a cove. Fifa took us to see his family and at his uncles house they have four pigs and two dogs. They gave us some beer and honey, which was nice because the honey here is nine dollars U.S. After we met his family and hung out there for a bit we left and went up to see goats that live on this hill in the day and they all scatter at night. There are probably 200 goats you can see from his house. The goats are really friendly and we got to pet them and Alina actually got to ride one. But there was this one goat with huge horns that thought he was the Head Honcho, He tried to push me and Lexi off a cliff. We hung out with the goats for twenty minutes, then we left and went to go get lunch. Lunch was really cool because I had never had any of it before. There was Wild pig, Goat, Fish in a Coconut sauce, Bananas that were roasted, and Bread fruit that they fried and it tasted exactly like French fries. After lunch we went to an archeological site with 5 tikis. They were really cool because it was exactly like an order of jobs. There was an executer that used a big club, there was a Warrior, and there was a woman. There was a chief that was eight feet tall which was actually how big he was. Then behind him was his son. We learned that the first born son at age 13 had to have a full body tattoo. After the tiki site we went to the beach. The water was very clear, there were some big waves and we saw an eel. The beach was really fun and Fifa made us this really good frozen drink and cut us a coconut. After the beach we headed back to the boat. On the way back Fifa got us 3 Avocadoes and two stalks of bananas. When we were at the dock Fifa showed us a fruit called Rambutan and It was really good. That was so much fun and if anyone comes to Hiva Oa I really recommend taking a trip with Fifa.

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