Christine in Mangarevan is “Kiritina” isn’t that pretty? Whoop, Whoop, Whoop! We celebrate my birthday on Taravai with locals and cruisers! We have celebrated Matt’s last two birthdays on Taravai and I was super excited to be here to finally celebrate mine too! Matt started out my day by taking a photo of the sunrise and leaving me a digital card on the iPad.
Lots of good friends and fun times! Photo Top: Eve on “Auntie”, Alan and I. Middle: Daniela “Yelo” and Valerie, Herve, Ariki, Valerie and me. Bottom: Eve “Auntie” Herve and Daniela “Yelo” and me and Eve.
Great friends!
A Feast for All
It was a feast of feasts! Herve grilled up chicken, fish, and pork ribs. Guests brought a vegetable lasagna, cous cous, rice, cole slaw, deviled eggs (egg boats), salad, veggies, and more!
Such tasty foods
We all over are because we wanted to try all the dishes – but man-o-man we had to waddle away from the table!
Matt & I, Valerie & Alana, Daniela & Valerie
Lots of drinking….
And of course, Jell-O Shots (they were red which turned everyone’s tongues red)
Beautiful Gifts
Beautiful and generous friends gave me gifts. Anki and Seavert from “Major Tom” gave me a beautiful shell bracelet, Eve from “Auntie” gave me a gorgeous petrified mammoth bracelet, Daniela and Rolf from “Yelo” gave me birthday chocolate, and Michelle and Rene gave me a few stunning pearls. I am truly blessed for such generous and kind friends!
Lots of Games and Sport
We played a lot of volleyball games. Taravai rules: any body part works; serve any way as long as it gets over the net; when the ball hits the net, it starts your three touch over; and score said in French. Always a blast!
Volleyball Competition
And lots of pitonk or bacchi ball. The winner, tosses the small white ball is tossed into the field, grass, or sand. Two teams try to get their stainless-steel balls close to the white ball. You can hit the other team’s balls out of the way, you can hit and move the white ball and you can toss your ball however it works for you. The team with the closest ball(s) gets a point(s).
Pitonk (Bacchi Ball) at its finest
Look at the concentration on all the faces. Hard to be serious when there has been a wee bit of alcohol consumption.
Pitonk (Bacchi Ball) at its finest
Super Sweets
We must not forget about the sweets. Eve made me a tasty chocolate cake and I brought strawberry cupcakes and dolce de leche ice cream to top off our day!
Birthday cake, cupcakes and ice cream
It was a truly beautiful and heart-warming day. Our friends sang Happy Birthday in 4 languages! Rene brought out his uke and provided amazing Tahitian music throughout the day.
It drizzled during the party. However, Valerie said that it was God’s way of blessing me. And a beautiful rainbow to celebrate the day:
Rainbow across Mangareva
This day made me feel truly blessed to be alive and in French Polynesia surrounded by such love. A great way to start my 53rd year in this world!
When I finally got back to town where we had 2G internet access I was overwhelmed by all the birthday wishes on my facebook page – thank you so much for the love!
Events from this blog post occurred around January 16, 2021. Our blog posts run 8 weeks behind our adventures.