In the bay of Hanavave (population 311), we found usable internet on the boat! Hence, by popular request here are some impressions of our visit to the Marquesas so far. We had to severely downres the pictures in order to be able to upload with the bandwidth challenged connection.
A perfect sailing day during our crossing. Blue skies and some wind so we can use the Code Zero sail. This is one of the last pictures of a complete sail, soon after we had two halves…Stefan preparing beef stew in the middel of the pacific with 28 degrees celsius ! No french fries and no belgian beer though.Finally after 22 days of sailing Hiva Oa on the horizon ! Great to see. The GPS did it again.The last resting place of Jacques Brel on Hiva Oa. Brel died in 1978 from cancer. He was loved by the Marquesan people.Resting place of Paul Gauguin who died here in 1903 from syfillis. Though he loved the young girls (13-14 years), he was not so loved by the Marquesan people.Superb view from the cemetary.Walking the streets in Atuona, Hiva Oa.Taahuku bay on Hiva Oa. This is the check-in place and usually very crowed (Stern anchor hell)Walking in the town of Vaitahu on the island of Tahuata. In 1774, Captain James Cook landed here, and it was here that Admiral Dupetit-Thouars signed the treaty of annexation of the Marquesas to France, in 1842.Ilse in an outrigger canoe. This is a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull. They are an important part of the polynesian heritage. This particular one features a pretty tourist. (dixit Stefan)One of our hikes out of Vaitahu.Very sweet, juicy and big grapefruits everywhere in the Marquesas. The peel is thumb-thick, but if you leave it alone, it becomes yellow and thin like we know it in Belgium.The beautiful catholic church in Vaitahu made of ships discarded ballast stones. There are no windows in the church except for the stained glass.
Stefan after trading fuel for fruits. We ate a lot of bananas the next 10 days !Getting the breadfruit and pig out of the ground oven during the festivities at the inauguration of the new sportshall.The pig is unwrapped from the banana leaves and put in wooden serving trays. All the women are wearing flowers.Hiking on Tahuata.Lots of coconut trees. Tourism and copra (dried coconut meat), are the most important economies of French Polynesia.Hiking path on Tahuata.Drying coconut meat seen everywhere on the islands.Walking the queens path in the town of Hapatoni on Tahuata island.Hapatoni on Tahuata Island.Snorkeling in Hana Tefau bay on Tahuata.Outrigger canoe on the beach of Hapatoni Bay.Omoa’s sea front on Fatu Hiva.Main street in Omoa.Buying tapa cloth in Omoa. Tapa is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. In the Marquesas only a couple villages still have tapa . In former times the cloth was primarily used for clothing, but now cotton and other textiles have replaced it.School dance in Omoa for first grade. They learn to swing those hips at an early age.Election of young miss Omoa (population 300). All dresses were made from plants and flowers (by the mothers and aunts).
Before we leave just a quick picture blog about our adventures in Ecuador. It already seems so long ago….
The black marker line indicates how we traveled clockwise through Ecuador. From Bahia on the far left (circle) to Quito then on to Banos. In Banos we took the bus to Lago Agrio to do our trip in the Amazone. From their back to Banos, then Alausi, Cuenca (where we felt the earthquake), then to Guayaquil, Manta en by taxi back to Bahia.
After leaving Quito (without Stefan’s IPhone) we went to Banos.
The market in Otavalo, just outside Quito. She only agreed to have her picture taken because I bought a scarve. This is a typical Ecuadorian outfit, white blouse with embroiderie, gold necklaces, colored bracelet, long wool skirt and scarve draped around the shoulders.Eating 2$ lunch in the mercado at Ottavalo.We did a mountainbike ride in Banos, the easy way. It was all downhill and we came back in the back of a truck with our bicycles 🙂Lots of waterfalls around Banos.Coming back from school….On our way to the hot water baths we passed this huge cemetary, in a beautiful location, surrounded by mountains. (Stefan says: some crypts have electric lighting inside, see wire)Going for the calories before our camping trip to the Amazone…
The boat in which we traveled in the Amazone. We traveled through the Cuyabeno wildlife reserve.Camping was very basic and good it did not rain the whole time ! I was happy this was only for 3 nights !Stefan together with Barry (Australia) and Raoul (Honduras), our companions on the trip.One of the many monkey species in the Amazone. It is one of the animals you definitely see the most.The Toucan ! You do not see them very often up close but you can hear them a lot. This was the best picture I could take.Lots of turtles that are now being bred in captivity to increase their population.There are many macaws in the Amazone but you can never come very close. This was one living with local indians.
The Capybara, the largest rodent in the world. This is a baby.A sad monkey captivated by an indigenous family. They keep it as a pet.Nobody home, they were probably gone fishing. This is a hut on the side of the river.Typical hut along the Cuyabeno river.Another type of monkey.More bird wildlife but I could not figure out what kind it was…Small village along the Cuyabeno river.Upon our return, we spent half a day in the warm water baths in Banos. It felt great after our camping days in the Amazone !!!Train ride in the Andes, El nariz del diablo.In front of El nariz del diablo…The train ride only lasted one hour each way but the views were beautiful. We did have a lot of fog going but on our return the clouds had lifted somewhat.Finally some blue skies in Cuenca. The Catedral Metropolitana de la Inmaculada Concepción was only finished in 1885.Typical street in Cuenca. Cuenca is a UNESCO world heritage site and lies at an altitude of 2500M.The blue and white domes from the New Cathedral are a landmark for Cuenca. At its inauguration in 1885, the newly constructed Cathedral could accommodate 9,000 out of Cuenca’s 10,000 inhabitants at that time. Today there are about 500.000 people living in Cuenca.Lots of beautiful churches in Cuenca to visit…Church of Santo Domingo.Belgian cafe in Cuenca…In the corner of the square I had a localy brewed beer made by a Belgian from Ghent 🙂Ingapirca, just outside Cuenca. These are the largest known Inca ruins in Ecuador.
We found some good restaurants in Cuenca and even tasted a roasted cavia (Cuy in Spanish), it was yummi. After the earthquake we wanted to go as quickly as possible back to our boat since we had no news and Bahia was close to the epicentre of the earthquake. We took the bus to Guyaquil, stayed their for one night and then took a bus to Manta from where we had to take a taxi since there were no buses due to the earthquake. The devastation in Bahia was enormous but we were lucky there had not been a tsunami and thus nothing happened to the boat.
We decided to leave asap to the Galapagos as there was nothing for us left to do in Bahia without internet.
