Fatu Hiva - Omoa Bay - Land of the "tapa".

Friday, June 20, we took our dingy 3 miles to Omoa, a larger village. North Star and Norque (Jim & Carmen from Canada) came with us. Fatu Hiva has a population of ~600, half of which live in Omoa. We spent the day just walking around town and looking at the tapa (painting on bark). Fatu Hiva is reportedly the only place left where they still make tapa. We met one really nice lady who invited us into her house to see how she makes tapa. The darkest bark is from banyan trees, the medium bark is from breadfruit trees and the off-white bark is from mulberry trees. It takes a day to pound the bark into a useable piece of thick paper and then it takes about a week to paint a design or nature-type figure. They cost from $10.00 to $120.00 when you buy it in Fatu Hiva from the artist. I ended up buying a small one of a turtle on breadfruit bark for $15.00. (See Photos)

We had a great lunch at Lionel's, the only restaurant in town. You need prior reservations, as they only sit one group of up to 10 people at a time. We then hiked up to see the petroglyph of a whale, which looked more like a fish. But, it was a beautiful hike up through the forest and the site was probably an old ceremonial site. (See Photos) Tony hiked back 10 miles to the anchorage, along with Guya and Carmen, while the rest of us took the dingy back. The hikers said the views along the road were really worth the hike.

More later - G&T