As we said, one can’t complain about being in Papeete, Tahiti, regardless of the reason. Engine not working? Yes, but we’re in downtown Papeete with its music and activity.

Wednesday night, 29 June, for example, was the country’s celebration for “Autonomy Day”. Ironically, the celebration is on the day that the last king of Tahiti gave away the country to the French in 1880! Who knows why they celebrate one thing on the day that the opposite happened, but they do know how to celebrate. Autonomy Day, indeed.

Each day that we go into town, we have to cross the major Pomare Boulevard, the main street in town and the one runs parallel to the water. Last night, it was closed off and pedestrians only, and it was filled with kids listening to a DJ and his great sound system pounding out modern rap! Who knew? The kids gathered in a big circle and various individuals and groups took turns performing in the middle. A few older women started it off, which was wonderful, but the kids soon made it their own. The main street was blocked and people were walking around, and the kids were biking around. We did walk around a bit and the street one block further into town was packed with the traffic that normally traveled on Pomare. Lovely! The kids are deeply involved in traditional activities, so I was surprised to see so many who knew about the wider world.

This past Tuesday, Daniel and Bruno from Society of Polynesian Mechanics (SOPOMECH) were on Wings to look at the injector pumps. Wednesday was the holiday and I went by the office today to check progress. Bruno, the manager, is looking for a new Bosch or TDZ pump from Nanni itself. We’re going to order a used Bosch pump from England. Next Tuesday, Daniel will return to remove the pump from our engine and haul it to the local Bosch injector shop for diagnostics and repair, we hope. We have three paths to happiness going and whichever produces first is the one that we’ll use. The cheapest, by far, is to have our own TDZ fixed. We’re running against our scheduled time of departure in two weeks, so things need to progress quickly. If that fails, I’ll stay and Conni will return to Anchorage. By the way, that’s not our first choice.

We’ve worked hard to take advantage of every minute here in Papeete, and have done well. An old friend from the Passport list serve, Phil, was crewing on a friend’s sailboat, and when they reached Papeete, he was told that there was another Passport in the marina and he searched us out, we connected, and had a splendid afternoon with him, talking boats, politics, and tattoos. He just got his third or fourth, a beautiful spirit around his left forearm.

As I write this, we’re finishing a lovely dinner a nearby restaurant in the public park that faces the boat. We’ve had a great meal and at 2000 hours, it’s beginning to fill with customers, enjoying the typical European dining hours. And they’re all cold! Most are wearing winter clothing; shawls, heavy sweaters, long pants. Now, in their defense, it is their winter, so it’s not unreasonable for them, but Conni and I are still in shorts and T-shirts.

Yeah, but at night I’ve been freezing my rear off! Crazy! I’m using my big towel as a blanket at night, but contorting my body to take advantage of a towel as a blanket must be rather comical.

I’ll take advantage of a fortunate proximity to a hotspot to post this, so goodnight. Wish us luck on this damned engine problem.