The little town of Patio is hosting the finals of the Heiva dance competition for the Leeward Islands of Huahine, Raitea, Taha'a, Bora Bora and Maupiti. While we were in Uturoa we saw the Maupiti group and the Raitea group perform in the town square, so we were not as interested in the dancing as much as other things. While Buena Vista is literally running out of time here in French Polynesia, we were so close to Patio that we thought we'd come up to the north end of Taha'a for the Opening Ceremony which includes FIRE WALKING. Yeah, that sounds like something to see. The event was in the next village over, about half a mile away. The print-out said it starts of 6pm. So about 5pm we made our way to shore and started walking. When we got to the event sight, the dance teams from each of the local islands were out the back of the bleachers, maybe 100 people per team, lined up and ready to parade into the main area. The bleachers were already completely full, 99% polynesians and maybe 1% other. The locals were all decked out, polynesian dresses, beautiful leis and ornamented hats and flowers galore. We sat down on the bottom step of the bleachers and waited, and waited, and waited. There were two smaller stages in front of the arena, where the polynesian drummer groups had set up their gear. When one of the drummer groups were set up they had a big tarp left over and layed in on the ground for some of the crowd to sit on, a very nice gesture. There were way more people than seats and finally a truck pulled in with dozens of plastic chairs which filled up quickly. Another half hour later, the procession began, with local dignitaries first, then the dance teams following. It was about that time that we started to notice a huge mass of black clouds forming up in the distance. Oh no...this isn't looking good. A well dressed woman took the stage with microphone in hand and started introducing the important people in the crowd. It started drizzling, first very lightly and then over the next ten minutes it got heavier and heavier. At one point, the drummers ran out to cover their instruments and realized that the tarp they needed was being used by the crowd. The same fellow went over and asked the 30 or so people to get up so he could retrieve their tarp. It wasn't pretty. We saw torches being lit in the arena; the fire walking was getting started soon...if only the rain would stop! It didn't, we got soaked, hundreds of people got soaked, wet dignitaries running for cover around the side of the bleachers. Such a bummer for everyone who attended. We waited around for a while and it seemed that the rain was really socking in so Don and I started the walk back to the boat. I should have called 'Gato Go' this next morning to see how it all turned out. Maybe the rain eventually stopped and the celebration continued. I hope so. If it did - we missed it. We were back at Buena Vista drying off and getting ready for bed.