The Search for Pamplemousse
28 May 2010
Isabelle
Kelita and I were walking along the road to town in search of some Pamplemousse. A car stopped (as often happens here on the 3 km road to town) and a young twenty something man with a Marquesan tattoo all the way up his right arm ushered for us to get in. His name was Kitu. We learned that he had lived on Hiva Oa his whole life and he had �"A very large family�" he told us with a big grin on his face. His English was better than our French and we understood that he was going to take us somewhere to get some pamplemousse.
He drove us to his cousin�'s house first. We couldn�'t see any pamplemousse but in front of the worn down bachelor pad was a big, magnificent mango tree. His cousin, or as Kitu called him �"the short fat one�" began to knock down mangos with a long bamboo pole and Kitu caught them, storing them away in a bag for us. After a while, a �"tall skinny�" cousin also showed up and looked quite impressed that Kitu had somehow scored two foreign chicks.
Little did we know, the bachelor pad was the first stop of many, I can�'t quite remember how many cousins and uncles and sisters and nieces we met, it seemed his family was never-ending.
By far the most impressive housing of all was Kitu�'s own home. After a long drive up a winding dirt road, we stepped out into the fresh air and the smell of Jasmine. We could hear birds singing. We walked over some soft green grass and came to a humble dwelling that he told us was his �"local house�". It was a basic tin roof perched on top of some upright tree trunks. I was rather moved by the simplicity of his home and also by his generosity.
While we were driving along, he looked into the back seat where Kelita and I were sitting and said �"You are very beautiful�". We looked at each other and laughed but it was a laugh of pity as we knew we would have to break it to him soon that Kelita had a husband and I had a boyfriend. A few hours after Kelita and I had set out on our mission for pamplemousse, Kitu dropped us back at the anchorage with a big bag of mangos, a bag of pamplemousse, four large pumpkins, two papaya, a stalk of green bananas, another bag full of ripe ones and a coconut.
He didn�'t seem to want anything in return for everything he had given us except to see our boat as he had never seen the inside of one of the cruising boats before. We took him back to Dagmar. It was a mess because James had been working on the engine all day but Kitu still seemed rather impressed. I offered him some fishing gear, which he refused to take but he couldn�'t refuse a bottle of rum.
Kelita and I rowed him back to shore and gave him a hug (nothing more, nothing less) before watching him drive away. Thus ended the day of Kitu and the search for pamplemousse.