I didn't think i would ever write a blog about a public outhouse, but this one deserves our attention.
It all happened under the previous administration that the Mayor(esse) it was a women, decided it would be a good idea to have a public toilet.
They built it and it still stands in front of yelo, but unfortunately it could never even see its inauguration. They where building and installing sinks, toilet bowl, doors and lighting. Even a water catchment
system with pumps. And while they where building it , the village thief's helped themselves to all this stuff.
No National Police or Gendarmery could stop this thiefing. Its a nightmare here. Many people here see no sense of US, NOUS, wir ...only me moi and myself. I need a toilet bowl , so i am gonna steal it at night
when the cops are sleeping.
Nobody has ever made an attempt to complete the toilet. Its all empty and kids use it to sit in its shade while they play their boombox.
I see loads of guys that piss on the wall of all buildings here. Especially the copra shed is famous. That's where they store the bags of dried coconuts until the ship takes them to Tahiti.
Its also the place where the cargo ships sell their fresh food. I cant understand how any body pisses at the place where his wive buys the carrots and potatoes...
He would only have to walk 5 meters and he could relief himself into the clear ocean. The houses wouldn't smell so strong then. I thought of sitting there and fixing my bike but the stench is to strong for my
fine nose....
Now we are anchored again. Its quiet out here. We have almost gotten used to the afternoon noise when the kids come and play in the water next to Yelo. Specially the boys are very noisy and the girls scare
each other screaming "Requin-requin" shark shark!! We have only seen one small shark in the harbor. Nothing to worry about.
When you go to Hao Otepa harbor with google earth , you can see a 360 panorama picture. You notice a big yacht or cruise ship and TWO wind generators. When i asked,they told me that one fell down shortly
after it was built. The cement foundation was not big enough ...kaboooom.
They had them built for the power hungry town hall. Maybe the diesel generator couldn't keep up with the Air Con and 15 people inside playing video games...(that's the local gossip).
The second wind generator still stands, but its out of order. The mechanic couldn't keep up with its maintenance. Its blades stoped but it still turns into the wind, unfortunately with shrieking ball bearings.
So it screams all day n night. Its starting to look very rusty and might fall as well with the next blow.
Talking about maintenance. Here is another story: They hired an outsider to take care of this big desalination plant. The locals cant do any of this stuff. So a Frenchman came. He gets paid overseas wages,
which is about 4 times as much as the locals get. Plus lodging and flight etc etc . They have to pay this much , other wise no European would come and work here. Same for nurses , dentist all teachers and
electricians or mechanics. Every cent you earn is tax free. There is no income tax here.
The desalination mechanic didn't do his job properly and repairs became way to expensive. They shut the whole plant down .No more cheap water. Instead they have a metered faucet at the town hall with
filtered rain water. Not cheap. Locals had to buy these huge water tanks and they collect water from the roof and filter it . That works fine, if you get enough rain. Sometimes it gets very dry in Hao.
Its known for a fact that the new director of the boarding high school is in salary class XYZ and gets 10 000.-Euros a month. His wive is a teacher and she gets 5000 Euros. All this i hear on radio Coco, the local
gossip cannel.
I wouldn't mind getting a job here and teach the kids how to fish and how to fix an outboard engine. Just kinda sad that they have hardly any local teachers. The locals do "security" at school..that's all.
The super yacht DREAM is anchored next to us again. You can have her for 378 000$ a week.
They motored down south towards Nake and we could see the monster dinghy was driving ahead. To check for coral heads i guess. We could see this because the dinghy has AIS. Two days later they came
back in town , but only with their "dinghy". It has 2 x 300 hp!! They drove the charter guests 20 miles and unloaded four electric bicycles. The fat cats biked thru the village for 15 min and then they took them
back again with 600 hp!!! i am puzzled.
We have been in this harbor for 3 months and chose to go back and forth to the dock without a dinghy engine. I can just pull myself along Yelo and then along the docking lines. That way i don't use gas, i don't
pollute, i don't contribute to global warming etc etc . But when i see the Mega yachts with their gas guzzlers ...i feel kinda silly doing my "green thing". What the hell i keep on doing it!!
We are ready to sail to Fatu Hiva as soon as we like the wind. Oh yes one more thing...i caught myself moaning and criticising again.
I must say these people are the kindest most generous fun loving people you could possibly find. I enjoy sitting with them and exchange gossip from my country and i get the radio Coco gossip from Hao. The kids are great. Every afternoon they jump into the harbor next to us and scream and yell and ...mostly laugh. Their laughter is contagious, it makes us giggle on board when they start their swimming games after school. Unusual for us is that there are no adults to supervise them, no life guards. I mentioned this to a Moeata a Mom i know quiet well. She said: "They all swim very well and if ever one would get hurt...we are not far away". We were showered with fish,octopus and crabs, coconuts and heart of palm. Even the rare fruits they gave us. They let us stay for free and when a grumpy fisherman thought we were in his way, the Mayor set him straight and the Mom i know so well , called the fisherman s wife to tell her to give em hell.
We enjoyed the time with them. We stay much longer then most of the yachts. You need this time to get to know them .We could have seen 10 atolls instead, for us its better just ONE.
I was happy to help them ordering goods from the web. Web is all new for them and it might not be a blessing..i am not sure. They desperately need parts for their tools, fishing gear etc...they need everything because the local stores rip them off. But the few months they have the fast web has left them vulnerable to this new drug. We will miss them but hopefully we will be back soon. Its still confusing that there are so many thief's , and we only met generous people.