Lots of love for Cinco de Mateo this year! We started our birthday celebrations by getting a sneak peek into one of the local dance team’s performance for their upcoming Heiva. Our friends Stephan and Manu were both singing and dancing! It was beautiful even though they were not in costume and they were performing in a parking lot.
Afterwards, we headed to Stephan and Manu’s house for a late happy hour. Our friend Heifara showed up as well so it was a lot of fun.
Stephan, Matt, Me, Manu
Way before sunrise I found myself baking bread for our breakfast date and cheesecake for our birthday celebration later in the day. I was graced with a gorgeous sunrise.
We headed up the hill where we enjoyed a huge breakfast with our good friend Poerani (Popo). She made French toast, eggs, and sausage along with the fresh bread I brought. She is such a gem!
Then we left Rikitea for the last time this season and headed to Taravai. For the 3rd year in a row, we celebrated Matt’s birthday with Valerie and Herve (the local family who live on Taravai). They hosted a giant bash for all of the cruisers. Tons of food was shared before several heated games of volleyball and petanque. Check out Matt’s birthday last year on Taravai.
We were actually celebrating three birthdays. Matt, Tom on Pakia tea and Doug on Hannah.
Valerie made all the birthday boys’ birthday floral crowns and each of the significant others received floral leighs!
Sonya (Tom’s wife on Pakia Tea) made cake and chocolate pudding while I made jello shots and cheesecake bites. Valerie gave Matt a dancing snowman as a bit of a joke. His face was priceless!
Tom and Sonya’s son, Keanu played the recorder which was so sweet (lower left). Sonya and I (top left), Matt and Tom (bottom right) and Ariki (Valerie and Herve’s son) on top right.
In addition to a wonderful birthday celebration it was also a goodbye party. The winds presented a good weather window to leave Gambier so several cruisers were taking advantage of it. It was hard to say “goodbye” to our friends as we have had a truly blessed 5 months here.
Alan, Matt, Valerien, Me, Ariki, Herve
It amazes me how wonderful our fellow cruisers and the locals are! They made this a truly blessed birthday to remember.
Events from this blog post occurred on 5 May, 2021. Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.