Day 6 · Tahuata and Hiva Oa: Vaitahu and Atuona · 12 April 2007

There is something wonderfully strange about watching your son sit beside a professional artist in a tiny Marquesan village while local schoolchildren gather around like an outdoor art class has suddenly appeared.

That was Vaitahu.

We visited two islands today: Tahuata in the morning and Hiva Oa in the afternoon.

Our first stop was Vaitahu, a small village tucked into a valley between steep mountains and the sea. Getting ashore was not gentle. The barge rose and dropped in three-foot swells beside the cement landing, while crew members timed each passenger’s exit like a small Olympic event.

Nobody fell in.

This counts as success.

Cargo Ballet With a Pickup Truck

As we walked toward town, someone pointed out a brand-new pickup truck being unloaded.

The Aranui crane had placed it onto a barge, which was then pushed against the cement dock. The truck drove off partly onto land while still partly on the bouncing barge, balanced there for a few breath-holding seconds, then finally rolled safely ashore.

I do not know who was more stressed: the driver, the crew, or me watching.

The Church Sketching Lesson

Local artisans had set up tables with carved masks, spears, tikis, jewellery, stone sculptures, and poi pounders. The work was impressive, especially knowing that many families earned extra income only when the Aranui came through.

We walked to the Catholic church, where we saw the French artist from a previous day sketching.

My 11-year-old son Jaeden had brought his own sketch pad. He sat down beside the artist and began drawing the same scene.

The older man spoke little English, but he watched, gave small pointers, and quietly encouraged him.

Then school recess began.

Children poured out of the nearby school and gathered around the two artists. They admired the drawings, looked through the artist’s book, and watched the scene unfold.

Eventually, the crowd grew so large that both artists packed up.

Jaeden immediately switched careers and played soccer with the local children.

This is the advantage of being eleven.

Atuona and the Famous Dead

In the afternoon we sailed to Atuona on Hiva Oa, one of the main centres in the southern Marquesas. The port was a few kilometres from town, so school buses shuttled us around.

Lunch was at Hoa Nui, a Chinese-Marquesan restaurant that opened by reservation and put on a huge buffet for the Aranui passengers. It was the widest food selection we had seen so far.

After lunch, we visited the cemetery where Belgian singer Jacques Brel and French painter Paul Gauguin are buried. These two are probably the island’s most famous former residents, mostly because both spent their final years there.

Our final stop was the Atuona Cultural Centre, home to the Jacques Brel Memorial and Paul Gauguin Museum.

I spent time in the Gauguin Museum, which displayed copies rather than original works because the tropical conditions were not ideal for preserving paintings. There was also a replica of Gauguin’s “House of Pleasures.”

Historically, it was interesting. Personally, unless you are a Gauguin enthusiast, the details of his final years were not the highlight of the day.

For me, the lasting image was still Jaeden sketching beside an old artist while schoolchildren watched.

That was the real museum.

And admission was free.