Marquesan Potluck on Tahuata

Our plan with the leftover meat from Steven was to find a suitable beach and have a proper beach cookout.  So, in our first anchorage on Tahuata after we left Atuona, Tim and Steve went ashore to scout possibilities.  They ended up meeting some locals, so they thought it polite to ask if we could make a pit on their beach for the cookout.  They ended up welcoming us to use their BBQ, and oh by the way, why don’t we joint them for a huge feast the next afternoon.  So, we ended up having a big Marquesan potluck with them and their extended family who are all enjoying a holiday at this relatively remote location on Tahuata.

There were 5 kids among them, all in the same age range as our boys, and they all played on the surfboards together.  Brenden has a harder time with the language barrier… Alex said he just told Brenden, “don’t say, just do.”  It turns out all boys seem to understand the language of “let’s all try to knock each other off the surfboards.”

We learned that boiled bananas are quite good, and that coconut milk goes on everything.  We grilled up some of the fish Tim caught, but I spiced it up a little too much for their liking.  They were polite and tried our food too… my cucumber salad (made with banana vinegar) wasn’t such a big hit, and neither was Carolina’s pasta salad, but they seemed to like our banana bread.  They were a really nice family, and one of the women is a retired teacher and she spoke English very well, so we were able to talk and learn a lot about them and how they cook.

At the end of the day, we didn’t end up eating much of the meat, because we filled up on so many other things.  So, later that night, we just had a big “meat party” on Exodus.  No dishes or utensils.  No other side dishes.  Just, grab a big piece of meat and start knawing on it.  It wasn’t very tender to begin with, and maybe was a bit overcooked, but it was good fun have a Flintstone’s style meal.