One of the delights of Anaho Bay is a rather grueling but not too long hike over the ridge and down into the the next bay. The town there is called Hatiheu, the bay naturally by the same name. There's a post office (closed), cell towers with 2G data that don't seem to work, a road construction project (in work), quite a few homes and residents, one killer big public mango tree, and a restaurant known as Chez Yvonne. They're known for a dish that involves goat meat and coconut milk. Isabel and I have eaten it there previously and it's good. The scenery around the bay is stunning with multiple giant rock pinnacles, and of course those enthusiastic Catholics had to erect a likeness to the Virgin Mary atop one of them. Must have been a real ass kicker hauling the concrete and rebar up there, not to mention the buckets of paint.
Naturally we had to drag Pat and Celine over there and as they're always up for a vigorous hike, we figured we'd have a bit of breakfast to sustain us then launch out for Hatiheu to time our arrival for a nice look about then a relaxing mid-day meal. We huffed and puffed our way up the saddle at the ridgeline, then made the more gradual descent to sea level and the little village of Hatiheu. We observed the concrete crew as they beavered away on a waterfront road improvement project, then wandered on down towards the Western end of the bay to see if the cell tower was up to the challenge of delivering a few text emails.
Nope. Oh well, perhaps Yvonne will be in the mood to feed us a little lunch. As we began our short walk back in the direction of the restaurant we spied an old fellow picking the fruit of a nearby tree - something we couldn't identify. Naturally Pat and Celine chatted him up to learn that he had diabetes and a concoction of that fruit and some other plants helped him control his condition. Many of the Marquesans are really heavy, especially the women as they get older and I'm thinking diabetes is probably rampant among the population.
Eventually the conversation ended and off we went to say hello to Yvonne, where we were seated and presented today's menu. Gosh, goat curry and poison cru looked awfully good and as we knew the portions were ridiculous we elected to split a dish of each among the four of us. Our version of Chinese dim sum. Pat and I showed the bad judgement to enjoy a large Hinano, the Tahitian lager that only tastes good on a hot day after a tough hike. Pat also ordered a small Hinano for Celine, then muttered to me that she always wants to "just have a bit of his" and the only way to properly deal with that is to order her one even though she'll claim she doesn't want it. Isabel showed superior judgement and stuck with the lemonade, a more refreshing and sensible alternative. I've always known she was smarter than me.
The meal was outstanding, and I almost had to arm wrestle Pat for the last piece of fried breadfruit. He had declared that he hated breadfruit before the meal, by the end of our degustation Yvonne had completely changed his mind.
All good things must come to an end, and eventually we settled up and began the very very very steep climb back up the trail to the ridge top. Have I mentioned that having a beer with lunch puts me to sleep, and certainly doesn't enhance my hiking abilities? Anyway, all our bodies protested but we eventually summited and began the knee abuse otherwise known as descending back to Anaho Bay. When we arrived the dinghy was still there, we recovered to JollyDogs and everyone got a nice swim and a good shower. Apparently I'm not the only one who appreciates our CruiseRO high output watermaker. . .
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