Well, it's Saturday so some sort of special excursion is on the docket. You know, the weekend and all.
Well, actually for us every day is Saturday, and every night is the 4th of July. That's a reference to the American celebration of independence, where zillions of dollars of fireworks go up in smoke in a matter of minutes while fun and inspirational music plays over the radio or local loudspeaker.
Reminds me of a funny story - an event that actually took place in San Diego several years ago. There the July 4th fireworks display is really impressive. There's something like 5 barges around the various bays all equipped to launch fireworks, and a local FM (that's frequency modulated for you non-techies) radio station broadcasting the countdown and commentary to the beginning of the show. So a few years ago the company hired to put on the fireworks display had developed a data network and associated software so that the various barges would launch their fireworks together, synchronized to the music being broadcast by the FM radio station.
The San Diego 4th of July event is a really big deal and pulls in many thousands of tourists (and their tourist dollars). Lots of policeman and paramedics work overtime to manage traffic and medical emergencies and such, so while the benefit to the local economy is great for hotels, restaurants and such, the cost to local government is pretty high. Still, worth the effort for both the economic stimulus and prestige.
So this particular year thousands or millions of spectators are parked in their cars or boats or anywhere they can stand to observe the spectacle, listening to their FM radios and getting excited about the upcoming display which generally lasts around 15 minutes. As the moment nears the radio announcer whips the natives into a frenzy, and then at last the show begins. An insane number of fireworks launch into the night sky, something almost unimaginable. In about 15 seconds it's all over. Sound like sex?
Anyway, turns out there was a bug in the software that was to make all this go off without a hitch, and instead of carefully coordinating the fireworks launch over the planned 15 minutes, everything launched at once. Don't know if it was an error in units (perhaps milliseconds rather than seconds) or some other glitch, but it was definitely a wham bam thank you ma'am moment. The fireworks launching company was pretty embarrassed and offered to pay do the entire thing the next night at their own expense, but the city couldn't belly up to the bar for the police and paramedics and whatever else and so that was that. We actually watched the show from a friend's boat out on Shelter Island a couple years later, and it was absolutely spectacular so if you get a chance don't miss it.
Now where was I? Oh yeah, Manfred the chocolate guy. . .
So for our Saturday we elected to dine with a bunch of friends at a local restaurant, generally called a "snack" by locals. Prior to that event we decided to hike with our new friends off SV Amarillis II, an enormous Switch 51 catamaran, up the hill to see Manfred the chocolate dude. Manfred is this old German guy who somehow found himself here on Ua Pou many years ago. He got himself some land, likely by marrying a local girl, and began growing cacao trees, citrus trees and everything else he would need to feed himself. He's got some ridiculous number of cats so there aren't any rats around to mess with his coconuts and other crops, several dogs to keep an eye on things, and chickens everywhere, everything from day old chicks to those "ready to eat". Manfred got into the boutique chocolate making business and has earned quite a reputation for his very high quality gourmet chocolate. Jeff and his wife Marin from Amarillis II have a daughter who is studying to be a food scientist and is some sort of a chocolate tasting expert, and she's given Manfred's product the highest seal of approval.
So up we go, hiking the several kilometers to Manfred's place. Apparently we're not the only people with this idea, and soon 20 or 30 folks are milling about tasting chocolate bits and placing their chockie orders. Manfred is hustling about filling orders and collecting money and looking pretty stressed and starting to run out of certain varieties of chocolate bars. Well, we managed to buy a stash of 12 bars and a few for some friends, and then hiked back down the mountain for lunch at the snack. It was great - beautiful plate of food, cold local beer or a glass of wine, expresso with dessert, altogether an impressive experience served on a lovely veranda. The proprietor was a jovial Fenchman, a former French Navy sailor who had come to the area to support the nuclear weapons testing the French carried out in the Tuamotus back in the 70's. He had returned after his Navy duty was complete, met and fell in love with a local girl, and the rest is history. He's got 4 children, 12 grandchildren, and his son and one nephew are world class tattoo artists. He speaks French, English, Spanish, Marquesan, (maybe Italian?) and is a total kick in the ass to talk to.
As we were winding up lunch, about a 2 ½ hour affair, several folks we had seen up at Manfred' place were filtering in for their own meal. Word was that Manfred had pretty much sold out of everything, i.e. no more chocolate. We believe Manfred had intended to offer his chocolate for tasting and sale at the upcoming cultural festival, a great marketing and public relations opportunity, but now there might be nothing to present. A bit of a high-class problem in the short term, but a bummer for Manfred in the longer term. Hopefully he held a bit back for the festival - guess we'll look for him on Monday and see if he's still got game.
Well, it does remind me a bit of the San Diego fireworks booboo. Maybe that's a stretch for you.
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