Polynesian Encounter
I had the chance, for a holiday break, to travel to French Polynesia. A place where nature is really important for people. They live with this respect for what surrounds them. They are very concerned and affected by global warming as they can see the sea level rising more than anybody else.
During my trip, I had the chance to visit the island of Moorea for several days. One of them was focus on living a full day with a local Polynesian, Samuel. A day where I had the chance to discover what can be a routine of locals.
Sam, is, at first sight, very impressive, especially because of his tattooed face. But he will in a few seconds put you at ease. I learned that this guy had a tough past and how he managed to take his life back on track. He decided to learn permaculture, which is something really hard to make (I think). He has this massive "garden" where he can grow almost everything, and he can live only with this. He's now sharing his passion and he's doing it very well.
During this day, he taught me how to fish with 2 tools. An outrigger (dugout canoe) and a net. That was something very special and very hard to do, but we managed by getting several fish for lunch. He then brought me to his home and taught me how to cook a Polynesian dish. And this is where I took the picture.
He showed me how to open a coconut (this is harder than you think) and how to grate it with only a wooden stool and a metallic scrapper fixed on it. After this, he shows me how to get the coconut milk with only a towel.
We then shared lunch with his wife and talked about our respective life.
It was one of the most interesting days I shared with somebody during a trip, and from this experience, I will try to look more into this kind of encounter and I encourage everybody to take time to talk to locals and try to learn from them.
There are probably more things to say and I hope that one day I will have the chance to go back and push this to do a full portrait of this guy.
