Paralyzed, mesmerized, taken away from the chaos of
life, the how much and the how many to a world of happiness, a world close to
nature and to the heart. A world of acceptance and respect of the nature force,
its protection and preservation. That's life in Kuni.
Before I go to Iles des Pins, I thought the
name "Paradise in earth" is another connotation given by
outsider like "Jasmin Revolution".
But to my surprise it was.
Ile des Pins was not a paradise for the white sand
beaches or the crystal water or the wide nature only but for the people I met
on my journey in the island: the Koitche family from the Touete Tribe and the
cousins of Vao Tribe who welcomed me in the tribe as part of them.
I expected everything but not anything closer to
the given, welcoming and sharing from them.
Since I set foot in Oro Bay with the Koitche family
I was paralyzed, incapable to put a word to what I experienced of generosity,
joy and sharing.
I kept asking myself if I was dreaming or I was
really in paradise, but either one I didn't want to be awaken, I didn't want to
be taken away, I didn't want any of it to end.
I'm still not sure how to describe the events and
the details of the 4 days I spent there and what are the right words to use to
describe what I saw.
I'm going to share pictures with you and walk you
through my journey by siting only some facts so I let you imagine details,
dream through the images and build your own story.
I arrived to Iles of Pines went straight to the Oro
bay witch you see down here.
Walking on the bay looking for camping site I came across the Koitche
family who were cleaning the site after the cyclone. They invited me in and
helped me set my tent in the site.
The little girls just loved taking pictures we spent hours and hours me
taking picture of them and them taking pictures of me :)
By Sunset, Mamy (the grandmother starting making
dinner) and the older sister and her partner were trying to catch some fish.
Cause what we eat is always the catch of the day with some coconut rice, that
night we had fish and the butterfly ray. By
the way I was trying to hold it from its tail but ignorant me I didn't know
that its tail has poisonous points on it, from which I caught of course. I was
hurt and the spot in my hand was getting dark, I wasn't sure what going to
happen but I felt safe with the Koitche and didn't worry about it. Fair enough
Mamy went out got some plant and dipped in the fire and ordered me to put my
hand right at the top of the steam of those plants, within 10 mn all the poison
was out of my hand and I was not feeling anymore pain, I thought I was dreaming.
The walk on the beach on the low tide by sunset is a breath
taking.
Day two the day started with snail chasing in the first. The snail of the l'Ile des pins is not easy to chase cause it takes the color of the leaf it seats on, as you see in the picture it turns green when it seats in a green leaf and brown when it seats on a brown dead leaf. It's simple out of the 161 caught that day by Magui, Rafi and myself, I only caught 5. It wasn't bad :)
The walk back to the Oro bay after spending the day in the jungle catching snails. Magui and Rafi crossing regardless of the high tide.
Again we eat the catch of the day and that day it was the stuffed snails, God it was so good, heavenly good.
With crab that I caught with Magui the night before, I only held the
bag. unfortunately no picture of that it was a catch under the moon light of
the coconut crab, which I couldn't believe.
After lunch like a city girl I took my place full
of leftover looking for garbage to throw it out. I asked Magui and she
looked at me and said “ we don’t have garbage here, go to the back and throw
it”. I looked at my plate and laughed at myself, the leftover is snails shells
and crab, it’s simple in the Island of Pines you take from nature and give it
back what you don’t use or eat, the cycle of nature is well preserved there’s
no waste and nothing is destructive in the island.
Day 3: walk to the tribe Touete, where I was welcomed with passion
fruit juice, emmm very refreshing after 1:30h walk.
In our way back to Oro Bay, after a walk in the Vaso village ( where I
found Biscuit Saida, a tunisian biscuit :) Francoise gramped the tree and
got us a papaya
Arriving at the Oro bay, Mamy got this shark fried with some yam.
D E L
I C I O U S!
Before leaving Oro Bay I had a swim in the Natural pool. Crystal clear and refreshing, everything about that bay is refreshing.
I ended my third day in Vao at the Kanumera bay watching sun set, I
don't think I've seen any clearer sunset anywhere before.
The night ended in the lovely corner with diner of deer with coconut
rice and parrot fish.
Day 4 was a walk to the peak Nga, the highest peak with splendid view of
the lagoon.
Walked down Nga in the middle of the day for a rewarding coconut water,
another refreshing thing of the island.
The "case" where I Slept.
A
try of the Bougna the speciality of the island.
“After 4 days I'm still not sure if this journey was real, but I will
never forget it even it's only as a dream. "
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