Pacific Arts Festival--Part 1

Over the past 2 weeks we were treated to the 10th Festival of the Pacific Arts. It's like the Olympics in that it happens only once every 4 years and there were delegations from 20-some-odd Pacific Island Countries doing everything from singing and dancing to carving, weaving, and tatooing. There were fashion shows, indiginous food preparation, and healing arts among other things. It was awesome!

After a parade:

There was a traditional ava ceremony:

Every day there were tons of things to do all over the island. It was such a rarity, that everyone ran themselves ragged going to as much as was humanly possible. It was probably the most exciting thing that will happen during my 2 years here, so I didn't want to miss a minute of it. Luckily, the main stage at Utulei Beach was right outside our work, so every lunch hour turned into a 2-3 hour excursion where we watched groups perform, shopped at the Festival Village, and generally took in all there was to absorb. Here are just a few photos of the Utulei Beach stage:


This is the view of the stage. Nice background, huh?



Here's Tim up on stage one afternoon after the performances ended. Can you believe this view is right outside my office?

Everett even got pulled up on stage during one of the Tahiti performances.

More to come...