Heiva Festival

The festival has begun!

This past Friday was the opening of the long awaited Heiva festival in
Bora Bora, which include dance and song competitions (A good blog
post describing the festival: http://www.boraborasnackbar.com/blogdetail/10-06-24/Heiva_I_Bora_Bora_2010.aspx
).

The locals has transformed the usually sleepy (and quite depressing)
Vaitape into a a fun and "tourist friendly" place to enjoy day or
evening.

The dirt parking lot has been transformed into a traditional, local
wood village with restaurants, shops and game rooms. They have fixed
up the landscaping and added plenty of benches to sit on, and nice
white sand with young palm trees has been brought in which gives you
the feeling like you are on the beach. They even got the fire trucks
out to clean the asphalt!

The locals has worked hard to get it ready and for once, I have to
say, they did a great job. I only wish they would keep it for the rest
of the 11 months of the year. It looks so much more attractive for the
tourists! But no, why making the island nicer and enhancing the
tourist experience??

Anyway, I'm looking forward to see the dance competitions and for once
see people out and about! Something is happening in town!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Coco's Adventure

This weekend we got the green light from our vet to take Coco out to
see the world! And so we did!

I was curious to see how he would behave as he has been isolated at
home with very little contact with other dogs and people since he was
borne. But he passed with flying colors!

With plenty of things happening in "town" with a festival going on, we
went for a walk and he was such a good boy. He was excited and his
tail was wagging when people said hello. And most of all, he listen
and behaved like a star (well, most of the time)!

As we have been dying to take him to the beach since he arrived, he
also got to try that out. It was so adorable! And it was here I
realized that this dog will do anything for us. With Daniel in the
water calling him and me holing the leash, he went in. The first few
attempts were paws in the water and then back on the beach and back in
again, but then he plunged in and swam!! He really seamed to enjoy it!

After drying up we had a beer at the beach chack and again, he behaved
very well! Other people, kids, dogs and the smell of food didn't seem
to bother him at all!

I'm so proud of little Coco and can't wait to take him with me
everywhere!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Royal Visit

Rumors says (and the Swedish evening paper, Aftonbladet) that the Swedish crown Princess, who just got married to her Prince Daniel, are in my neighborhood celebrating their honeymoon!

Papparazi Camilla (me!) is ready with the camera to get some good shots! And maybe if I see them I get to go on their mega yacht!! Yea right, in my dreams!

But seriously, I'm proud to have the royal family (which some people in Sweden don't seem to be and they are even talking about get rid if the royal family! I mean, how stupid is that?). Why get rid of a part of our history and culture?? I'm not going in to detail about it, maybe for another time, but if they do get rid if the royals, I will become a citizen of Norway! They have royals and they are not part of the European Union!

Long live the King (and Queen)!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Mr. Trouble

Coco keeps growing (as you can see on the pictures below) and very
soon (after Saturday) he will have all his shots and we can finally
start taking him places to explore the world outside the house!

We are also in the process of learning. So far he knows sit (works
very well) lay down and paw (works best with a treat!) but we practice
every day!

He has an enormous emount of energy, and we are outside as much as
possible. In the evening he's usually so tired that it's almost
impossible to wake him up (unless you ask him "Coco, are you hungry?
You want some food?")!

I can't believe he is 3 months already. Didn't feel very long ago when
we cleaned his wound and fed him with the bottle!

I guess, time flies when you have fun!

Bon Appetit

Last night was buffet night at the hotel which means Daniel came home
early (only 11h at work!).

Wih him was Arnaud, the sous chef. So we went back home and they got
on with cleaning the fish I got at the beach earlier in the day (read
the previous blog below).

My two(!) personal chefs prepared an excellent dinner (jasmine rice
with onion, leek, & garlic and pomelo (hand picked at a friend's
house) salad with apples and chicken all with various spices) and my
lagoone fish (pan fried whole) was actually very tasty!

They make cooking look so easy and they make "simple" things look so
nice!

I'm such a lucky person!

Bon Appetit my friends!

Camilla

Catching Dinner

Today I had a new experience at the beach.

I was there by 9 am and some local kids were playing on the beach (why
on earth are they not in school? Different topic here on my blog!) by
the little snack place which I assume their family owns.

At around 10 am grandma (which clearly is the boss in the family)
calls the older kids and then she pulls out the fish net. Then grandma
(which surprisingly is the only one speaking any English!) wades out,
with all her clothes still on (!), with the net and make a half circle
with the net stretching from the beach.

Then the kids walk down the beach for a little bit before they get in
the water and starts to walk towards grandma and the net, while making
belly splases.

Then grandma close the circle and the net is taken up on the beach.
And guess what, plenty of little lagoone fish was stuck in there!

Then all the fish was taken out and put in a bowl, which then grandma
was cleaning, sitting on the beach just by the water with her knife.

Well, I got 10 little fishes with me home for interestingly watching
their routine!
Dinner saved!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Ps. Curious to know if the fish is served at the snack place... And a
cheap way to feed the family! Maybe I need to get a fish net myself
and train Coco to help me!

Shopping Spree à la Bora Bora

Yesterday I had my first shopping spree in Bora Bora. Well, I have to
tell you it's not easy to do on this island, but after 7 months here,
yes 7 months without shopping for myself only, the itch was too big!

The result was 2 dresses (one long multicolor dress where I will need
my high heels (!) and a red strapless knee length dress), a pair of
brazilian green and yellow shorts, a beach bag (as I have non!) and a
purse!

It defenitely satisfied my fix for the moment!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Muddy Paw Prints

Rain, mud and a puppy is not a good combination. The mop is always on
stand by for some serious cleaning.

Coco is getting on my nerves as he tries to eat everything from grass,
bugs, wood sticks to stones and cement. I have to keep him on a leash
everytime we go out now (which is another story!), and we tried to put
up a barricade by the stairs out to keep him in the house (all doors
and windows are open during the day as we need some air (no A/C)) and
it worked for about a week.

But not anymore... He always finds a way to get out and start eating
something. This weekend I need to rethink. A baby gate would be great,
but not sure where to find one around here.

So, anyone know when this eating and biting will stop??? I can't wait
for that day!

Should have named him Mr. Trouble, as it is a very fitting name at the
moment!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Weekend Grilling

Woho!

The days are flying by at the moment!

Daniel had TWO days off this weekend. So on Saturday we went to
friends house at lunchtime to grill and drink some beer and wine.
First grilling for me in ages!

After lunch the ping pong rackets came out and the tournament began.
Not sure who won as everyone was playing by their own rules! It was
under the table, in the bushes, in the ceiling and much more going on!

After beeing inspired by the grilling on Saturday, Daniel and I
decided to do it again on Sunday at the house. We had marinated meat,
potatoes in foil, and kebab sticks with mushroom, onion, pepper and
garlic. All à la Daniel!

But a few problems... We have no grill. Solution- we "borrowed" 2 big
cement bricks from the construction site next door. Added some small
stones from the drive way at the bottom as the ground was too wet
(have I mentioned it rains a lot in this country?!) and got the rack
out from the oven.

And then we needed a fire... Charcole is usually a good idea, but as
the stores were closed and the car is dumping all the oil when it
feels like it, we needed to re-think. So off Daniel went to pick wood
and branches around the house. Coco was a tremendous help (or not!)!
Lime tree, we found out, burns very good!

The rest of the wood was a little wet but the fire master got a fire
going at last. I felt like I was out camping again as I sat next to
the "camp fire". However, at the end (after mostly/only smoking the
meat) it had to go in the frying pan to finish up. But the potatoes
and the veggie kebab got done!

A great meal (as usual when my private chef puts something together)
and with a bottle of Petit Chablis, it did it, and by 9pm we were both
passed out!

What a great day with my darling! Next time however, I think we get
the charcole!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Ps. I have pictures, but no working computer yet (we are working on it
though). Please be patient!