On Friday we came back to Mangareva for the annual cultural festival. This festival’s the most important event of the year here, it lasts two weeks, there are lovingly decorated food stands and each day some event is scheduled. The two competing dance groups of the island have practiced every day for two months (we heard them drumming every night and checked on their progress a few times) so they’re quite good and they’ve made pretty costumes and a complicated choreography. They danced yesterday and there will be a competition at the end of next week and tonight Mr. and Miss Mangareva will be elected 
Unfortunately, a front is slowly moving over the Gambiers and it is damn cold, pouring down like crazy, and blowing hard. For tomorrow even gale-force winds are predicted, so dinghy rides to watch the performances ashore take some preparation and dedication…
Usually the cruising yachts are evenly distributed around the many anchorages in the archipelago, but at the moment everybody’s come back to Rikitea for the festival, so it’s quite crowded (more than 20 yachts), but the holding’s great, so there shouldn’t be any problem even in gale force winds.
