My travel to Wallis: a spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

This was a journey within a journey, in the sense of a special "encore" of a well-week. The goal was actually represented by Fiji, but a sudden decision leads us to enjoy the rare opportunity to go to Wallis, today reached a comfortable flight from Nadi with Air Caledonia (cost A / R approx. 240 euros per capita - lasted an hour and a quarter).
We stayed in Mata Utu, in a small hotel booked by phone, Hotel Moana Hou, clean, spacious rooms with air conditioning, private bathroom and dining room. Pleasant accommodation at approx. 85 euros per night (prices are not really popular in Wallis).
Excellent restaurant on the sea "Chez Patricia", in the resort of Vailala, north of the island (on average 25-30 euros each to dine on fish). To recommend the restaurant Le Recife, Mata Utu, where we spent 40 euros apiece, including 26 for a good French wine.
Whom he went to Wallis in August, I advise you not to lose the function of religion in the cathedral of Mata Utu on the day of August and the great feast that follows and lasts all day.
A Wallis who is mobile-internet-addicted or dependent will not have an easy life, the story will reveal more of this lost corner of the world.

 

First impressions

Wallis and Futuna: there are many alternatives to reach these remote islands of the Pacific. Overseas territory of France, have always been off the tourist routes. No ferry, only option is a plane from New Caledonia and calls in Nadi in Fiji.
And Nadi buy a flight in an hour and a quarter propels us in a context outside world, where there is no phone, for example.

Hihifo airport on the island of Wallis, it is almost a deja-vu, reminiscent 'to Tahiti, but smaller and more spartan. Full of islanders, quite different from the Melanesians in Fiji we have left. The people here have features Maori.
Even the large number of fragrant flower necklaces and hairdressing us back with the memory of our travel experiences Polynesian.

Plane, a comfortable jet dell'Aircalin, there are tourists, but virtually all wallisiani who sought better luck in New Caledonia or Fiji in the same.

Dell'alberghetto no one to greet us with great difficulty that we booked by phone; realize later that someone has waited for a while ', but then withdrew. Our delayed because of customs formalities and ubiquitous forms to fill, gave us the first difficulty of living.
"Why do not you take a taxi?", You ask, or, "You could call the hotel. Well ... no taxi in Wallis and the only prehistoric phone existing airport has pulled the oars for some time.
Well, we'll pay someone to improvise taxi driver! But where the currency exchange office at the airport? Just ... no.

The airport is slowly emptied of people who welcomed the festive family travelers, and while our neurons are focused on what to do, a woman approaches middle-aged European, who was with us in the air, but we did not noticed before. Before you even introduce yourself, ask me what I'm doing two Italians in Wallis. I hope not to ask too :-) dovermelo
French origins, has lived in Tahiti and currently works at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. E 'on his second trip Wallis, a project that was also very busy in the evaluation of an unlikely tourist development of these islands, the' unlikely 'is my personal opinion. When I explain that we will start our tour on foot and with luggage in tow, it immediately offers to help us, making us as interpreter.
Thanks to the kindness - not exactly disinterested - Rose Marie, so we can reach the hotel in Mata-Utu, about 6 km south of Hihifo.

Rose Marie in the airport to deliver a rental car to someone but he missed the flight, and arrive with the next, ie after five days.
We thank Rose Marie orphaned by renting a car and begin to breathe the magical atmosphere of Wallis.

Even the first impact nature brings us in Polynesia. I am reminded of the wild Huainé, I stayed in some attach ago.
The vegetation is lush and diverse, generous with flowers and tropical fruits, sweet island has hills covered with green, a panoramic view gives us a glimpse of a turquoise lagoon, of course, will be our next destination. The gardens of the houses are maintained and it is common to hear the mower in action.

In the evening, stands a great wind that will keep us company, along with clouds and some rainfall, for the next two days, forcing us to postpone the tour in the lagoon.
We take the opportunity to browse in Mata-Utu and environs, and to explore the island's interior.

We start the exploration

Mata-Utu, the main village which has about two thousand inhabitants, houses the royal residence and immediately next to the imposing cathedral colorful. Soon discover that the influence of missionaries scored in a decisive manner the fate of these people, chanting his time with Sunday Masses and tolling of bells, and promoting a lifestyle governed by and sober. The strong sense of modesty brings wallisiani not expose your body more square inches should be: a shorts above the knee or a Western neckline is pure transgression. Not to mention the bikini!
Even the boys, despite the heat and damp often troublesome, carefully avoid the bare-chested. And all this is true even in the rare moments of indigenous bathing, which attends the show, also common in other cultures, as in the East, made the bathroom fully clothed.

Mata-Utu is home to some shopping malls, where there is a bit 'of everything, including French wines, the classic baguette, prosciutto di Parma and Nutella. The influence of French residents is evident in the kitchen, much higher than that on average there was "gladdened the palate in Fiji. Conversely, rare, expensive and dysfunctional Internet Point give us a measure of how far the culture is still wallisiana from our own, now all web oriented.
Change in CHF 1500 Euro Pacific in the one-stop enabled, whereas the pay bill in cash, credit cards, needless to say, are not welcome.

We leave the village after a quick snack of excellent fish soup (Antonella) and a bad taste chocolate Italian ice cream (myself, very clever, to use a euphemism).
The interior of the island is lush, nature has been satisfied, the accomplice sub-equatorial climate hot and humid and rainy, covering a wide variety of plants throughout the usable surface. Let soon the few paved roads to immerse ourselves in the jungle, including potholes and mud puddles sudden, directed at a volcanic lake recommended by our Lonely.
Suzuki Vitara Marie Rose gets along very well, however showing an age greater than the registry.
After a long pilgrimage in search of some guidance, resign ourselves to request information from an island that shows us the path to do. Meanwhile, I am pleased that my schoolboy French is exponential progress.
Lake Lalolalo presents itself suddenly spectacular as described in the guide. It 'perfectly circular and not within walking distance, unless you dive to a hundred feet along the cliffs, covered, however, the dense vegetation.
The landscape delights us for a while ', while a hot sun until all'impietoso peeps from the clouds that are passing away. The wind continues but insistent, but overall am also happy.
Continuing the itinerary, we explore all the island's west side, which is the most wild and virtually uninhabited, stopping occasionally to photograph the ritual. We end the day atop the highest hill of Wallis from which you can enjoy a 360 degrees.

In the evening awaits us at the hotel a fantastic fish salad served by two girls who greeted us at reception, dinner only obscured by later ones that consume directly under the stars at the lovely and popular seaside restaurant "Chez Patricia.

Hou Moana Hotel is just across the lagoon, just outside Mata-Utu, on the road along the sea. This is actually a family boarding house, but with large rooms and spotless, brightly colored ceramic floors combined at random, a sufficient condition to dehumidify the air, a refrigerator and even a color TV with six channels tuned . Panelists, but discrete, three geckos, that from sunset on trying to fix a meal of mosquitoes Antonella reluctantly had to give up his privacy, but then we did the habit.
Nothing to say about the service: towels and sheets changed every day throughout the week.
All family members are polite, but at the same time reserved and shy. We would have expected a minimum of curiosity on their part, say, a few questions about us, our home, our work. Who knows, their timidity in dealing with foreigners is perhaps due to having to do with just a couple of tourists a year away and some French work. Or rather is simply an attitude inherent to their culture.

... and the exploration goes on

The next day sees us still wandering awaiting better weather.
Take the opportunity to visit the east side of the island, where there are a few carpenters, traditional houses fresh and airy, and some impressive churches which compete with the cathedral.
It does not rain, the sun occasionally peeks and floods us with heat, but the wind is still prevalent. He left abruptly the next day, as required by the "weatherman" Fijian selling cold drinks to thirty meters away.

The day of the celebrations

Saturday, August 15, Assumption Day, Wallis is a national holiday for all purposes. Warned by the hotel owners, we get up early to be at seven o'clock in the cathedral at the beginning of the religious function.
The day is calm and very caliente promises from the early morning hours. In church I can resist only ten minutes, even wallisiani, which should be used, it fanned shamelessly.
The performance of the islanders dressed up is nothing short choreography: colorful dresses, fluttering strips of colored foil, sophisticated styling, fancy hair slides and numerous necklaces of flowers fill our photo shoots and video shoots, young girls training to be held in a peevish old man make their entry into the church during the ceremony.
But the best is yet to come.
And 'use each year on this day, staged a show of dances and songs on the front of the royal residence. The dancers come from six different villages, even from remote Futuna, and perform at different times until sunset.
The show is preceded by an exhibition of over a hundred pigs sacrificed for the occasion, which are donated by their owners to other families, usually more in need. It 's a way to thank someone, but also to redistribute resources so as to reduce differences in living standards between affluent and less affluent.
In a room nearby, large enough, was meanwhile set up a huge breakfast that is offered free to visitors.
We, too, now fully involved festive atmosphere, eat something, in the company of French academic who we met at the airport (and, for his research, we will interview the day before departure).
It 'just outside the room, while I was gratified with a cigarette, I make the acquaintance of a Frenchman just arrived. I ask out of curiosity what were your steps before landing in Wallis and discover that he left Marseille four years ago with a sailing boat, now moored in the lagoon. Envy that crazy! Why are always others to realize my dreams?

Finally, after the traditional ritual of kava preparation already tasted our stay in Fiji, begins to dance accompanied by chanting choirs and with the enthusiastic participation of a group of local musicians.
Even the king and his courtiers assist in the front row at the show, but can be easily protected from sunlight.
Some elderly women are sitting in neat rows under the scorching sun, surrounded by costumed dancers in a semicircle, and gently move your upper body and arms to the rhythm, some public places also large denomination banknotes in their decolletage, or between hair. Although these actions are in part aimed at redistributing resources to the benefit of the poorest.
A few hours later, satisfied by the folklore and cut off from the heat, we move to organize the next day. The weather is good: we expect the lagoon.

From 16th to 18th August: three days of dream

Wallis is Devoid of beaches, the rest is a classic island with a lagoon dotted with islands or volcanic sand near the reef.
Particularly evident is the tidal Phenomenon, Perhaps More Than in Fiji, forcing you to plan your boating. However, even at low tide Sometimes it is possible to move by sea, But after covering 50-100 meters to feet in order to reach a boat Moored in a Strategic Manner.
My advice is to move in time in the morning, Preferably at low tide, as outcrops of white coral sand banks That, along with coconut trees, tailored from a picture postcard landscape.

It is precisely this context to characterize the next three days, The Last of Our vacation in the Pacific: from the morning by boat, spend all day on a desert island, absolute masters of the white sand beaches, swim in a warm and crystalline sea , with mask and fins to explore the beautiful coral Seabed below to drunk colors of the lagoon, changing from light green to turquoise blue and deep, go over All These Traumatic Experiences Immediately after a well deserved picnic lunch, read a book under a palm tree while riding the tide, get a tan at the very least full afternoon breeze ... well, not going beyond! I think this picture day, for completeness of discussion, you can add just the charm of a romantic walk in the light of galaxies in the southern hemisphere, under a sky Darker than Black, Which gives us a shooting star last night, right time to Their desire to express QUICKLY to spread to new destination.