And you thought the other village was small…

Toau, Tuamotu, French Polynesia

We arrived in Toau to find two really nice guys in an outboard who guided us into the 10 boat anchorage they had set up near the “village.”

Why is “village” in quotations?

Just wait for it.

After helping us get anchored the nice guys invited us over for dinner that evening.  It’s a pretty common practice for the locals to prepare dinner for cruisers for a price and then “invite” you to dinner.  Remember in Fatu Hiva where the terms “restaurant” and “living room” were synonymous?  Yeah, pretty normal and to be fair, they take good care of you:

Those would be fresh lobsters.  Paired with baguette and fresh fried parrot fish and by “fresh” I mean the two guys who guided us in?  They are also the fishermen; brought the fish in that afternoon and cooked them up alongside one of their wives.  Same with the lobsters.

Also, they have a dog

Cute little guy, kinda scraggly.  Not really worth noting until…hey wait a second…how the heck did a dog get way out here?!  It’s not like he evolved from the freaking fish!  Did you ship him in?  How much would that cost?  Is he some sorta descendent from dogs brought over by Capt. Cook?  Seriously, where did you get a dog!?  (see, like I said, sometimes it’s the little things that make you remember where you are).

We had a great time at dinner and then the 2 nice guys and the lady invited us to come to church tomorrow.  Well, we’ve all heard legends of the Polynesian church singing and it’s also when the whole “village” would typically turn out, what a great opportunity to meet people!  …and truthfully, it’s been a while since we were able to get to an actual church, so heck why not?

Here’s the church:

And here’s what the service was like:

Not exactly what we were expecting.  Ok, so all the white people?  Sailors.  That leaves the lady at the front and the two men in the seats…

…noticing a trend here?

You know that joke where the town’s so small that the mayor is the sectary while moonlighting as the pastor and city garbage collector?

Yeah, that’s here.

Greg played bocce ball with the two guys on the beach with their bocce set.  Won one game, lost the other.  In other words, he beat half the bocce ball playing population of this island in one go.

…Hey wait, where the heck did they get a bocce ball set?!