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Air Tahiti Magazine 55
destination u ne route sinueuse part de la cote pour s enfoncer dans la montagne, avant d arriver vers une maison qui domine l ocean. la, pa teuruaa attend un petit groupe de marcheurs. a 64 ans, les yeux pleins de malice, pa porte de longues dreads locks blondies par le soleil. «comme je passe beaucoup de temps en mer, mes cheveux decolorent !» j apprends meme avec surprise qu il a gagne, 22 ans auparavant, le record de la traversee a la nage entre tahiti et moorea. sur son epaule droite, il porte toujours la cicatrice de cet exploit : des coupures dues a un requin oceanique - le parata - , passe visiblement trop pres de son bras la peau de cet animal peut se reveler terriblement tranchante. pa est un personnage emblematique des iles cook. fier heritier d une tradition ancestrale, il est devenu un taunga (tahu a en tahitien), un expert en medecine traditionnelle. il a appris a connaitre les plantes et leurs vertus aupres de sa grand-mere. aujourd hui, elles n ont plus de secret pour lui et il sait les transformer en remedes. pa recoit gracieusement la population de rarotonga qui desire se soigner de la sorte.il leur concocte des preparations efficaces, a base de plantes ramassees dans sa pharmacie naturelle - la nature autrement dit. les visiteurs que pa s apprete a accueillir vont aller avec lui pour decouvrir l interieur de rarotonga, royaume d une nature preservee et luxuriante, dont il connait la faune et la flore mieux que quiconque. les montagnes de rarotonga sont riches de legendes et de mythes, que pa raconte a merveille. une chance, pour le touriste de passage, de penetrer la memoire vivante de cet univers et de ce peuple. cette introduction au coeur des iles cook permet d apprehender la relation si etroite, pour ne pas dire viscerale, > a winding road leaves the coast to cut through mountains, before finally arriving at a house that looks out over the ocean. there, pa teuruaa waits for a small group of walkers. at 64 years of age and with mischievous eyes, pa has tumbling dread locks that have been turned completely blond by the sun. "since i spend a lot of time on the ocean, my hair bleached out!" he says. i learn with surprise, that 22 years ago this man made record time swimming between tahiti and moorea. on his right shoulder, he wears the scar of his exploit: cuts from the razorlike skin of an oceanic shark the parata. just the sight of this aggressive fish is terrifying but having one curious enough to graze an arm is beyond the imagination. pa is emblematic of the cook islands. trusted heir of an ancestral tradition, he became a taunga (tahu a in tahitian), a traditional medicine man. he learned about plants and their virtues from his grandmother and today he turns what were once mysterious plants skillfully into organic remedies. pa gracefully helps the population of rarotonga who seek his services. he concocts his effective preparations based on plants from his floral pharmacy a gift of nature. for visitors, pa leads walks to the interior of rarotonga, a well-preserved kingdom of the outdoors where he knows more about the wildlife and flora than just about anyone. the mountains of rarotonga are rich with legends and myths, that pa tells us as we clamber along a joy, for the passing tourist who gets a chance to penetrate into the living history and interior universe of the cook islands. > 14 r e v u e d e b o r d n ° 5 5 / a i r ta h i t i / o n - b o a r d m a g a z i n e n ° 5 5
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