MY LOCAL TOUR GUIDE

if anyone isn't aware of this jp is multiracial (i.e. part indian, chinese, & french). Upon leaving reunion island he has been mistaken for everything from middle eastern, north african, to south american. this trip has been no different. it doesn't help that roughly 99% of people cruising are white, so people do not expect him to be on a yacht combined with the fact that we are about 25 to 30 years younger than the average cruiser, he is truly a minority.
The following are some funny encounters we have had along the way:
JAMAICA
jamaican: where are you from?

jp: africa

jamaican: but you don't sound african (because obviously all africans sound the same) from there a conversation would ensue about how jamaicans are pure africans with jp given quizzical looks as to the verity of his previous statement.

jp would then explain where his island is and they would often feign knowledge.one time we were walking through a little village and this came up to me and started hitting on me in front of jp, and finally we realized that he assumed jp was my tour guide. this is where i began joking jp was my perpetual local guide.

Panama
upon ones arrival in colon every boat checks in with customs at the yacht club. we walked in and the customs official took our passports. she looked at mine without a second glance. she opened jp's and a huge smile crossed her face, and said "francia es mulatto, es bueno!". she told us we had to come back to her when we checked out. we found out later it was just because she wanted to say goodbye.
in order to cross the panama canal every boat must have a captain plus three line handlers. this for many boats means getting three volunteer crew members. we line handled on two boats prior to our transit. it is actually very helpful as it prepares one for ones own transit. every pilot who came on board assumed jp was a hired local or"professional line handler", for they assumed that all yachties are white. most of them understood immediately that jp is mutlti-racial as a few of them are. one even went so far to assume that jp must be part lebanese (as others have done in the past).
jp's ability to blend was definitely a benefit as we never got hassled walking around certain areas of panama. he would just dress well in proper shoes, jeans, and a button down short sleeve shirt, none of the flips flops, shorts, and boat shirts of the other yachties. everyone once and a while i would hear someone speak to the person next to them and ask how that guy got a gringa girlfriend... we would just laugh.
ECUADOR
we did a lot of provisioning in ecuador in preparation for the pacific. this meant MANY trips to the market and various supermarkets in Manta. On one occasion we were walking through the market and JP was carrying a large plastic container filled with various items we had just purchased. someone went up to him and asked him how much he wanted for certain items. he was confused for a minute, and responded with the price we had paid. the guy thought about it for a minute, and said no and walked away. jp was further confused and then realized he had been mistaken for one of the locals who walk through the market trying to sell just a few items at a time. at first we thought this was funny, but then we wondered if we didn't get a good price for the items we had just purchased, if we couldn't sell them on the street.

Marquesas
in hiva oa we went on a tour of the island with another boat. there were seven of us piled into a small landrover defender (our tour guide, his brother, the other couple plus there daughter, and jp and myself). we were having lunch on the far side of the island. sitting having a picinic near the water. some kids from the nearby village wandered by playing various games and one even riding by on a horse. then one child came up and shook hands with our tour guide, jp and i, and finally the brother (in that order). he completely ignored the boat (who happened to be white). we later asked our tour guide and his brother if people would assume jp was a local. their response was a resounding yes, as he must be because he is not white so he can't be a tourist.our first day on the island of ua-pou we were surprised to see so many french, i.e. white people. this was in july when they have celebrations all month with singing, dancing, and a bit of drinking. people sit around the town center playing bachi and hanging out. it's quite nice. the first person to strike up a conversation with us is a frenchman from Marseilles. he started telling jp about how he arrived on the island by dating a local woman and all the trouble that got him into. he then explained he came to the Marquesas for tax evasion due to business problems in france. he then asked how we arrived on the island. jp pointed to zaya, which was in view from the village center. his next question was if we were in the marquisas for tax evasion purposes as well. jp said no, and thanked him for his offer of a drink, but declined as we didn't want the rest of the population to make a similar assumption (guilt by association).

NIUE
Niue has to be the only island we went to were people knew jp was not a local. that has to dependent upon the fact that there are only 1500 people on the island and they all know each other by site (we can only assume). though there are indians from india on the island who work in agriculture doing jobs the locals do not care to do. a few did not seem to be enjoying it as there is no thriving social life and the money was not as good as they had been promised. they asked us where we were from and if we would take them to france (we don't have plans to go to france). we told them it would take months of sailing to get to france, and this was something they were quite shocked by. then they asked us to take them anywhere else. they offered to pay us and sleep on deck (something i would not wish on anybody) and said they would work very hard. we thanked them but declined as this is very illegal and we really don't have the space for two twenty something indian guys whose grasp of the english language seems to end at "my country india" & "you like niue?...really?!".

FIJI
it is not too far fetched for someone to mistake jp for a fijian as a significant percentage of the population is indian. as there are so many indiands there is a thriving economy surrounding around indian goods. we are thoroughly enjoying the clothes, food stuffs, and movies. this is purely an assumption, but the indian business drive creates wonderful competition keeping prices low (something we have not seen since south america). jp has found the hindu language very interesting and decided to but a book in order to teach himself a little hindu. the girl at the counter immediately asked "why don't you know this, aren't you from here?" he has to explain that no he was from another island in a different ocean. if he tells people that he is from mauritus next to reuion, another island with british ties and a significant indian population they know it immediately, but Reunion being french is still a mystery to many. we spoke to a woman from papau new guinea (PNG), who asid jp looked like he could be from fiji, but had lived overseas by the way he carried himself and dressed.

we have met one other non white male who is the second black man to circumnavigate. he had the poor timing to show up in south africa during the fall of apartheid. he was the first black man to ever be served at the durban yacht club bar, where he was honored. when he showed up in capetown the officials thought he had stolen the boat. he has a great sense of humor and seems to have taken it all in stride.