Rebuilt Gauguin Home Opens in South Seas

Painter Paul Gauguin’s famous “Maison du Jouir” (House of Pleasures) has been rebuilt in the Marquesa Islands to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the artist’s arrival in French Polynesia, reports Oahu-based writer Ed Rampell. The replica of the hut in which Gauguin reputedly was loved by many women is a few hundred feet from the house’s original site at Atuona, on the island of Hiva Oa, where Gauguin died. The new hut was officially opened to tourists last month.

The reconstruction is generally faithful to written descriptions of the original house and contains erotic carvings and Gauguin’s cryptic messages: “Be in love and you will be happy” and “Be mysterious.” The original house was a two-story hut with bamboo-and-palm-leaf thatched roof in the traditional Polynesian style. Downstairs were his sculpture studio and kitchen. Upstairs, where he captured the brilliant Equatorial light, were his painting studio and his bed, which was said to have been carved with erotic scenes.

The banker-turned-painter first created the house in 1901, after he fled Tahiti for the same reasons he’d left Europe for the South Seas in 1891: to escape from civilization and its discontents by finding a primitive paradise. Considering 20th-Century Tahiti too tame and seeking savage inspiration, Gauguin set sail for the Marquesas, the world’s remotest archipelago, 800 miles northeast of Tahiti.

Travel Quiz: What republic contains the greatest number of the world’s 850 active volcanoes?

Quick Fact: The worldwide cruise ship fleet is getting younger. Helped along in 1991 by the launch of three new megaships, the average age of commercial-passenger tonnage decreased 1.45 years. While the average cruise ship dates from 1970, more than a third of current tonnage dates from after 1985. (Source: Lloyd’s Passenger Shipping International study.)

Weekend Wonders: For a weekend visit, London is the most expensive of 48 cities surveyed by Union Bank of Switzerland for its 1991 “Prices and Earnings Around the Globe” ratings. Not including air fare, a weekend in the British capital with an overnight hotel stay for two, two suppers out with wine, two Big Mac meals, a taxi ride, a rental car and two movie tickets costs $630. The same weekend costs $600 in Tokyo, the most expensive city to visit in 1988, when the survey was last conducted. Hard on the heels of London and Tokyo are three other European cities--Madrid, Milan and Stockholm, where a weekend trip can set visitors back about $550.

In North America, New York remains the most expensive city to visit, although for many foreign travelers it represents a relative bargain. A weekend in New York costs about $510. That’s compared to $430 in Chicago, $400 in Los Angeles, $360 in Montreal, $330 in Toronto and $320 in Houston. But for a real bargain, try Lagos, Nigeria, the least expensive city in the survey, where the weekend holiday costs a mere $170.

Jungle Book: Poaching and hunting of exotic animals may seem extremely profitable in the short term, but a Canadian publication, EcoSource, reports that saving exotic animals so that “eco-tourists” can enjoy them has been found to be far more lucrative. In Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, for example, each live lion brings in about $27,000 in tourist dollars; an elephant herd translates to $610,000, according to EcoSource. Canada’s Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia gain about $600,000 (Canadian) annually from tourists coming to visit the baby harp seals--20% more than the seal “harvest” for white fur coats brought in, according to a report in the digest’s January/February 1991 issue.

Air Apparent: International passenger traffic at LAX increased (up 3.4%, compared with the same period last year) during the first nine months of 1991, but overall passenger volume (down 1.8%) and air cargo (down 2.8%) decreased during the same period compared with 1990.

Australia During World War II: During World War II, more than a million American servicemen flew out of Australian airfields, trained for combat in Australia’s northern rain forests and visited Australia for brief R&R.; Thus, upcoming events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the war are expected to draw U.S. veterans and military history buffs.

Commemorative events in the land Down Under are scheduled for 1992 through 1995. The first will focus on the 50th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin in February, 1942, and the Battle of the Coral Sea, which was fought in May of the same year. For more information, write or call the Australian Tourist Commission, 2121 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1200, Los Angeles 90067, (310) 552-1988.

Comparatively Speaking: Cruise ship sanitation scores for ships inspected in November (a score of 87 or higher indicates acceptable sanitation): Caribbean Prince, 84. Dolphin IV, 96. Enchanted Isle, 87. Holiday, 91. Nantucket Clipper, 87. New Shoreham II, 73. Pacific Star, 87. Regal Princess, 92. Saint Lucie, 87. Sea Lion, 91. Star Princess, 90. Tropic Star, 93. Viking Serenade, 96. Club Med I, 94.

Fair Warning: Bluegrass bands and fiddle, mandolin, banjo and flatpick guitar competitions, a Saturday night country and Western dance, and food and crafts booths will be part of the Colorado River Country Music Festival, Jan. 24-26 in Blythe. Almost $5,000 in prizes will be offered in a variety of categories, all at the Colorado River Country Fairgrounds, where camping will also be available. Admission at the door will be $5 per day for seniors, $6 for adults and $2.50 for children 8-15. Children under 8 are free. For more information, call (800) 445-0541 or (619) 922-8166.

Quiz Answer: Indonesia, which contains about 20% of the volcanoes within the Ring of Fire--a zone running along the west coast of the Americas and down the east coast of Asia.