Day 41- Papeete, Tahiti

Thursday, February 16, 2012

I think all of us who live in the northern hemisphere carry romantic notions about the islands of the South Pacific and Tahiti especially evokes thoughts of paradise.  We were in that paradise today.  First of all the transition from the frigid conditions in Antarctica and the volatility of Cape Horn to the humid tropical climate here is dramatic in such a short period of time.  We have also been gaining hours every day for 5 days, and so we awoke easily at an early hour to pull back our curtain and gaze upon the city of Papeete which is nestled on the very narrow coast of the lush, verdant green volcanic mountains of Tahiti.  We rushed out to the Promenade deck to be greeted by the soft sultry air, and the sprinkling of large private boats on the other side of our dock. 

After making a personal call home to check on my sick, (now getting better) son, we set out on our own.  We had originally planned to do a HAL excursion on another catamaran tour of the shore with some snorkeling, but had changed our minds.  Karen had called early morning to give me a heads up on the market shopping right at the foot of our pier.  

After the difficult tendering at Easter Island, it was sheer pleasure to be docked so close, and this afforded us the ability to be back and forth to the ship, literally 3 times in 2 hours.  Papeete is a bustling, busy city of 12,000.  This French Polynesian island of 200,000, is expensive.  We were told that it is safe, with little crime, and that tourism is their number one industry.  The city has a strange but charming combination of local Polynesian stores and upscale french ones.  We felt completely safe, and never pressured or harassed anywhere.  In fact the people are beautiful, helpful,  and speak English quite well.  We started at the local two story market which we were told by Jack and Gloria (who we met there) had been cleaned up a great deal since their last visit.  The entire place was a feast for the eyes of very colourful tables packed with fruit, flowers, carved wooden goods, shells, linens, vanilla, soaps, and honeys.  At first we just wondered around drinking in the sights.  Some of the women vendors  wore the traditional circular flower head-dresses. Then we got down to serious shopping and were able to buy a lot of presents here for family.  Barry is my appointed negotiator as I find haggling difficult.  He made some great deals as usual.  

Burdened down we made a dash for our cabin to drop of our stash, then headed back to the "shopping centre" - I really had to resist spending time here as all the fashions were imported from France and were exceptionally lovely, but we didn't want to waste any more time in the town.  Back to the ship, and we had decided to hire our own taxi to see the sites outside the city for a couple of hours.   We had been invited in the afternoon to Le Meridien Hotel, where Carol, Jim and their daughter Maggie had booked a large room and balcony, overlooking the ocean and a swimming lagoon.  

Lily, our taxi driver, was Polynesian with flowers in her hair, and she spoke very good English.  We spent the next 2.5 hours driving on the west shore.  I can't emphasize enough how narrow the coast is.  All the development is very densely packed along one major road that circles the island and small little roads off it.  All in all from the ocean shore to the foot of the mountains it is about 1 mile wide.  On the shore side there are , not surprisingly,  walls  protecting private homes (although they are a mix of modest and wealthier),  hotels etc and on the mountain side there is a mix of small apartments, homes and businesses.   Lily told us that a modest home would cost about $250,000 and up and that at least 10 people live in each home, several families sharing in order to afford it.  There are lots of roundabouts on this busy road.  Lily dropped us at a museum, just behind Le Meridian Hotel, where we would go later, just as the heavens literally opened and buckets of tropical rain fell in torrents for the next hour or so.  This is the low season here, and also the rainy season.  Lily told us that they call it the "happy" season for they love the daily rain showers that feed the lush growth of the island, and of course cool off the humidity.  

We spent a very pleasant time in this small museum, doing a self tour - and saw Erika and Lynn's tour just ahead in the same place.  There was limited English translation, but in summary we saw the geological formation of the islands,; the formation of the trade winds,;and the ocean currents that shape the weather even up to Canada - La Nina, and El Nino; the 112 bird species (8 are extinct) on the island; the 1000 shell species found in the rich coral ocean; original dugout canoes, a double hulled larger canoe made of wood laced together with rawhide; carving implements of flint and shells;  and carved stone statues that were remarkably like the ones on Easter Island.   There was also a very old petroglyph on a very large rock depicting the story of war, triumph, and stability.  

The rain had let up a bit, and we headed for a local grocery store to grab some sandwiches and supplies for the afternoon, then Lilly took us to " Le Grotto".  On this drive I was entranced by the lizard back formations of the mountains which are mostly uninhabitable, as they are so sharp and high , and there are great valleys between them that go for miles inland.  There is always a mist of cloud hanging over them, and the greenery is  a mass of dense vines, flowering trees, and other great trees and shrubs.  On the shore side, you could see absolutely huge surf breaking on the a coral reef about a half mile from shore.  We saw waves ranging from 30-50 feet, breaking and rolling.  For all of our surfing family  you would love it here, although it is obviously fraught with dangerous currents and of course the reefs.   The sea is a mix of that teal blue and dark blue - but because of the density of housing we wouldn't appreciate this view until we got to Le Meridien.  

Le Grotto is a natural formation of a cave and a pool, like you see in the movies, with great vines hanging down, and the grounds are a bit more manicured  with a display of huge heart shaped leaf plants, and flowering bushes.  Remember from the Amazon river we learned that the heart shaped plants are friends and protect from erosion.  There were also roosters and chickens running wild and crowing in this area.. like we have seen in years past in Bali.    We met one of Lily's colleagues Po Po, another tourist guide at the gate, who told us that the rule was, if the chicken runs into your yard, you get to keep it!

Off to Le Meridian.  Like Bali, again this is an open air lobby, with no windows or walls - just large sitting areas and beautiful wide wooden steps leading down and out to the sea.   Erika and Lynn, Brad and Gloria, Mike and Pauline had also been invited, but only Carol, Maggie, Kallie, Erika, Mike and I spent the afternoon at the ocean.  The rest of the gang sat in the Presidential Suite and outdoor balcony, talking and having a great time.  Barry and I had ordered a fruit tray for the room which cost us a whopping $144, proving how expensive the island is!  Someone told us that before we arrived they ordered a few hamburgs and cokes and the bill was over $100.  Lily had told us that it was paradise, but it was expensive to live in paradise, and she is right.

We swam in the freshwater pool that was bordered on two sides with a natural sand beach,  then for a bit in the ocean (a strong current and lots of coral drove us out), and Erika and I walked out on the wooden boardwalk to the thatched rooms over the waters.  Here is where we couldn't stop snapping pictures.  The light was constantly changing, as was the weather, and the pictures of the surf were spectacular.  There is a small island called Moorea, which is also Tahitian, just a 35 minute ferry ride away, and very very unspoiled that loomed in the short distance to our right.  It disappeared and reappeared all afternoon in the thunderstorms that blew through.  What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, just hanging in this pool, talking to new friends.   We missed Karen and Jonathan, who it turned out didn't come as he had understandably, duties aboard the ship.  The only disappointment  of the afternoon was that we had planned to Face Time or Skype with our family and the internet speed at the hotel was abysmal, even slower than the ship.. so we couldn't connect.

Six of us left (Lily came again!) around 6 pm. to go back to the ship.  Just as we left we leaned on the balcony railing and drank in the  perfume from the flowering trees that wafted on the breeze. 

This turned out to be an unexpectedly fantastic evening.  On port days, there is usually a special theme dinner BBQ in the Lido. We have never been yet, but it just felt like the right thing tonight and we headed right up to get some food.  The Lido pool area was transformed into a Tahitian resort, with a large lily pad spouting water in the pool, a luau type meal, and a Tahitian band playing drums and singing.   Karen grabbed us as we looked for a table and so we sat with her and Art and some others.  Soon we noticed the band was heating up, and we gradually made our way to see what they were up to... then we noticed some Polynesian dancers over by the hot tub so we made our way over and sat at the foot of what turned out to be front row seats for the most spectacular show of dancing.  About 16 women and men performed for about an hour.  First of all I have rarely seen such beautiful women.  I think every man in the house was mesmerized, as were we all.  They were dressed in costumes made of fresh leaves and grass skirts and crowned with fresh flowers and leis. 

Several of the women had beautiful tatoos in a thong design (and I am not especially a tatoo fan), and the men had them running down their legs.  WOW!  Could they dance - the women had these little circles of fresh leaves on top of their hips above the grass skirts that exaggerated their movements.  The place was just jumping as they danced and we were all hooting and hollering our appreciation in between expressions of awe.  Then to top off the evening don't they grab Barry and Karen and some others and haul them up to perform.  Both performed with great enthusiasm and in Karen's case skill, and in Barry's case brave attempts to keep up with his gorgeous partner.  A few minutes before this happened I had turned my head in time to see some passenger literally walking through the water in the upper surround of the pool in his socks and shoes so he could get a better place to take pictures... don't I then see he has been chosen as well and is up slopping water all over the dance floor as he performs - just hilarious.  Thankfully Art had his camera and captured all of this for posterity. These dancers were soaking wet, their bodies glistening with sweat as they left. 

We were so elated by the evening, that Karen insisted on celebrating with some champagne that she had purchased for the Le Meridian day she didn't get to... Paradise continues.   Then Barry and I went out on the Promenade in the light rain, met Jeff, who had gone to Moorea for the day, saw his blog pictures, and we all watched the sail away in the dark, still sultry air - so sad to leave.

If I ever am lucky enough to repeat this trip, I will fly from Punta Arenas to Tahiti and stay for a few days in Moorea and skip the very very long trip across this vast Pacific Ocean.   We are on to Pago Pago (pronounced Pango, Pango) in America Samoa.  Maybe I will return with a tattoo and the ability to dance!