Sheer Tenacity: Tahiti ......... take 2

15 August 2013

A wooden carving of a Tahitian warrior which we came
across in a shopping mall in Pape'ete

Before we knew it we had spent a month in Papeete, working like Trojans on the boat, and spending wads of wonga, as Nic Marvin would describe the financial haemorrhage. It would be only too easy to remember Tahiti, purely in terms of boat work, expenses, and medical procedures, but that would also be totally unfair! Tahitians are without doubt, the nicest, and most genuinely friendly folk we have met anywhere in the world to date! They go out of their way to help visitors, and take huge delight in showing off their little bit of English, whenever they can! It only gets better when they realize how much we dumb English speakers appreciate their efforts!

The Municipal Marche is a fabulous attraction,covering merchandise from black pearls to fresh fish and fairly phallic tikis!

Hats and bags ........

Butcheries...........

Beautiful exotic flowers.............

Floral arrangements, price ZAR150.00.........

Fruit and veg, not cheap.........for Rand value, delete the last digit!

Handcarved ukeleles and bananas!

Necklaces...................shells and pearls

More veg....................

Very fresh fish.................

Parrot fish and tuna fillets

Live lobsters, couldn't afford those!!!

Black pearl jewllery

All spotlessly clean

Geckoes seem to have a special place in Polynesian culture

As do tikis........................

French Polynesians enjoy a wonderful lifestyle, courtesy of the generous French handouts, and really do their utmost to help at all times, giving lifts to “lost” tourists, etc. I broke yet another tooth, and had to delay our departure from Papeete by another day, to get it fixed. In the process. I had my only bad experience, when the bus driver, to whom I had given my drop off address, forgot, and dumped me about 7km away in the boondocks, claiming that this was where I had asked to go! A local lady, whose help I sought, just put me in her car, and drove me back the 7kms to the correct address!

The dentist, who had been contacted by the marina manager, just squeezed me in between two patients, stuck it all together, and had me back on the boat by lunch time!

They really go out of their way to be helpful, but there are also times when it pays to be circumspect! There are a large number of very pretty and elegant “shemales”, men who have been brought up by their mothers to be women. They are an accepted part of Polynesian society, and are called “Mahu’s”. Most of them are just very elegant and pretty gender benders, but there are the OTT transvestites who frequent the “gritty’ night spots as attractive prostitutes, causing chaos and confusion among lonely male visitors!

Every night, this square is transformed into a collection of
"roulottes"......street food. In the morning the area is spotless!

Another aspect of Polynesian culture is the hibiscus, or frangipani flower worn behind the ear. Most women wear flowers, picked along the roadsides, but some men do too….......

The Town Quay was expensive, grimy, exciting and convenient plus we were able to see superyachts like "A", moored very close to us. But it was time to move on and so we motored down the channel, past the airport to Marina Taina which was a pleasant change after the hustle and bustle of the city and much cheaper!!

"A" .........looks like a submarine rather than a super yacht. We spotted her in St Martin a few years ago

All the toys come out the garages!

An interesting bit of useless info which we learned, is that the Hibiscus flowers all fall off the trees at 16.30h into the sea . I guess that it is then time to go home, or stop work and head for Happy Hour.....and it really happens...................they come floating past the boat every afternoon, between 16.00 and 17.00hrs!