Papeete Tahiti

---

Papeete, Tahiti is actually made up of two islands Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti properly known as the peninsula of Talarapu. Most of the modern day urbanization has been limited to the larger island centering in Papeete the capital as well as Faaa and Pirae. The total population is just under 170,000 and it is alleged to have some of the world’s most friendliest people.

Today 6 of us hired a taxi for a four hour tour of the island, which cost $45:00 each, the driver had the personality of an entombed person, trying to get a word out of him was like pulling teeth, very difficult. One of our stops was the Botanical Gardens and when I was waiting for the rest of our party to show up a man walked out of the gardens with a dead boar in a duffle bag. He just wandered in to the gardens and killed the boar with a machete, put in his duffle bag and was taking it home for his tea, I have taken a photo for the blog.



Papeete city is not very clean reminds us of Colombo in Sri Lanka, but when you travel out of the city it is not too bad. On our return from our tour we went back to the ship for lunch and then decided to go ashore again and do some exploring, I.E. shopping. Not much to buy in the way of souvenirs, so went to a bar for a beer with Trevor and Sharon, we were advised in advance that things were expensive here and so they are. Five beers cost $60:00 but they threw in some free nibbles, from there we went back to the dock where every night, vendors set up mobile food vans, with all types of fare for sale. We were told to stay clear of the chinese as the locals sometimes use dog and rat as the main course. We opted for crepes and after waiting an hour and a half after placing our order got up and walked out. This is after two of the six of us had their meal served, and only two had a drink. It was utter confusion, the locals should have had a heads up that a ship was in town and put on more staff.

---

Photos

Botanical Gardens
This is the guy that went boar hunting and caught his dinner for the night.

Blowhole
Try to imagine how hard it is to get a selfie without knowing when the water is about to spray.

Bounty memorial
Nothing else to say.

6 of us
Liz and Howard, Judy and Greg [obscured] Jim & Colleen.

Local musos.
Greeting us dockside at Papeete.