Adventures on Tahiti

December 28, 2019

Taravao, Tahiti

Woke up and Andy was already out and about.  He came in with a fresh baguette, a ton of fruit,  pastries and OMG the best BBQ pork we have ever had! He got it from a roadside stand, which is always better if I'm not with him.  Otherwise, I see dirt and other little bugs that make it far less desirable to eat being the germ fearing person that I can be.

The sun is out and we are ready for our day, but first we had to make a quick stop at the pork guy again.  Really the best, moist, flavorful pork ever.  And yep, I shouldn't have seen that knife or boarding he was cutting on. 

We headed out with no real plan just looking to explore. Our first stop was at a road side stand selling Thai spring rolls. Not sure why we stopped as we were stuffed from breakfast. He was incredibly nice and helped get us on our way for the day. He will be there tomorrow at 5am, so we are planning to stop by.  We went to the park he recommended for a quick walk around a idyllic lagoon. From the edge we could see coral and beautiful fish. We even saw a shark glide past! Some local women with their heads in towels looked like they had just finished their morning swim.

 People so far have been lovely and very willing to help us. The language challenge makes this all kinds of fun. So far we have seen just about only locals, which is not what we expected for Tahiti.

Continuing down the island we saw a water taxi sign and pulled in.  There was a little house, a tree house for rent

and a bungalow with stairs right into the water (airbnb Vairao Bungalow sur pilotis sur le lagon eamils: marika@mail.pf). 

  Super cute! The owner came out and introduced herself en francais and helped plan our day. Andy's high school french is enough to get through basic conversation.  Hand motions and smiling seem to do the rest. The water taxi was gone for the day so we headed from her beach for some snorkeling along a coral wall.  The water was perfect temperature but became colder as we swam into deeper water. Endless fields of coral, Some nice colored fish and calm waters.

We then rented some kayaks from her for a paddle out to a tiny white sand island. 

 It wasn't much bigger than our driveway. We shared this little space with some locals enjoying their weekend. The sun was out, the sky was blue (for the most part) and vacation was going strong.

  Time to head back and of course the wind had really picked up.  With the waves the kids struggled to make it out so we thought things might go better if we piled into the enormous two person kayak.  Andy ignored his thoughts of stability and being overloaded which proved to be unwise.  A few hundred yards off the island the inevitable happened and we capsized. We were in  deep water at this point and far enough away that getting back to the island wasn't an option. With the wind we were being pushed out to see towards the breaking wavings. The kids scrambled into the single kayaks lighting quick while the adults gathered up our floating possessions. I am sure we were quite the show for the locals drinking and relaxing on the nearby island. Getting in the kayaks for the adults proved much more difficult and included a circus like feat of building a human ladder and squirming on our bellies back into position. With the kayaks all right side up and us aboard we made the hard paddle back to the place. Kids did great and we have another story!

The owner welcomed us back with a beautiful platter of fruit setup in the waterfront gazebo This was a very nice way to get back to normal after our adventure. Speaking of fruit, it is everywhere, with many road side stands offering everything imaginable. For $5 we bought 7 mangos and the guy was so nice he through about 7 more in and taught us a little Tahitian. Marurru means thank you. 

Back to the house for more baguette, cheese and salami lunch! This has become part of our daily routine.

Headed out to the beach for a Tahitian sunset that did not disappoint.  The boys gave a new meaning to "Ultimate frisbee".

"Ultimate Frisbee"

Made a stop for some bottled water and as we were waiting for Andy we noticed the locals bring their own bowls to restaurants for to go food. They'd hang out for a few minutes while dinner for the family was made and head off with bowls heaping full of food. This happened at numerous places and is probably really good for the local land fill. So interesting to me.

Another dinner at a roadside food truck/restaurant.  They have big bins of wait for it....baguettes sliced up! Yep, because the two they probably already ate earlier was not enough! The kitchens are these makeshift setups with big propane tanks and coolers for the food. 

The food has been really good and I enjoy it at the time and then just hope in a couple of hours the stomach is still happy.  Tonight I had a steak and we added to this some yummy fried chicken, a grilled fish and plenty of Frites. We also added an order of Poisson Cru', which is like ceviche but in more of a coconut sauce. The kids and Andy love it!