Travels

10/20/01 - Another incredible sunrise this morning. Can't say much more except go and see it for yourself. Start saving now! Again I have to say that my memory for details is already getting messy. I'm writing this months after I should have written it. So bear with me. I believe today was "goofy tiny car" rental day.

After another fruitylicious breakfast (man I want that pineapple right now, and that juice...and that yogurt, mmm), we headed down to the hotel lobby where the local rental agency (EuropCar I think it was) sets up shop. It ain't cheap, but nothing there is, and we had already gone way over the edge at this point, so we did it. An 8-hour rental was somewhere around 5000 CFP, or $50 USD. The cars they had to offer were just funny. So puny, they made the Ford Festiva look like an International Harvester. We got a green Fiat Panda, the "Jolly" model. It barely went. Manual everything. My knees scraped against the dashboard everytime I hit a pedal. And I had the seat all the way back! But I highly recommend doing this at least for part of the day, unless you plan to do a guided island tour.

We basically drove the whole circle around the island, taking in its majestic scenery and stopping in all the shops. The first stop, of course, was the scenic lookout, just up the road from the Sofitel. Everyone stops here for pictures, including us, and we finally discovered what all those people were doing that we had seen from our Bungalow deck. You have probably seen this shot before, or somebody's version of it. It's a beautiful sight, fair enough to say it's the "quintessential South Pacific scene." If you're the kind of person that would say something like that. If you look closely, you can see our bungalow, the one furthest out, all the way to the left. Hey I think I can see me! Sleeping, or something. Also viewable from this spot (but not shown in the picture) is the impressive outline of the big island, Tahiti, about 11 km across the Sea of the Moon.

After the vista, we continued on our way around Moorea. We first came across a few nice shops, almost all of which hawked the same wares: pareos (the ubiquitous Tahitian wraparound, worn by both men and women), T-shirts, black pearls (they're grown and harvested here, but that doesn't mean they're affordable!), floral printed shirts, shorts and swimsuits, surfboards, carved Tikis, soaps, oils, and of course, post cards. We both eventually picked up soap to bring back home for everyone. Doesn't sound too exciting, but it's really nice soap! It's made from a concoction that's unique to Polynesian islands, that has been used by the islanders for centuries to smooth and tan the skin, treat and condition hair, and so forth. They infuse the oils from the Tiare flower, or Tahitian gardenia, with coconut oil, and the result is a very beautiful and intoxicating smell. And it really does make the skin feel like a baby's bottom. If that's what you're into. The hotels supplied this stuff in the bathrooms, and we used it up like it was going out of style. We also smuggled a bunch back home. We didn't take towels or bathrobes, or cups or silverware -- just a lotta soap.

Our next stop was the Belvedere lookout point. This is a popular destination among lone-rangers like ourselves as well as guided tours. You have probably seen pictures taken from this spot. I might have mentioned earlier that the roads on all these islands basically consist of one main road that goes around the perimeter of the island, with maybe just a few residential roads branching off that lead into the interior. Well, one of these roads leads to the Belvedere. It's easy to miss, but there is a sign. The road goes into a clearing and then up a very steep and winding path, to the lookout point, and then continues across to the opposite side of the island. On the way to the top (or on the way down, depending on which way you go), you'll pass an agricultural school, with some plantations (flowers, sugar, pineapple and other fruits from what I understand), a Marae, or temple, and other points of interest. Well, after the hairy, curvy, swervy, winding narrow trip to the top, the breathtaking view turns out to be well worth the struggle. This is so beautiful it's hard to believe it's real. SURreal is a good way to describe it. What you get is a 360° panorama, with the piéce de resistance looking out at what I think is Mt. Rotui, which divides Cook's and Opunohu bays. If you look at the map you can see what I mean. At the top of the mountain of course you'll find a snack truck (roulotte) and souvenirs. We didn't buy anything, though.

We used up the rest of our rental time circling around the island, and we discovered the "industrial" section -- where the ferry docks are located, where the Hinano (the local beer) is imported (for lack of a better term -- it's brewed on Tahiti), and we saw the water and sewage treatment plants. Kind of a shock seeing these things, but only because the rest of the island is so timeless and natural. It really was nothing compared to, say, the now grass-covered mountainous landfill near the town where I grew up or the polyvinyl chloride plants in Louisiana Bayou country.

After returning the car, we had another few hours of "lagoon-time" -- a dip in the lagoon off the bungalow deck, a nap, a quick shower, and off to dinner we go again. Tonight we ate at Chez Jean-Pierre. It sounds fancy, but it AIN'T. Our driver tonight was not from the restaurant but worked for the hotel I believe. He was hard to understand but really warm and friendly, and he had some Bob Marley jamming on the stereo. He wore a giant boar fang on a rope around his neck! He took us and 2 other couples. One of these couples was a pair of newlyweds from the states, and another was an older couple from Australia. We were discussing our trip so far and our trip yet to come, and when the young couple mentioned that they were headed to Bora Bora next (so were we), the woman from Australia said, "we were going to go there too, but then we heard about the dengue fever outbreak. I won't go anywhere near there." Now, Dengue fever (pronounced 'deng-gay', but this lady pronounced it 'dingy') is a mosquito-bourne virus, similar to West Nile, and there never really was any outbreak. A few people on various FP islands have contracted this from time to time, but it's very rare, and while it's surely no fun, it won't kill you unless you're a very small child or a very frail old person. Well, the couple from the states was thoroughly freaked out by this comment, and when the Australian couple got out, I had to reassure the other couple that they had nothing to worry about, and that they should just use bug spray, and do whatever they could to try to avoid bites. I'm sure they were fine. So that couple got dropped off wherever they were going, and we went on to Chez Jean-Pierre. Here they serve a funny combination of seafood and Chinese. Maybe not that funny, since there is a strong Chinese population on the islands. But it wasn't like the Chinese food we're used to in NY. Everything was deep-fried, and HEAVY. I don't even remember what I ordered but whatever it was, it was the wrong thing. Meagan on the other hand, got some fish, and she enjoyed hers. You win some, you lose some. Back to the Sofitel we went for another early night's rest over the spellbinding Moorea lagoon. (oh, and did I mention that these bungalows have a flip-top glass table that opens up to the water beneath? There is a light that you can turn on, and see the fish below, as you feed them bread crumbs from the hotel restaurant. Neat!)