Travels

10/23/01 - The sunrise routine. You know it by now. However, we broke the hotel breakfast ritual this morning and decided instead to venture out onto the main island and see what kind of breakfast was out there. We still had our scooter for another half-day, so we headed towards the village of Vaitape, knowing from our travels the day before that there was an internet cafe there, and a pastry shop, among other things. First we went to the pastry shop, L'Appetisserie (which actually turned out to be the same place as the internet cafe). We had a nice light breakfast of pastry and fruit, outside in front of the cafe. After that, we went inside to get online and send out a few emails to our friends and family on the east coast, to rub it in that we were currently on the other side of the planet, enjoying the ultimate vacation. Wish you were here! By the time the two of us got our emails on, and after having some technical problems with the computers, and because of the very slow speed of their connection, it was getting close to afternoon. So we got some ice cream. Good stuff. When we had finished our treats, we explored some of the shops in the area, and then we headed back to the motu for some more blissful loafing.

I think it was today that I actually spotted the moray eel hanging out in the coral just outside our bungalow. Wow! I swam halfway around the islet, stopping along the way to marvel at all the life going on underwater. At times I had to dodge other tourists who came in droves on excursions (they weren't staying at our hotel). I also noticed that most of the female guests here were topless. Some were bottomless as well. Among the nude was a group of French folks on a sea cruise, who decided to moor their yacht just off the motu. Now that's living! Meagan spent part of the time snorkeling with me, but most of the time soaking up the sun on the deck. I can't tell you whether her top was on. That's classified. Eventually I came up for air, hosed off under the convenient outdoor shower that each bungalow provides, and took up a lounge chair to dry in the powerful south Pacific sun. And perhaps a snooze..... And I think it was right around this time that the staff delivered a great big cheese and fruit platter, with a nice red wine. We gorged, naturally, and didn't have a need to break out our budget snacks this afternoon. After the cheese and wine, there was some more dozing in the sun I'm pretty sure, and eventually a shower to wash off all the salt water and sunscreen. Only to replace the sunscreen later with insect repellent.

When we finished getting ready for dinner, we went outside to enjoy the sunset, which was, of course, breathtaking. It seemed at one point like the whole hotel was out on the bungalow walkways with their cameras, asking their neighbors to take shots of each other. In fact, one guy set up a whole tripod rig right next to where we were standing, outside our room. Fancied himself a professional, I guess. I wonder how his pictures came out. Anyway, here is the pictue we had our neighbors take of us. Flash didn't pop (forgot to turn it on), so we got a dramatic silhouette effect. Works well, I think.

There was a bit of a fiasco in getting dinner together tonight. It went like this: I consulted our Tahiti and French Polynesia Guide by Jan Prince for some restaurant suggestions, and found a place called Temanuata. But when I called the front desk to have them make reservations, they said this place didn't exist anymore. Somebody said it burned down, somebody said they changed the name, to Fare Manuia. So we ended up at Fare Manuia. I don't know if it was the same place as what the book describes, but this is the only piece of misinformation I found in the book. And I'm sure that info was accurate at one time, but no longer. Oh well. The place ended up being kind of expensive, and not so great. Meagan made the mistake of ordering a steak. I think it was tonight when we decided that choice tender cuts of beef were not readily available in F.P. Makes sense -- we didn't see a whole lot of cattle milling about. Needless to say, her steak was extremely tough. I got fish, which is generally a safer bet than beef is there, and it wasn't bad. The restaurant was nice enough -- we sat outdoors, sort of, with a roof over our heads but no walls, which was nice, except for the ever-present mosquitoes. But we did find some entertainment at the next table, where a european woman, having drunk more than her share of wine, was complaining bitterly to the waiter about EVERYTHING. Making a nasty face. Grumbling to her husband. At one point she snapped at the waiter pretty fiercely, saying she refused to leave a tip. When they finally got up to leave, the woman stumbled and almost hit the dirt. The whole crowd got a kick out of that.

In awe of that answer! Ralely cool!

Soudns great to me BWTHDIK