Day 251, Year 1: Sunday in Papeete
Date: Sunday, June 25, 2006
Weather: Beautiful Day!
Location: Anchored Closer to the Reef, Still Near Marina Taina, Papeete, Tahiti
I was gently reminded by a friend back in New Hampshire that my description of last night’s Ballet of Tahiti performance might put our website in the PG-13 category. I’ll just blame that on the influence of my brother-in-law Lee. I was just quoting!
Our day today started very early. We were up by 6:00 and in downtown Papeete by 7:30 to see the Sunday morning buying frenzy at the central market. Everyone flocks downtown between 5 AM and 8 AM to buy fresh food for their Sunday afternoon dinners. The traffic going into town was unbelievable for 7 AM on a Sunday morning, but it is tradition here to shop, get the food cooking, go to church, and then feast with family. We had fun watching the crowd and taking pictures. Mary Ellen, Mark’s sister, was totally taken in by the flower vendors. They sell arrangements of the most exotic tropical flowers that you can imagine for $10 to $20. The same arrangements in the US would cost somewhere between $75 to $100 dollars. I was most fascinated by the fish market. They have blue parrot fish alongside some sort of red fish, and then yellow fish, black fish, and on and on and on. The display is beautiful
We had a little extra time before the 9:30 mass at the Notre Dame Catholic Church in the heart of Papeete, so we went down to the waterfront for coffee to go with the French pastries we had bought at the market. While there, we were watching the beginning of the Holland-Portugal soccer game on a large screen in the center of the waterfront restaurant. We then proceeded to the Notre Dame Church, but there was no mass. We were told to return at 10:00. We walked to the government center, the Territorial Assembly, and took some pictures and then returned. Still no mass. We finally gave up and decided to walk to the Papeete Evangelical Church. This church is known for the hats the women wear and for their beautiful Polynesian music. The visit did not disappoint us. We stayed for part of the service, enjoyed the singing, and then headed out the street to catch LeTruck back to the marina.
We had a great morning in Papeete and then went out to the reef area for a snorkel. I saw a Crown of Thorns eating away at the coral. We saw lots of other reef-fish but the coral here is damaged and not very colorful. Still the water was very clear and it was a wonderful afternoon in the water.
Lee cooked dinner on the newly installed grill that he and Mary Ellen brought to us. It is great to have a grill again. Tomorrow we do our final shopping here and then head to Moorea. The adventure is underway once again.
 |
| 060625 Day 251 Society Islands, Tahiti–Sunday in Papeete |
