TAHITI 2010

TAHITI 2010
Towering palms swaying gently on a balmy breeze, a brilliant moon shining through puffy white clouds, the soft strum of a ukulele seductively accompanying the poetic grace of a long haired gloriously tanned beauty from an imagined world and you and your best friend held captive by a magnificent setting sun. Welcome to French Polynesia and the wonders in each of our minds created by a life time of film, books and music that has become a part of each of us. Hey! We want to go to Tahiti.
Our seven night nine day trip to Tahiti started with an inviting ad in our local newspaper. “Take your Sweetie to Tahiti – only $895 including air fare for four nights. Since we’d just tossed a note about a visit to a South Sea Island in our “bucket”, we were quick to sign on. A few days later, after appropriate reflection that usually follows spontaneous acts of wildness, we acknowledge the fact that we wanted to go but it seemed a long way to go for just a couple of days. Negotiating with the travel company followed with arrangements agreed that would extend the stay for a full week. We were set.
Since Air Tahiti Nui was the key element in our travel bargain, we needed to get to Los Angeles to begin the seven and a half hour trip. Our flight left Los Angeles at 5:30 pm on a Sunday afternoon and delivered us to Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, at 11:00 pm the same day. To say the least, we were bushed. We left our home at 8:00 am and spent the next 18 hours in transit.
Our original reservations had us booked into the Papeete Hilton. A call two weeks before we left informed us that the Hilton had just announced it was closing and we would be assigned a different hotel; the Sofitel Maeva Beach Resort Hotel. We knew Sofitel liked to think of itself as on the high end of four stars but it took a “google” to assure us that we wanted to accept the substitute. The Sofitel brags about its “only” white sand beach in Tahiti and it’s marvelous view of the “lagoon”. We agreed to the change when we were assured a sea view room which wasn’t in the package offered by Hilton.
Our assigned room pleased us. The view, as promised, gave us a full view of the lagoon between Tahiti and Moorea, a good look at the huge pool between the hotel and the ocean and a clear shot of the outdoor dining room that allowed us to pick our times for meals when we could avoid the rush. Interestingly enough, there were no big crowds. Like the rest of the world, Tahiti has been suffering big time from the recession. During our stay we enjoyed the pick of the beach spots or poolside lounges whenever we were ready.
We discovered quickly that Tahiti is different. The money, the French Polynesian Franc, was once tied to the US Dollar differing only in the fact that no decimal was used. Thus $5.00 became 500 francs. The declining dollar no longerdrives the Franc and the exchange rate is now between 78 and 88 Francs to the dollar, depending where you trade. The negative exchange rate is magnified by the “consumption tax” philosophy that provides the income necessary to run the country. Almost all commodities are taxed before they arrive on the market shelf. We were told that a two liter bottle of coke costs about 1$ US at dockside but close to the equivalent of $5 US on the market shelf. A $20,000 car from Japan sells for $40,000 after the consumption tax is added. Those who like regressive taxes will love the French Polynesian system. No income taxes and everyone pays the same tax when purchases are made.
With jobs lost because of reduced tourism, we expected to see some signs of a weakened economy. We didn’t. Ladies drove the family car to the supermarket four blocks from home. Everyone seemed to have a car or motor scooter for transportation. Morning and evening rush hours provided the appropriate traffic with smog producing traffic jams all over Papeete. All seemed happy. Boys, men and women over thirty seemed, in the majority, over fed if not obese.
Tahiti, like all of French Polynesia, started life as a volcanoe; actually several volcanoes. The “island” is actually two islands connected by a narrow isthmus. The largest island is Tahiti Nui; the Nui meaning large. The smaller is Tahiti Iti; you guessed it..Iti means small. Tahiti Nui has three towering mountains at heights of 6,000, 6,400 and 6,800 feet respectively. The tops of the mountains are perpetually in the clouds and almost constant rain. The rainfall provides for hundreds of waterfalls and a source of hydro electric power that supplies 20% of the island’s need. The remaining 80% is generated by diesel generators.
Tahiti is estimated to have been settled by Polynesians from Samoa and Tonga between 300 and 800 AD. The first European to visit Tahiti was Englishman Samuel Wallis in 1767. He was followed by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville who was completing France’s first circumnavigation. It was Bouganville’s account of his visit that attracted the attention of Europe. He described an earthly paradise where men and women lived happily in innocence, away from the corruption of civilization. Captain Cook stopped by for several months in1769 to recover from scurvy that had weakened his crew and himself. The island became a stopover for anyone in the area in the coming years including the HMS Bounty which stopped for provisions just before the famous mutiny.
In 1842 French Admiral Dupetit Thouars convinced Queen Pomare IV to accept a French protectorate which remained until 1880 when King Pomare V was forced to cede sovereignty to France. The story is told how the King, an alcoholic, was deprived of his booze until he signed off on ownership to France. In following years, the British and France fought for control of the Pacific islands. In a final treaty, The French gave the English the rights to colonize Australia and New Zealand in exchange for all that is now known as French Polynesia; an area as large as Europe containing 118 islands. Today French Polynesia is called a French Overseas Community which is privileged to govern much of its life without interference from France. There is some talk about Polynesia becoming an independent country but no one sees such happening very soon.
Our tour of the island was on the one highway around the coast covering about 71 miles. While the island originally inhabited by early settlers was largely barren, the entire island is now a mass of heavy vegetation brought to the island from all over the Paciic. Flowering shrubs and trees are ever present with Breadfruit trees, bamboo, avocado, banyan, pine and a large variety of exotic trees covering all open space that hasn’t been purposefully cleared. We stopped to view a couple of “blow holes” along the coast. Every little bay had a few surfers waiting for a big one even though the shoreline everywhere featured menacing looking rocks. We saw several surfers standing on their boards using a paddle to enhance their speed and control. A few houses featured grass roofs but most had roofs of corrugated steel painted in soft pastel colors.
We were surprised to see ash trays on our tables in restaurants and people smoking pretty much where ever they pleased. On the other hand, we didn’t see all that many smokers and very few young people smoking. Trash in the streets made one think that perhaps we were in a Mexican border town although the graffiti was much less offensive than we know in California and far less artistic
Papeete is the capital of French Polynesia with Tahiti being the most populated of the islands in the country. French Polynesia is inhabited by 260,000 people 170,000 of which live on the island of Tahiti.
We decided that we couldn’t call our Tahiti visit complete without doing a Tahitian show. The Intercontinental Hotel next door had such a show so we cabbed over (we were told it wasn’t wise to wal k the area at night) for dinner and the show. The dancers were highly trained and very athletic looking. The ten men and ten women wore great costumes and danced beautifully while the six piece Tahitian band drummed and played in superb fashion. But we were bored. We didn’t know why we were disappointed but we chose to leave before the usual Hawaiian/Tahitian thing where the customers get to get up and look foolish trying to dance with the stars of the show.
Our tour of the island proudly took us to the Paul Gaugan Museum where the story of his life was told and copies of his most famous paintings were displayed. We learned that Gaugan began his many faceted life as a seaman sailing the world on sail powered cargo ships. He became a banker, married well, had four children and gained a fortune as a stock broker. A recession caused the loss of his fortune and changed his life. He left his wife and children and took up the life of a struggling artist. He gained an appointment as Envoy to Tahiti that included passage to the island but no salary. He struggled for years as a painter never really gaining much attention for his work. He married a 13 year old Tahitian girl and began painting young Tahitian ladies with little success. At one point he attempted suicide. He had been taking arsenic in small doses to cure syphilis. In a fit of depression, he drank an almost full bottle of arsenic and finished off a bottle of absinthe before setting down to die. His previous experience with arsenic allowed his system to cope and he became very ill but did not die. He died at age 65 while living in the Marquessa Islands and never learned that one day his work would become very valuable.
The population of Tahiti today is approximately 60% Tahitian, 10% Chinese, about 10% French and a mixture of the three. 1000 Chinese were brought to Tahiti in the mid 19th Century to work in cotton fields when attempts to employ Tahitians failed. Cotton thrived until the late 1860 ‘s when world cotton prices fell after our Civil War. The Chinese were left to their own devices and had to find new means of survival. Today the Chinese of Tahiti are the wealthy class owning much of the island and controlling much of the business.
We knew before we left home that we wanted to visit Moorea; an island about 15 miles from Tahiti Nui. Rather than doing it on our own, we signed up for a tour that picked us up at our hotel, dropped us off on the dock near our high speed ferry, met us with a guide and bus on Moorea, fed us lunch while we were entertained by Tahitian dancers and took us back and dropped us off on the door a step of our hotel eight hours later. As luck would have it, no one else was interested in a tour of Moorea on our chosen day and we had a ten passenger van and guide all to ourselves for the day. Our guide/driver, Timate, was Tahitian from a family that had been fishermen for several generations. Like most Tahitians, Timate spoke both Tahitian and French as first languages. He also spoke clear and precise English for which he apologized repeatedly. We were pleased that Timate was our guide for the day.
As we were driven the 37 mile perimeter road, we were told that Moorea has only 17,000 inhabitants; 10% Chinese, 21% Japanese, 50% Tahitian and the rest a mixture of the three. Each time we passed a store or supermarket we were told that the businesses were run by Chinese. A considerable number of Mooreans take the ferry each day to Tahiti for work and school. Fishing and farming are the principal sources of work for the people of the island. The four resort hotels on the island contribute valued jobs as well. People on the island are still talking of the “tragic” closing of a Club Med in 2001 five days after 9/11. The loss of 140 steady jobs continues to be a source of concern and almost daily discussion.
Timate told us that the lack of jobs and things to do made it very difficult for young Mooreans. Drugs and alcohol are a significant problem that no one seems to be able do much about. Alcohol related traffic deaths among young people is an ever present occurrence. Timate told us of his brother who died in a high speed crash that killed 5 boys, none over twenty.
We stopped for photo ops at a bay where the film Mutiny was filmed at another bay, Cook’s Bay, where Captain Cook spent several months on one of his voyages in the area. The inevitable tourist “trap”, Tiki Village, provided a pleasant stop where we were encouraged to buy handicrafts and such from nice people in Tahitian garb. A couple of the men were dressed in the kind of loin cloth worn by Suma wrestlers. Such a costume gave full view of tattoos covering legs, posteriors, backs, arms and torsos that were often completely covered with art work. We were told that all men wore tattoos. The tattoos were designed to tell much about the person; where his family came from, the kind of work he did, where he went to school and much more.
A Tahitian meal was served us. Dottie had Pineapple Pork and I had chicken in a cocoanut milk sauce. A four piece band played as a troupe of three men and three women danced local Polynesian dances. Our guide Timate was one of the musicians and sang lustily when the need arose.
One of the interesting exhibits at Tiki Village was a display of several dozen black and white photographs of young Tahitians. The exhibit was a gift from the wife of a photographer who had visited the island several times before World War II. The gift was made as a reminder to all of the innocence and beauty of the local people before civilization over ran this part of the world. Almost all of the photographs were of naked subjects who were obviously comfortable dressed as they were.
As we waited on the pier for our ferry return to Papeete, we were entertained by a half dozen teen age boys who repeatedly dove from a platform about 20 feet above the water. The boys who were in their late teens were having great fun as each tried to out dive or cannon ball his friends. The show was especially appreciated by a class of apparent third and fourth graders who were waiting for the same ferry after a field trip on Moorea.
The wonderful warm sea water caressing the beach at our hotel made a pleasant site for several days of loafing in the shade of one of those cute little grass hut like table coverings that you are supposed to see on a south seas beach. An occasional dip to cool off between naps made one wonder how we got so lucky.
Our long trek back to Pleasanton was made pleasant and memorable by several fun things. While we were waiting for our mid-night flight out of Papeete, a man of about our age was wheeled in by a lady who appeared to be a daughter and another lady wearing a big badge on her shirt that said nurse. They sat next to us. Within minutes, the man, all smiles, took out an eight string ukulele and began playing. His daughter and the nurse sang along in Tahitian. We asked if the man was going to be the entertainment on our flight to Los Angeles. The question was good for a laugh. Moments later a wheelchair pusher airport employee joined the group and sang along. At the end of the song, the newcomer was asked to play which he did. For the next thirty minutes the two did their version of dueling ukuleles much to our pleasure and those sitting around us. We hardly noticed that our plane was an hour late in taking off.
The second fun thing was an invitation to upgrade to Business Class for the seven and a half hour flight. The flight had been oversold and we were moved from peon class to empty seats up front so that others could make the flight. That made the flight one in which we both slept for almost six hours and then enjoyed a full breakfast served on linen with real knives and forks.
Our third delight came as we arrived in San Jose. Dorri and Andrea picked us up after our 4:30 arrival. Knowing that the highway home is one big traffic jam at that hour, it was quickly decided that dinner before driving home was in order. Andrea has a suggestion for a restaurant nearby and we headed in that direction. We decided that since it was dinner time for most folks, we called Bill’s sister Jan to invited her to join us. She wasn’t home so we left a message. Five minutes after we arrived at the restaurant we had chosen, Bills’ nephew Cliff Grodeon entered the restaurant. We asked if Jan had received our message and if he was going to have dinner with us. He seemed a little surprised to see us and allowed as how he was meeting Jan and Brooke, Skylar and Jesse there for dinner. A few minutes later, Ja












































































































































































n et al came through the door totally surprised to see us. Our good fortune brought about a wonderful meal and visit with family that closed our exciting Tahiti adventure.
We are truly blessed,
With our love to all,
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill