Tropical storm

Well yes, it seems like the rain follows us from Geneva. If the first night we thought that we were going to wake up in Australia, tonight I though that we were in the middle of the thunder itself. I woke up several times with the lighting, very nice, I thought, the storm is going to New Zealand, wrong, couple of hours later it was just above us. I do not recall hearing these impressive thunders in my entire life, the floor seem to be moving, scary. Then I started thinking, if there are no road signs, will they have a pararrayos??? The idea of being grilled like a roasted chicken in the French Polynesia started to kick in my brain. Then torrential rain until 8.30 when dani took the car back to Avis with Steve, the Californian who is going to rent now the same car. Now the sky is grey, but it does not rain. I can listen to all those birds that are always jumping by the roads, risking their lifes, or ours trying to avoid leaving a bird tattoo on the roads. This place is so calm and relaxing, you heard the birds and the sound of the ocean, with waves breaking just a few meters from the bungalow.

The floor of the bungalow is made following the traditional style, that is, a thick layer of white stones that are actually coral, with some big grey stones scattered  around and where in theory you have to walk. This is not my case, specially going to the toilet in the middle of the night with the only light of the storm  lighting, so I usually end up with tiny corals between my toes, which I am starting to consider as an spa treatment. I am looking at the white tiare (gardenia) that Rejane cut for our dinner yesterday. It is so perfect that it does not look real. And the smell!!

This is dani now. This morning I went with Steve to leave the car at the AVIS. The lady was waiting for me, and I told her I was bringing a new customer. We couldn’t refill the tank (we only did 95km at an average of 40Km/h) because the electricity was gone in the island (storm). In fact not at our guest house Fenia because they are in the middle of nowhere and they get the electricity from solar panels and the water from the rain.

The lady from Avis charged me 1500 for the petrol and we had to pay until the electricity came back for a while. The visa machine was not working without electricity. She called the supermarket because they have a power unit so I could pay them, but when we were going to go the electricity came at least enough time to complete the transaction.

Steve, who forgot the driving license at the bungalow and that did not result in any problem to rent the car, took me to the pharmacy where I bought some mosquito repellent. Then he drove me to the bungalow.

Steve is a very nice guy. After 35 years of working hard in California, he has manage to escape for a couple of months to visit all these islands. His trip is reaching the end, but he is enjoying a lot. He lives in the woods in a huge property with his own workshop to cut the trees and build the houses. He builds wood houses like the ones we love (wood and glass).

Now we just spend half an hour here in our bungalow with the owner Rejane. She is so nice. We paid her and now we will soon pack. At 5 we have to go to the airport to take the flight to bora bora. Maybe we can now go and walk a bit in the beach.

Huahine

Our first night in paradise. We really believed that we were going to wake up at least in Australia… and the reason is that there was such a tropical storm during the night that being lost in the middle of the Pacific ocean you have the feeling that the strong winds and rain was going to take the whole little island somewhere else…. or that a big wave was going to take us surfing … we survived thought. Nuria woke up in the middle of the night because she said we were getting wet. Our bamboo-wood shelter is stronger than you would think.

First thing in the morning after nice breakfast in the bungalow, we asked the lady to help us get a car, so half an hour later we had the AVIS lady here who took us to the AVIS rental close by the only petrol station in the island. She was telling us to take the car for two days with a better price. We said that we do not know. Now we do. One day is more than enough so it will cost us a bit more (7900 francs) but it is fine.

We went all around the island starting with Maeva where you can find 28 maraes temples that were restored. The maraes were the the royal households of the royal families. The road had no lines, was narrow but it was paved nicely probably due to the fact that the traffic is nearly non existent in this island. We continued the only road with no signs with the magnificence view of the mountains, and Mou’a Tapu, their sacred one, and the one that has been attracting all the winds and water (literally 5 min high pression showers). The aitos (trees) were all around us, creating this spectacular view in front of us at all times. We crossed several public phones, it seems that there is one every 200 meters, and we decided to stop and book our accommodation in Bora. We crossed over a little bridge to Huahine Iti, the small island and we arrived to the top end of it very quickly ( the lady from Avis said that if you do not stop you arrived to the bottom of the island in 30 minutes -  and consider that the maximum allowed speed is 60 km/hour).  Behind a curve, we saw the most clear turquoise water ever, and in the view point another 2 cars with an orange point on the front and back (rental cars) were taking pictures of the water in front of the motu. We followed the road and we did as we were told, that is stop at Chez Tara, have lunch and enjoy the beach. As it was only 11 am, we decided to go for a swim first, and what a fabulous beach and blue turquoise waters we had in front of us, with some 26 degrees, the water was great. We walked up and down the beautiful beach and then we selected a small table just 2 meters from the water ( this is the closest we have ever had lunch to the sea – excluding on a boat). Fresh fish catch of the day nature and the same with vanilla sauce. With banana split to keep dani happy. Fantastic! Tara, the cook did not speak much french, so conversation was little but views, handsome 30 something and food did not require anything else. We continued our way around the island to reach again the bridge between both Huahines, full with children jumping into the water the 10 meters high. All very excited about possibly the most interesting activity in the island: jump and ask the tourist to take a photograph of them, which we did of course, actually I believe that dani took some 20 of them…

We wanted to stop in the Eden Garden, but somehow we missed it because when we saw the next sign we were close to the main village of Fare. Signalization and marketing is not in the dictionary here. In fare we stayed for a couple of hours just in the beach contemplating the beautiful mountains and the sea with the motu some 500 meters away where the waves break. And then we headed back to our hotel, to have a shower and a fantastic dinner with another guest, Steve, a Californian ,who decided to go on a 2 month trip to these islands because his mortgage is paid and his kids are grown up and with jobs. He explained us a lot of things about his 1 month cruise ( in a big boat for 100 passengers) and then the hoping of islands he was doing. Really nice guy. And what to say about the food! 2 trays with 3 rouges each and a bowl with raw fish cooked in a coconut milk and ginger sauce to lick your fingers. There was even a cake made with coconut milk, not very sweet but really tasty.

Rejane explained us that the restaurant, facing the ocean, where we are, was built by her father and we you look up to the impressive roof and how the bamboos are attached together, you wonder how he could have though of doing it like that. The area is opened so air can circulate all around and does not pose a barrier to its flow.

Back to our bungalow I sprayed myself with the local repellent made of Tahiti Monoi and Tamanu oil. It says that it is a long lasting efficient mosquito and biting insect repellent with those oils and plant extracts; it is very pleasant to apply, smells lovely compared to the one we brought from Thailand but apparently the insects here do not agree with what is written in the label, and my right leg can probe it…

And that was it, at 9.00 pm we were already in bed, no wonder we wake up so early!

Hello paradise!

We still cannot believe that yesterday we were in San Francisco having a nice bacon burger at Luci’s diner and today we are in a wood bungalow facing the sea in Huahine in the French Polynesia. Before I must say that we do not have Internet access. I continue to take photos with the iphone and nuria with the n79. We also continue writing every day on what we do, but now offline in the VAIO. When we have access we will publish everything but for what I see, it is not going to be straight forward in this side of the world.

Anyway. Yesterday, well in fact I don’t even know if it was yesterday, but last thing we blogged was when being in San Francisco and then we were taking the BART train that stops at Powell and costs USD 5.35 to the airport. We arrived with plenty of time ahead. We had a coke in a nice bar inside the airport with the planes beside. Then we went to Los Angeles. Fortunately the bags were checked in until Papeete (Tahiti). The check-in in San Francisco with United Airlines was pretty straight forward. We had to do it in a desk with a machine and a phone… strange.

In LA we had to change terminals. We went to the one where Air Tahiti Nui operates, basically we were arriving at Terminal 3 and this one was on the left. 10 min. LA airport, at least the terminal were we were has nothing to be envied from a Malawian airport…. really pathetic. We waited until 23.50 (we were dead…) and we boarded the airbus that took us to Papeete. We sat and we got slept. We missed dinner.

One hour and a half before arriving to Papeete we woke up and they served breakfast. Cool. I had pudding. Now our time difference is of 10 hours.

Papeete airport is a small airport. The first thing we did after collecting our bags was to go to Air Tahiti and buy a "multipass" or "blue pass". It consists on a pass to fly to many islands for a fare that is (in our case) 50% of the regular fare. Yes we landed in Tahiti with no hotel booking. ;-)

We bought the following combination: Tahiti-Huahine. This is where we are now. Then after 2 days here we have a Huahine-Bora Bora. In Bora bora we will stay 3 nights. Then Bora Bora-Moreea. In Moreea 2 nights. Then Moreea-Tahiti. One night in Tahiti and then to Auckland (New Zealand).

Well all this flight was 28.400 Francs per person. Reasonable.

After buying a second Tour du Monde within the French Polynesia we went to the storage room and we left the backpacks there. Our flight was departing at 14.20 and it was 8am when we bought this in the airport.

We crossed the main road in front of the airport, and took le "truck" , basically a lorry acting as a bus (not better than the ones in India or Guatemala) that took us for 130 francs to Papeete downtown. I have to say that Tahiti and in general the French Polynesia is pretty expensive. Everything is like in Europe.

Once in town (15 min) we went to the Information Office and asked to info about guesthouses for Huahine, Bora Bora and Moreea. They gave us a lot of info. I took photos of all the pages of the folder they had with guest houses. I can post them once we are back. We called several in Huahine. All fully booked, but one that I liked (that is actually on the other end of the island) was very expensive. 20.000 which is around 200 usd per night… for a guest house…. wow.

After much sweating inside the phone box, we finally found one that is called Fetia. 8000 francs per night for the bungalow.

We went to visit Papeete. The ladies in the information office gave us a map with some itineraries that we followed until around 12.30 when we stopped to have lunch by the coast. Tuna that was actually 80% raw, with curry and coconut sauce. Very good. Then, "truck" back to the airport and flight to meet our Fetia guest house.

A wonderful lady, the owner came with his son to pick us up at the airport. Mini airport as you could imagine. The traditional belt for the luggage, here it was two shelves where they put the bags, extremely fast.

The guest house is pretty close to the airport so we went with their pick up for a non paved trail until her place.

We are in a big bungalow. Very very nice, all in wood, with a kitchen, toilet, a mezzanine. All in bamboo and wood. 10 seconds from a beach for us. It faces the ocean not the lagoon, so it is wild. First thing we did was to go and have a bath. Then walk in the endless beach. Then come back, have a shower and now I am writing while guess…. a super tropical storm is trying to take our bungalow to the outer space.

Now I guess that once is stops raining a bit (it was sunny until now…) I guess that the lady (petty I did not retain her name) will come to call us for dinner. She asked if we like fish. Yummy! She also asked if we have coffee in the mornings and that she will help us to get a car tomorrow so we can go and visit the island, that is one of the most beautiful ones of the Society islands.