Who needs roads in Paradise? Our way to Moorea

    Our last morning in Bora Bora and our first day in Moorea. Another piece of paradise lost in the pacific ocean. I started the post today with who needs roads in Paradise because in our way to the airport, with the boat, we crossed a truck! a truck in a boat and it reminded me the t-shirt my brother bought 15 years ago from "back to future" saying who needs roads, meaning the delorian traveling through time.

The next picture is nuria, blogging from the beach, in front of our bungalow in bora bora.

This morning we tried to fix our visa problem. Lately is refusing all payments… and we wanted to pay all the car rentals with the American visa gold because it has a great insurance. Finally we managed to talk to them. We called them with skype by buying some more wifi time. The connection dropped several times but they called us back fortunately. The fact is that we have reached the limit! how embarrassing!! and it won’t be reset until the 7th of March. The good news is that in 48 hours the UNFCU will transfer the funds to the visa account so we will have credit again. If I manage to have Internet before I will try to do it via e-banking. Something good about the US visa is that it is like an account. You can top it with money so you can spend more. Anyway, the fact is that this morning we took the "truck" or local "bus" to Vaitape, which is sort of the "capital" (more than two houses) where we took the boat to the airport. There I took the photo of the truck ;-)

Once in the airport we checked in and we had a mango drink. Bora Bora’s airport is without no doubt the most beautiful airport in the world. It is small, traditional, but having a drink in the little bar with the view over the lagoon and the mountains has no price. Look at nuria having her mango drink ;-)

After a while we took the plane, always these little planes with helixes, and went to Huahine and then Moorea. In Moorea we left the plane and surprise, in the Airport and looks like he was going in the same flight, starting in Huahine, Steve!! our Californian friend we met at Fetia’s. They lost his bags… incredible in a 20 minute flight…. We went outside but after 30 minutes waiting for the "truck" in the main road 5 minutes from the airport we were told that it might not come, so we went back to the airport and Gino took us in his taxi. The three of us. Gino will bring a rental car for us tomorrow here at Motu Iti, where we are staying now. We will have the car for 24 hours starting at 8.30. We will go an pick up Steve and go and visit the Island that has around 60 Km of circumference. They make us a good price. 7200 for the day.

Today when we arrived at Motu Iti guesthouse we were like… wooooow. Our bungalow is top of the class. Look at the picture on the right…. We are actually 2 meters from the sea with a fully equipped bungalow. Beautiful place this Motu Iti. The owner is a Japanese old guy with a lot of taste and attention to detail. He has a restaurant here also by the lagoon. We have free kayaks and just in front we have plenty of coral reef. We just had a shower after snorkeling a bit in front of the bungalow. Incredible. Nuria is having a shower while I am writing. In an hour or so we will go to the restaurant to have dinner.

Today after we arrived to Moorea we went walking looking for a supermarket to buy breakfast and something for lunch. 1 hour walking!!!! aarrghh. We did not mind as the views are astonishing and it is worth to walk around.

more sharks, rays and other wonders

This morning sunny! wow!! We booked here at chez Nono a one day trip around the island to experience the most beautiful sites of this piece of paradise.

We woke up, walked to the supermarket to buy breakfast. We had breakfast in our table 3 meters from the sea and I went to the hotel besides (Matira) because I noticed that they had wifi, so I wanted to see if I could buy some time. I bought a 1 hour voucher so tonight I will connect and post everything from the last day in San Francisco until today.

Well 9.30 we go in a boat in a tour around the island. I did not mention this but often I take my Oregon 300 gps and I record everything we do, so if someone wants, I can send the paths or coordinate of specific points. The boat was sort of traditional. First we stopped in the Coral Garden to do some snorkeling. Beautiful. We saw a morena (I don’t know in English) and tons and tons of fish, nearly the 700 different tropical species that live in the islands.Really beautiful. Then second stop in the middle of the sand lagoon, and a unique experience… In Spanish they are called "rayas". Snorkeling with the guy of the boat "captain" who had some fish, and 10 to 20 1.5m rays came to us. Incredible experience. Water was at 1.2 m only so you could stand. They were coming to us, and even coming out of the water. At the beginning it was a bit scary but they are like dolphins. Very silky and soft. They were like dogs so cute. The feeling of swimming with 5 of this huge rayas beside you and other fishes was incredible. And more incredible was when the sharks came. The black dot sharks (I am translating from french "roquins de pointe noire"). These are not as big as the ones we saw yesterday when diving but in a 1.2 m depth of water with 10-20 rays and 5 sharks, feeding them was amazing.

We continued our boat outing and a group of 5 to 7 dolphins followed us and started playing, going to one side of the boat and jumping. Beautiful. This is really paradise. After that we headed towards a motu with white sand and an incredible view over Bora Bora mountain and they cooked for us one of the best meals we have had here. "Espadon" fish and raw fish with coco, and coco bread. All served in banana leaves and cooked traditionally with the coconut covers to feed the fire. Unforgettable experience.

After a while (with traditional songs, and showing the ladies how to use the pareo and dance the traditional sexy dances) we headed to another spot for snorkeling. The particularity of this is that I have never seen such an amount of fish together in my life. You could just snorkel within the coral and find hundreds of varieties of fish. The captain fed a morena.

After that we headed to our place where I had a shower and I started writing while Nuria is having a bath. Tonight we might go to "bloody Mary" for dinner we will see.

What is certain is that I have a boucher of 1 hour and that I will be able to post all the posts ;-) and check email.

Tomorrow morning we are leaving to Moorea. Motu Iti is the name of the guest house. Great way of traveling by the way. You get to know local people.

Swimming with the Sharks

Sunday 22nd of February. Bora Bora.

After our great evening at the Intercontinental hotel with lobster a go-go and tipical Bora Bora dancing show, we went to bed, latter than usual, and the day after, Sunday, was going to be our first day in the pearl of the ocean.

At 7.30am we had the Bora Bora Blue Nui diving boat in our beach. The first night we slept in the house, with a little balcony in front of the sea, on the beach. From day two in a typical bungalow on the beach. Well, we took the boat. The day was not great. It rained a bit but we did not care,as it is not that important when you dive. Philippe, the instructor went to pick up another 2 people to another Intercontinental hotel and then to the school in one of the Motu.

We paid with our Swiss visa (29000 for 4 dives, 2 each with material and pick up service with boat). The US visa is giving us a lot of problems. It did not work when trying to pay the internal flights and it did not work for the diving. We are pretty pissed off with it as we still don’t have Internet and we don’t know which is the number to call in order to fix it.

After getting our material and paying, we went out of the island and we did our first dive. I had my new mare puck computer. Philippe told us that we were going to see two kind of sharks: black dot sharks and lemon sharks. Indeed, when we jumped into the water there it was, a 3 meter long shark…. my first “big fish” that Pep would say. We went down to 23 meter and there were like 3 sharks following us. I was damn scared…  The 200 bar lasted 50 minutes. It was amazing! Poor nuria did not see the sharks until she was just in front of one of them, and she said later on that the shark was coming towards her, 50 cm below her but in the same direction, and then she saw the mouth half open and was thinking that it could take her whole arm as an aperitif. This particular shark seemed to like her because it was wandering around very close a couple of times, it was quite something! There were tons and tons of different fish, including a big turtle. I cannot describe it with words. I think our next gadget will be a case for the digital camera (the casio) so we can take it down. So beautiful.

The second dive was not very far from there. We saw also a “morena” and sharks again. The current was very strong but the coral here was better preserved, we really enjoyed it. It is amazing being inside the lagoon with all those fishes that are static in groups like chatting, and they abandon themselves to the current, so we did.

After that Philippe took us back to our place “chez Nono”, where we had a shower, and we walked a bit to club med because Nuria read that they had a nice deal where you could stay in the hotel for a day, use the installations and have lunch there. Well, in the way there we realized that it was closed! and so are many other businesses! restaurants, the bora bora hotel… all closed. We don’t know if it is because it is low season. So we have to come back… but we stopped at a restaurant and we have lunch by the sea. Then back to our bungalow and siesta ;-)

In the evening we walked the other way up to “Bloody Mary”, a very famous restaurant where tons of famous people have gone: Cameron Diaz, Marlon Brandon, Rainiero, Julio Iglesias, Pamela Andersen, Bill&Melinda Gates, Prince Hussein, all those with no money, poor things. We tried to go but it was also closed, only on Sundays though. We might go tomorrow.

For dinner we went to “La bounty” also not very far from our place. I had pizza (yes… after so much fish I felt like having pizza) and Nuria had mahi mahi with vanilla sauce, we drunk nearly the whole bottle of white wine we ordered waiting for the food, but it was nice and we were still discussing the shark experience. We decided to finish it with the chocolate fudge cake with melted chocolate and cream, very healthy! So half drunk we went back to the hotel to be eaten alive by the lovely local mosquitos.

Diving in Bora-Bora with GPS Garmin Oregon 300. Mouse over to see the Diving spot.

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Pora Pora

Rejane gave us a lift to the airport and there we waited with the Polynesian ladies who were in the same flight when we arrived wearing immaculate flower hats. As we wanted to go diving we thought it would be probably better to assure us a place for the following day. So we phoned and we managed to book with Blue nui dive. The plane arrived a little bit late, we were so excited to fly to the pearl of the ocean… The 15 minute flight took us to the best located airport I have ever landed in. It is in a motu (small island) surrounded by turquoise water.

The lagoon ( it is 3 times larger that its land mass) is one of the most beautiful in the world, shading from turquoise to deep blue and its string of white sanded islets. In the islands you see the Mounts Otemanu and Pahia all covered in lush greens. Bora bora is the oldest of the Society islands (7 million years old). It is almost an atoll, a stage half way between the Tumamotu atolls(10-40 million years old) and high islands such as Tahiti (2 millions years).Its huge lagoon, bordered by a very wide reef is open in only one place, or pass.

Before the Europeans arrival the island was called Mai Te Pora which means created by the gods, the name evolved to Pora Pora and then Bora Bora.The islands first inhabitants arrived around the 9th century after a long trip across the Pacific

Upon arrival to the airport a shuttle boat take you to Vaitape, which is the main city in the island, were all the shops, banks and other important things are. We picked up our back bags and the truck-taxi to the hotel was waiting for us. In 10 minutes we arrived and checked in. For the first night there was not beach bungalow available so we stayed in a room on the second floor of the main building just in front of Matira beach. Then we decided to go for dinner, as I was starving. I had read in the guide that Saturday was the marvelous night at the Intercontinental which happened to be across the street. This consisted of a seafood buffet and a Polynesian show. So we exploded our budget with the superior dinner, I had 2 lobsters, 6 oysters, raw fish,huge mussels in Provencal sauce and then dessert. When I only had eyes, fingers and all my concentration dedicated to the lobster, dani brought to my attention the young Polynesian guy standing by my side with a flower necklace asking if I wanted to go with him and dance. I doubted for a few seconds, as my lobster was going to get cold, but only once in a life time I was going to be given a beautiful necklace just for ridiculasing  myself in front of all the posh guest at the Intercontinental, so I say, of course yes. After watching some of the other terrible dancers, the tiny piece of shyness I could have disappear, and after 10 minutes of dancing and laughing I returned to my table to finish my sweety. Delicious! I could not resist, I had to go for the second whole one ( not halves!!). Unfortunately I spent so much time dancing and eating that I was too late for the mango, well I had cake and strawberries instead. And then the terrible moment arrived, dani proposed the famous Sinpa or going without paying, and surely we should have done so, or maybe charge it to room 123, but we have lived for too long in Switzerland and become responsible and soon-to-be-broke citizens… So whoever is reading this, please consider inviting us for dinner in April as I think we are going to live on water and bread for a couple of months…

2 walks in Bora-Bora with GPS Garmin Oregon 300. Mose over to see the guest house where we stayed.

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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!

Huahine-Nui with Oregon 300

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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.

Bye bye San Francisco

Today is our last day here in SF. Guess what. Sunnnnnny. Yes. Every day raining like hell and today that we leave, sunny…

Anyway. This morning we woke up later than usual. We went downstairs and we realized it was rush hour for pancakes. We got our spot and we cooked the worst pancakes of all these days. They were more like scrambled eggs… They were tasty though. We packed and we left the bags in the bag room. They gave us the $20 deposit that you give on day one and bye bye.

We  walked towards the Civic Centre, and listened to a politician convincing people on how green the city hall of San Francisco is with a project with a private sector company that he kept on pronouncing wrongly to integrate hybrids cars into the city. Inside the city hall we were quite amazed by the huge dome and stairs. We culturized ourselves a little bit more with the wedding intricacies and very different fashion touches in SF. Then we walked up to Coit Tower, when we thought that we were terribly mistaken we finally got to the art deco tower and visited inside the paintings commissioned to the then young artists of the bay in 1934 picturing the regionalism style of the Grand Depression years. The tower was a gift of a wealthy and peculiar lady who got married to Howard Coit. She was unconventional not only in her dressing code (man clothes), but also in her attitude: smoking cigars, gambling, the kind of woman I like!

We were feeling a little bit hungry so we decided to stop at Lori’s dinner and enjoy a go bananas milkshake, a vanilla milkshake with burger, house sandwich and mozarella stickers, ummmm, yummy but quite too much.

Now here we are drinking coke and water at the SFO international airport waiting for our connection flight to LA and then Papeete!!! Ji ji ji ji ji.

Scenic drive with Dylan

Today we had booked a tour with Dylan. He came at ten and took 10 of us in his van for a great 4.5 hours. We visited most of San Francisco, the golden gate, and the highlights: muir woods, with the amazing redwood trees with 120 m high and some more than 1000 years! One would say that we were on a fantasy film and that little men would come from the forest. So let me try to remember all I heard from Dylan from the beginning. We started in our neighborhood which is called Tenderloin and is where most homeless and drug addicts hang around because of the drug dispensers where apparently anyone with a special card prescribed by your doctor "to help you sleep" which costs 100 USD could go and get very cheap marihuana. We passed soma district where according to dani, the guy who transmits SOMA FM is based, then we headed to Mission district where the city was born as Yerba Buena thanks to Spanish missionaries who settled there because it was the only flat area around, and at that time the main living was farming. We continued through the Castro -  or gay area – with fancy restaurants, bars, shops and plenty of rainbow flags. We took a picture below the 4.20 clock at the most famous crossing: Haight Ashbury, and we passed by the house where Janice Joplin lived for a while and others who created the hippie movement. We took again another picture at Alamo Square with the 7 sisters (Victorian houses that survived the 8.1 1906 earthquake). Down in the Richmond we were told that most blue collar workers lived there. Then up to Twin Peaks and its magnificent views, just before passing the Golden Gate Bridge with about 1600 suicides attempts, and only 45 or some of them survived. If the fall does not kill you the chilled waters (10 Celsius) or the currents would do. We entered Marin county which is the most expensive in USA, and then we see why: Sausalito and one of the best views in the world.

And after 10 minutes of driving we reached Muir woods where we walked for an hour between these impressive trees. You can breath in the calm and quietness of the wood, really inspiring and so close to the city.

These giants have the best conditions to grow so tall, the fog and a river underneath. We learned that in 1945 the UN organized a meeting there to instill the peace that the woods provide into the delegates mind. Do not think that it accomplished that, but I think this place would make an excellent work retreat.

On the way back we passed by the most expensive district in SFO: Pacific Heights with massive houses which can cost  up to 30 millions USD. Then Marina district or Yuppi area which is not the place to be when the big earthquake strikes.

Back to the hotel area, we stop at a very nice and expensive place for a tea (earl grey) and a coffee and then caught a bus to the Golden Gate Park. Dani lost his orientation and for the first 15 minutes we were walking in circles, but then I asked for a map, which I got for free thanks to my beaten up dog face and the fact that it was raining cats and dogs. By that time dani has resolved to use his very much loved GPS who took 10 minutes to position itself, the poor thing was unsure that the quantity of rain was right for SFO. We felt like " Singing in the rain" but without singing. Dylan had told us that it rains 30 days per year, so boy we hit it hard. The park was fab, but a couple of times we had to go backwards because the area was flooded and although our shoes are waterproof, our trousers not.

Golden Gate Bridge

After having lunch at Hard Rock cafe in pier 39 we walked west. We were looking for the stop of the bus number 28. It is the only one taking you to the bridge. Here the bus ride costs $1.5 and you can use the ticket for 90 min. Not bad. Anyway, we got there, and guess… raining like hell. It did not stop us from walking in the bridge. It was very windy also, but the view you have over the bay is great. Most of the photos I took with the nikon, not with the iphone or with Nuria’s n79. Same thing applies to Alcatraz, so if you want to see nice photos you will have to wait until we are back ;-)

Once the bridge was seen. It is a nice bridge, and I bet when they built it it was an engineering challenge of using steel (you could go 3 times around the earth with the length of cable used) but now it requires a lot of maintenance: it is constantly being painted and as you know, the ocean is not a very good friend of iron.

We took the 28 again, thinking that it would go to the Golden Gate park. Well it didn’t so we changed plans. It took us to where we took it before, close to the Ghirardelli square. The new plan was then to go to Alamo square. In Alamo square you have the typical picture of San Francisco with 4 or 5 typical houses and the city behind (again, photos with the nikon camera only). The problem was that it was already pretty dark, but it is nice. We have to recognize though that in the walk to Alamo’s square, in particular Laguna street, the houses were much nicer that the ones of the typical photo. What they did not have, was the skyline behind, that is true.

We also passed through the Japanese district where we stopped to buy some water (and a iogurt).

After the photo, we took the bus number 5 to market street, passing by the civic center, one of the nicer buildings of the city. We stopped at the level of Powell street and we got into a shopping centre, but we were so tired that we came to the hostel.

Nuria is now going to sleep while I type.

Alcatraz

This morning, after the pancakes (we are now experts) we went out under the rain towards powell street and then to market street to catch the classical F tram. I took a photo from the inside. It was raining a lot. It was one with everything in Italian. From Milan. We stopped at pier 33 where the ferry to Alcatraz departs. Welcomed by ranger John, we watched a 30 min video about the history of the island. Armed with audio sets we entered into the inmates cells and learned how they lived and tried to escape. I do not know in 1934 when the prison opened but today it was wet, windy and cold. The good news is that it stopped raining and the sun is finally shining. Just then we went outside to take a look of the fantastic view over San Francisco.

I must say that the audio tour was very good. It was included with the ticket. It shows you around the prison and explains stories of how people tried escaping from it. Very interesting. It makes you feel like going back home to watch the movies again.

Well, after a while going up and down the island we took the ferry back to pier 33. We waked towards pier 39 and we stoped for lunch at Hard Rock cafe. It has been a while since the last time I had food in one Hard Rock. I guess it was probably in Barcelona. Anyway. I have a salad and Nuria a burger. While we wait I start writting this post.

Cable Car museum, China Town and SFMOMA

We started the day again after 12 hours sleep. Today was our second day with pancakes, the result was much better. See the photo. We managed to cook nice pancakes. Once we finished our macro pancakes, all day walking under the rain. Yes, it has been raining all day non-stop. We should be paid by north face, millet, merrell for testing all their gear.

Anyway, first we visited the cable car museum.

It is incredible how they can manage all 4 lines of cable cars from that building. An engineering achievement. I really enjoyed it.

Nuria had more difficulties understanding how the cables were distributed on the huge wheels that separate them into the 4 different lines. We just manage to leave before the horde of Japanese filled the museum up. Then we continued under the pouring flood waters direction China town,

with a stop over at Grace Cathedral, impressive cathedral, inspired by Notre Dame but given the 1906 devastating earthquake, made of concrete. In Chinatown, we first had a jasmin tea in a typical Chinese crappy place (with no tourists) and then lunch also at the least touristy place we could find. Nuria made a mistake in the order, as she thought that the fantastics vegetables she had in a chinese restaurant in Geneva were called Chinese brocoli, so with absolutely no doubts and great grandeur at being able to recognise something she ordered the green things she has in her hands, big mistake… but we ate them all. The noodles were very tasty and the din sum very nice also.

After spending the rest of the morning around Chinatown, we headed to SFMOMA where we are now. I am staring at a Rothko and resting while I found that there is wifi.

And after the Moma, we went to Yerba Buena Gardens, beautiful place, with a commemoration fountain to Martin Luther King, another commercial center and a very nice tea lounge, just to escape again from the rain. Dani wanted a coke, but guess what, only tea, my paradise!!!

I had a white strong tea according to the nice waiter, true that it was not sweat, but the water in Bilbao is stronger. Dani had a chilled drink made of green tea with a terrible appearance and even worst taste, but he said he liked very much, must be the rain that is affecting his taste…

After lunch…

We are now back to the hostel. I have noticed that the date of the posts is the date of the server, not our time here, so take into account that for us, now is 8 hours less, so all today’s posts that appear published as the 15 are actually the 14th.

Well, after crab lunch we walked all around the fisherman’s wharf. We visited USS Pampanito submarine. Pretty cool! a World War 1 submarine for 85 people… incredible how they could fit there…

We were looking for the boat that takes you for the visit of Alcatraz, and we found it at pier 33. Those in other piers were just going around the island. Guess what. Full until Monday! So we are going on Monday at 10am.

We walked all around the pier 39, where all the shopping is, and the sea lions!! amazing. We also visited the Ghirardelli centre, where they sell this great chocolate. Then we wanted to walk towards the golden gate bridge. It was raining and we realized that was very far, so when we arrived to the presidio park, we walked to Lombard street, the typical street with the zig-zag turns going down that appears in so many films. Photos of all this I took with the nikon, so I will not post them in the blog.

In our way back we stopped at the North Face shop close to union square. We did not write it but on day one the backpack that we have, a 70 liters “North Fake” that I bought in China, died. Well it broke down, and now I am trying to fix it a bit, but we just bought a new one. Slightly smaller (60 liters). Great price 30% plus a 20% so 50% off.

Crab crab

We are at Fisherman’s wharf, and even if we have not yet digested the pancakes, we could not miss having seefood lunch. Now the weather is not that good. It rains 10 min per hour.
The way here was nice. We saw where the cable cart turns using a rotating platform, we tried the Ghirarselli peanut butter chocolate mmmm and later on we might go to alcatraz.
Now we are enjoying white chardonnay from San Francisco bay with seafood at Fisherman’s Grotto, with a lovely view over Golden Gate and the wharf.
Nuria is winning the battle against the grilled garlic crab, soaking her fingers every 30 seconds in the sauce while saying mmmmm.

Goood morning San Francico

After more than 12 hours we woke up on this St. Valentine day and went downstairs for breakfast. At the USA hostel San Francisco we have free pancakes in the mornings (you have to cook them yourself though). See the monster pancakes we cooked… I was ashamed of not being able to finish them…
Later on with all our waterproof equipment (there is a weather red alert on the bay area with strong storms and winds) we went out direction to Powell street towards fisherman’s wharf, and surprise, sunny.