The last time I was in Papeete I was a very different person, I hadn’t yet done my first World Cruise, I’d never set foot on the flagship – hadn’t met my brother, or a host of other people who would eventually become major players in the scope of my life. All i knew at the time was…I was in Tahiti…and the day before I had been sitting in Victoria wrapped in a quilt shivering (it was, after all, the middle of January).
It was then that I fully realized how strange my life is. But that’s beside the point.
Last time I was here I was over-nighting in a resort that was quite some distance from the town itself, and since French Polynesia is extremely expensive, getting into town was a bit of a challenge (I hadn’t even started my contract yet let alone been paid!) so I never really saw anything of the town. I picked up one shell-barette a sticker for my suitcase and spent the rest of the time swimming in the ocean (the resort had a private beach).
Coming in actually on the ship is a different story, we dock right in town, which opens the doors to a day of wonderful weather, amazing window shopping, great music and good friends. Having not been off the ship in ten days (I was not one of the few who was fortunate enough to be able to get to Easter Island before the swells got too dangerous to run the tenders) – I needed the break and to feel a bit of land under my feet.
It’s a lovely city really, not incredibly upper class but not frighteningly run-down like Belem was in Brazil. A lot of twining streets and small restaurants, after some searching we managed to find a restaurant that was to both of our liking, which was surprisingly empty of both passengers and fellow crew members which is an odd thing when you’re that close to the dock.
There is also something to be said for wandering in the warm tropical rain (which shortly after I returned to the ship would become a deluge of the first degree) looking at native drums and jewelry carved out of shells.
All in all, worth the stress of the 10 straight sea days of getting here