Friday, September 7^th, 2001
Sitting on the porch of our bungalow.

The people of Tahiti are a very charismatic and lively people.  I have never said and meant it more -- that a group of people LIVES their culture with such pride.  They don’t have much – possession-wise – at least when compared to us in the U.S… but when comparing the passions, integrity, creativeness, and overall beauty, they make US look like the natives.  One example is how smart we think we are as Americans… graduating from prestigious colleges… getting paid as much as we do for what we do… and how intelligent we like to believe we are in order to inflate our egos.  Most of the people here never go to college – at least in the definition that WE think of as college. And yet, it seems that most people here speak at least 4 to 6 languages.  Fluently.  We think we are special when we speak two.  They live simple yet happy lives here… I am constantly amazed at how much they smile – even when doing menial tasks.  I never pass anyone from here without them waving or saying “hello”, “bonjour”, or “Ira Orana”.  They obviously have the crime thing solved… for an island like Moorea with 12,000 inhabitants; they only have 11 police officers.  No joke.  Crime is nonexistent here.  At least in the American sense of the word.  How have they solved this?

Another amazing thing that Tami pointed out the other day is also very curious.  Since being in Tahiti, we have not seen ONE Tahitian wearing glasses.  They seem to all have perfect vision… I know it sounds outrageous, but they are not so primitive as to not have a doctor available if they needed them.  They all seem to see just fine.  They are – as a group – as fit as people can get.  Without a Gold’s gym or 24 hour fitness in site!  I feel like a fat hog compared to most of the men here.   Even the ones who look overweight are solid and look strong enough to lift a tree.  They work hard.  They are very dedicated to what they do and seem to enjoy it.  (It is 7:13am on the 8^th right now – it was VERY windy last night.  Almost like a tropical storm.  The beach was strewn with coconuts and sea residue.  10 minutes ago, a worker was already down there raking the beach for the hotel guests.  He is filling buckets of junk into a truck and doesn’t look ticked about having to do such a cruddy task.  He even waved and said good morning to me.)  It seems that people are always cleaning and working along the main street of Moorea – and some of them are just people.  Not workers. 

            They have such pride of their heritage.  Every Tahitian that we have met on our tours are so utterly proud to be Tahitian… and of their culture… that it makes you almost feel jealous not to be Tahitian as well.  (Tom on the 4x4 tour… Raymond from Albert tours… the guy from the Tiki Village show) we ran into Raymond (ruh-moaned) three times during our stay on Moorea.  Each time it felt as though he was an old friend – we spoke to several other Americans that mentioned him as well.  He was a great guy.  I realize that they are aware that their bane of existence depends on tourism, but they do it well.  Their biggest source of income comes from our wallets.  We flash around the cash like broken piggy banks.  At the store you see what is really important to them.  Delicious breads, rice, fish, etc.  We are the ones who buy the frivolous… tourist trinkets, sweets, foods imported from home, shells.  At the hotel it seems more like a family than a bunch of workers.  You want to know why?  Because they are!  Most of them have been here for a LONG time, live here, have children that work here, and are married to other workers.  The children run around playing – acting like they are doing the same thing as their parents… actually practicing for when they are older and actually DO what their parents have been doing.  They are cute as hell, and even get involved with the Tahitian dances at night.  I can’t imagine as an American to have my future set for me as I grow up – never expecting more than to work in the same cycle as my parents.  To not have any dreams other than surviving daily by entertaining the visitors of my country.  However, it genuinely seems that they have attained a happiness that is difficult to obtain in the States.  Yes, it is a simple life.  But is there anything wrong with simplicity? 

            Ok, now back to the journal.  What did we do on this day?  We awoke early as usual… we can’t seem to get past 6am or so.  We went to breakfast at the hotel for the first time.  A buffet.  Definitely NOT worth the $40 it cost, but still a very nice atmosphere.  We caught our tour bus at 9am and headed to the Bali Hai hotel to get on our “catamaran” for the lagoon tour.  This was perhaps the most “touristy-feeling” thing that we have done the whole trip.  It wasn’t horrible, but this is more what I imagined the older folk would consider a risky adventure.  After going SCUBA diving, 4x4’ing, and risking the island at night on scooters, I considered this a pretty tame 5 and a half hours.  The catamaran was more of a standard boat – the captain had a pretty good sense of humor as well.  We headed out of Cook’s bay and went out to the center-point area between bays for our first stop.  Shark feeding.  Those that wanted to go in the water with the captain could via snorkeling.  Tami and I were there in a second.  It was cold!!!  Tami was shivering her skin off.  Slowly, a few sharks appeared.  A total of three actually.  This was fairly mellow compared to our prior SCUBA shark feeding… and it really didn’t faze Tami and I much.  It ended after a half hour and we were speeding away towards our next stop.  Stingray World again.  We went a little further this time than we did yesterday, and I must say that this was as impressive as it gets.  Our SCUBA version the day before was fun… and the Rays were bigger, but quantity way more than made up for it.  They were EVERYWHERE.  It was truly amazing… they came from all directions and were as tame as dogs.  As a matter of fact, they acted a lot like them too.  They followed us around begging for more scraps.  Small ones… big ones.  Their mouths are at the bottom of their body, and they suck in very heavily, filtering out the food from the water as they go.  (Later, while feeding them during our picnic:  My hand went in their mouth a few times while I fed them – I was amazed at the pressure their toothless jaws put down.  Really neat animals…. And very friendly.  One accidentally grabbed my shorts instead of the food and scared me for a second.)

            We boarded the boat again – truly freezing from the wind – and motored over to a private motu (a small island) for lunch, snorkeling and relaxation.  They cooked us a barbeque for lunch.  Chicken, Poisson Cru, Fish, bread, rice, and a few other things.  Very tasty.  Tami and I went out snorkeling in the bay… not much was out there because of how many people have been there over time.  We relaxed for a while, anxious to get back to the hotel.  It has become home.  What an awesome bungalow we have – perfectly situated on the beach, close to everything… but far enough away for privacy.  I am going to miss it.  We finally got home around 3pm.  We picked up our videotape and CD from our diving experiences and walked around a bit. 

 5:25pm  

            Our bus arrives for transport to the Tiki Village.  We have reserved a dinner and show at the village, and won’t be back until 10:30 or so.  A nice way to end our time on Moorea.  The village is made up of local artisans… they each have a booth filled with their wares and apparently put on a nightly show for tourists.  It was a very good time – they cooked the food underground in a traditional Tahitian oven and prepared a meal fit for a king.  TONS of stuff displayed beautifully… great for someone who truly enjoys food.  However, I am a chicken as most people reading this will know.  Oh, well… I actually went for the show more than the food.  The lead guide was a very well built Tahitian who I think belongs in movies.  He was great – spoke well, and had tons of charisma.  (Not to mention tons of tattoos… just like most Tahitians.)  The show was a very good time. 

            Tami was called up and did a wonderful job performing a solo “dance”.  They gave her a plant headband, and she looked wonderful.  I know that she was embarrassed as heck, but she did great.

            The show ended, we headed home, slept the entire 40-minute bus ride, and then went straight to bed.  It was a very tiring day – full of culture, adventure, water, and much coldness.  The weather has been all ranges… rain, wind, sun, and more sun.  What a ride.  What a wonderful ride.  It was a great way to close our last day on Moorea, and we are both anxious to head to our over-water bungalow on Bora Bora.  Sad to see our last sun set over this island, but excited to see it rise over another. 

            Five days was about the perfect length for Moorea – any less would have left us wanting more.