Moorea
We have settled into island life on Moorea. There is one road that runs around the coastline of the island. It is about 40 miles in total. It takes all the worry about getting lost out of the equation, because you just have to keep driving and you will end up at your destination. From that road you are always within sight of the water. One of the things we have come to appreciate is that the locals seem to appreciate the natural beauty their home has to offer as much as we do. It is without exception that at any time of day or day of the week there will be some people just hanging out in the water a few feet from shore, cooling off. It is also not unusual to see someone sitting a few feet from the road, their bike leaning against a coconut tree, staring off out to the lagoon. Too often in our lives back in North America it feels like we are too busy to appreciate our own surroundings. Back home people come as tourists and see the beauty with fresh eyes that we have grown numb to. It may be my imagination or romanticism, but it seems like that has not been lost here. Visitors and locals alike appreciate the abundant beauty.
The island is rimmed by a calm turquoise lagoon with the waves crashing a few hundred meters off shore at the edge of the reef. There are eight mountain peaks that jut up from the centre of the island and they are a visual delight of dark green foliage and steely grey rock. The sky is often bright blue with wisps of white clouds and there are flowers and blooming fruits everywhere you look. The coastline undulates between the shoulders of the mountains and breathtaking bays greet you as you round curves.
Two of the most beautiful bays, Cook's or Paopao and Opunohu Bay are side by side. Cook's Bay is named for Captain Cook who apparently hung out in Opunohu Bay for a few months in the 18th century. That era inspired one of our big laughs. We imagined the events that led to the Mutiny on the Bounty in the 1700s and had fun imagining a stinky wooden sailing ship from England pulling up into one of the Bays, and the pale, dank, scurvy infested Englishmen rubbing their eyes at the bounty of delights the lush island had to offer; fresh water, fruit, flowers, beauty, women... There is no question that if that was us we would have refused to get back on that sailing ship!
From Belvedere lookout this is the view of Paopao and Opunohu Bay:
There are about 18 000 residents on the island and although tourism is a big part of the economy, it does not feel like the island is here to serve tourists, rather tourists are here visiting everyday Moorean life. The locals are warm and friendly. Families gather on beaches and play in the water as much as, if not more than tourists. French is spoken as is Tahitian. English is spoken but not by all and knowing French is very helpful to contribute to the ease of finding our way here.
One of the things we have noticed is that there seems to be an entrepreneurial spirit among the locals, or perhaps it is just the traditional form of the economy. People set up roadside stands to sell small amounts of fruit that likely grew in their yard or hang a string of freshly caught fish. On Sundays more people set up stands selling prepared foods and roasted meats. We saw a sign on Saturday evening with a drawing of a cochon (pig) and date and time "Dimanche 0530h." We tried to guess at what it all meant and suspected it was some kind of roast that either started or ended at 5:30 in the morning. We went back Sunday morning and lucked out. Indeed it was roasted pork done in the traditional polynesian style in a pit in the ground. They had roasted it all night and starting at 5:30 in the morning sold it roadside for takeaway. The lovely couple who cooked the food told us that traditionally people buy it and eat it with "Firi Firi" and a cup of coffee for breakfast Sunday mornings. Firi Firi are beignets which are what we know of as donuts in English. So we went looking and sure enough a bit further down the road there was a little stand with a paper bag poking up. Yet again working on a hunch (nothing like searching out a fresh donut to make us adventurous) we stopped and walked up to the cement block of a house that had an open window. Inside was a family busy at work making and frying Firi Firi. A few minutes of waiting for them to dust them with sugar and a couple of dollars later we were on our way home with the traditional Moorean Sunday morning breakfast of BBQ'd pork and Donuts. Yum.
The island is rimmed by a calm turquoise lagoon with the waves crashing a few hundred meters off shore at the edge of the reef. There are eight mountain peaks that jut up from the centre of the island and they are a visual delight of dark green foliage and steely grey rock. The sky is often bright blue with wisps of white clouds and there are flowers and blooming fruits everywhere you look. The coastline undulates between the shoulders of the mountains and breathtaking bays greet you as you round curves.
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| The one main road. This is the grocery store on the right. That is the view from the parking lot. The other direction is the water. Yup, Quinpool Road superstore, you have nothing on this one. But you do have better selection of groceries... |
Two of the most beautiful bays, Cook's or Paopao and Opunohu Bay are side by side. Cook's Bay is named for Captain Cook who apparently hung out in Opunohu Bay for a few months in the 18th century. That era inspired one of our big laughs. We imagined the events that led to the Mutiny on the Bounty in the 1700s and had fun imagining a stinky wooden sailing ship from England pulling up into one of the Bays, and the pale, dank, scurvy infested Englishmen rubbing their eyes at the bounty of delights the lush island had to offer; fresh water, fruit, flowers, beauty, women... There is no question that if that was us we would have refused to get back on that sailing ship!
From Belvedere lookout this is the view of Paopao and Opunohu Bay:
There are about 18 000 residents on the island and although tourism is a big part of the economy, it does not feel like the island is here to serve tourists, rather tourists are here visiting everyday Moorean life. The locals are warm and friendly. Families gather on beaches and play in the water as much as, if not more than tourists. French is spoken as is Tahitian. English is spoken but not by all and knowing French is very helpful to contribute to the ease of finding our way here.
One of the things we have noticed is that there seems to be an entrepreneurial spirit among the locals, or perhaps it is just the traditional form of the economy. People set up roadside stands to sell small amounts of fruit that likely grew in their yard or hang a string of freshly caught fish. On Sundays more people set up stands selling prepared foods and roasted meats. We saw a sign on Saturday evening with a drawing of a cochon (pig) and date and time "Dimanche 0530h." We tried to guess at what it all meant and suspected it was some kind of roast that either started or ended at 5:30 in the morning. We went back Sunday morning and lucked out. Indeed it was roasted pork done in the traditional polynesian style in a pit in the ground. They had roasted it all night and starting at 5:30 in the morning sold it roadside for takeaway. The lovely couple who cooked the food told us that traditionally people buy it and eat it with "Firi Firi" and a cup of coffee for breakfast Sunday mornings. Firi Firi are beignets which are what we know of as donuts in English. So we went looking and sure enough a bit further down the road there was a little stand with a paper bag poking up. Yet again working on a hunch (nothing like searching out a fresh donut to make us adventurous) we stopped and walked up to the cement block of a house that had an open window. Inside was a family busy at work making and frying Firi Firi. A few minutes of waiting for them to dust them with sugar and a couple of dollars later we were on our way home with the traditional Moorean Sunday morning breakfast of BBQ'd pork and Donuts. Yum.
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