402/204

We met a really nice couple, Alice and Mike, on the boat when we arrived...we were on the plane with them out of LA and then they stayed in our same hotel in Tahiti, and then they sat in front of us on the plane to Bora Bora. We laughed that we were following each other around since LA. Since then we've run into them a number of times on the island and have had some nice conversations. They are here on their honeymoon and are leaving tomorrow and they know that we are moving out to the water bungalow tomorrow, they said they want us to move into theirs cuz it's #204 symbolizing to them the date of their wedding 4/2, and they randomly got that bungalow. They know that we are had our 35th on 4/2 as well. Anyway it dawned on me that our room number is 402 and I didn't even think about it until she said theirs was 204! Oh my gosh, we were like flipping out! How bizarre is that?

Dan's comment to them was, 'this will make the blog'! You are so right honey!!!

Awesome!

The mainland...

Today was the day to really investigate the main island of Bora Bora...by bike! Did I mention it's hot here, really hot? We rode for 3 hours, fun but I was never so happy to see that Avis sign reappear...we couldn't dunk ourselves in the water fast enough when we got back to the Hilton! Luckily we took bottles of water with us and we stopped for lunch as well as a break now and then. We were on the hunt for Bloody Mary's, a restaurant that was highly recommended.

Our first resting point, the rode is narrow and quite scary as cars and scooters slow down [sorta] to pass you. I just kept praying that they'd see us and not hit us!

We wanted to see Mitira, which is a bay area, and there are restaurants, galleries and hotels in this area. It's not what you would think, some of the galleries and shops are in homes, that you wouldn't really care to wander into...

We passed Bloody Mary's and then hit it on our way back for lunch. As you can see from the pics below, this is obviously a hit for the stars as well! We are wondering when they will add our names to the list? :)

Fun inside, notice the sand floors, most of the restaurants here have sand floors and are open air...I love that! We are thinking that building one of these back home would be a total hit!

The bathroom was awesome, open air and to use the [sink] you pulled a ring from the ceiling and the water came down a waterfall of stones for you to wash your hands!

The ride was beautiful, I concentrated on the beauty and not the cars/scooters ready to take me out!!

But I was soooooooooo glad to see this sign, both Dan and I were totally sweaty and grimy from our ride, but fulfilled that we had seen more of the island culture and beauty!

Ia Orana!

[Yo-rah-nah] I think I got it! The locals say something to us every time they see us and I've been trying to figure out what it is! So I finally found hello in Tahitian. I'll test it out tomorrow and see. They mix Tahitian and French so it's very confusing! Bye bye is Nana [nah-nah] so happy we won't be saying that for a while yet!

Went to to the main island to rent bikes and find a restaurant for dinner, but we were too late. You rent the bikes from Avis [ha, funny] and they close at 5P, so we'll try again tomorrow!

Worked out again today [yay] and while Dan finished I snuck off and took some more pics! These pics are from the backside of the islet, so beautiful there too...it's all beautiful!!

They have stairs that go all the way down, very isolated, very beautiful!

Also snuck into the chapel, which is at the top also-

On our way back down we saw 'the roosters', same ones that wake us up at 4A every day...and lo and behold as I got closer, I saw tiny babies! She was so proud to show them off!

And the rest of my afternoon I spent like this!

Maohi Night...

Last night was Maohi night, meaning ancestors of Polynesian people...they prepare a beautiful buffet with many local dishes, and ended with a Tahitian show on the beach. It was very nice, everyone was there as it is the only restaurant open on Tuesday nights. That's one way to get good participation!

As you can see we were the first ones to happy hour, not sure why, highly unusual for us, guess we were thirsty :)

The restaurant was set up beautifully, so much food, quite impressive!

Pic of the night was one I took of the pool when we first arrived at happy hour...

le gymnase...

Yesterday afternoon Dan 'suggested' we check out this-

It is a long walk up a long hill, by the time we reached it I felt like I already had my workout, I was ready to turn around and walk back down. But thinking of the 'bread' I decided it was a good idea to enter. As we walked up there, every 5 steps was a prettier picture...I settled on this one as the star pic of the day!

I continue to marvel at the beauty!!!

The skinny...

...and no, not me, but we are starting to figure this all out. We have found the French Polynesian people to be very quiet, they talk quiet, walk quiet...it is very peaceful here. They are very laid back and are ready to help you with anything. The language- now that's a little challenging...I may as well throw the French book away...I'm trying to figure out what they are saying, but it doesn't look like anything in the book...thankfully, most of them speak pretty good English. The money- that's been interesting, they have xpf [CFP Franc] here, whatever the heck that is...we went to the grocery store today and our bill was 8200, by my calculation that is $97. What did we buy? Not much...in figuring out the bill once we got back to our room, the bottle of Yellow Tail Pinot Grigio was $22 and the Heineken beer was $18 for a six pack...hmmm, cheaper than the bar but not by much! The bread, on the other hand...huge loaves of Italian bread, freshly baked was about 50 cents a loaf...we have decided that is probably why most of the locals appear to be well fed here :)

The Hilton is on an Islet, that means you can only get to the actual city of Bora Bora by boat. They have a boat that takes you there and runs every hour. So we got up this morning, ate early and were on the 1st boat at 8am.

We walked thru town, narrow streets, definitely feeling a bit dangerous on those roads as cars and scooters buzz by you. We were on the lookout for the supermarket when I saw Chin Lee's, I at first thought is was a Chinese restaurant...but nope, it's a grocery store. We got our stuff and headed back to the launch so we could get the 9am boat back to the Hilton.

Another relaxing day ahead...now that our chores are done :)

LA to Tahiti to Bora Bora

Air Tahiti Nui is a fabulous airline, 1st thing they present you with is a flower, to put in your hair over your ear I have since figured out, since many of the locals wear a real flower in their hair. They smell soooooo good, I smelled it all the way to Tahiti!
Aren't they sweet?

Then you get a menu to choose what you want for dinner...wow, there's an idea USA airlines!

When we finally arrived in Tahiti, 8 hours later...we were hot and tired! We waited in line with everyone else on the plane to go thru customs, so hot, no air in the airport. We walked out and up on the hill we could see our hotel, so decided to hoof it! It was truly on top of a very steep hill, and there were no elevators, so had to cart our suitcases up multiple stairways...sweating, hot, wet by this point...room was sparse, hot, but we finally figured out how to put the air on...slept 5 hours and then back down the hill, stairs we walked to make our 7:15 flight to Bora Bora!

Once on board it was only a 45 minute flight, and oh so beautiful! It was a small prop jet, but quite a smooth ride! Once in the airport, your hotel greets you with beautiful lays and you board a boat for your hotel, in our case, the Hilton. We met two other couples on the boat, one couple had flown on our flight from LA and the other had been in Tahiti for several days. They were all American [Chicago, LA], one celebrating 10 years of marriage, one newlyweds, they were married on Saturday, our 35th anniversary. We keep running into them here, so it's been fun to kinda know someone...especially since they speak English!

They greeted us with fresh pineapple juice and cool cloths, and then they had us go to breakfast and then gave us a tour of the Hilton in a golf cart (she drove crazy fast, thought she was going to dump us!) and then on to our room. We lazed out today, rested, went to the beach, went snorkeling...totally awesome day!

This is truly paradise!!!

And yes, that was a bottle of wine, that I am sitting here on the deck enjoying while I write this!