Day 2 -- Papeete

After breakfast we explored the beach. It is beautiful with black sand. The hotel grounds are spectacular with gorgeous plants, some of which we had never seen before. After breakfast, black clouds appeared and it started to rain. It will rain here every day, but it won’t stop us from doing what we want. We walked on the beach and tried the ocean. It is not cold but the waves and undertow are treacherous. Instead we used the Jacuzzi and pool. Much nicer.

At 2 we took the shuttle into the downtown. Pepeete is an old city without an old city charm as the old European cities have. We walked many miles. The downtown area is strictly geared towards tourist money. Tons of jewelry stores with black pearls, many multi-purpose stores with a lot of souvenir junk probably made in China; even the market was disappointing. The city is decorated fro Christmas – mostly with red foil wrapped around columns. There was also some Christmas event at the city hall with lots of school children .

We were looking for a grocery store or supermarket to buy some beer or wine for the evening and could not find a single one. Finally we asked a person in a street café and his answer surprised us. He said there are no grocery stores in the center, only outside the city. They want you to buy food and drinks in restaurants, not stores. We did find a wine shop and bottles of wine started at $50. I asked ‘do you have any table wine?’. The clerk pulled out a case from below and they were $20.

We decided to have dinner at 5 only to find out all the restaurants close at 5. We got quiche and salad from a patisserie that stayed open until we finished. Everything here is very expensive. The taxi back to the hotel was $22. A taxi both ways ($44) is more than it would cost to rent a car in most places.