A tiny part of Papeete at night.
When you think of Papeete, you think of thatched roofs and Geaughin-ish sarong clad wahines. Forget that. Papeete stretches for miles along the waterfront and sparks uphill wherever it is not too steep to build on.
Flowers bloom everywhere
Security blocks the walk straight to the street and instead sends you down a promenade lined with local business persons selling stuff. But go up a block and you’re in a real shopping district where actual Tahitians shop.
There are many city parks where you sit down and wait. The birds come by… most of them pigeons. Women with baskets of aromatic little white flowers give one to everyone. Mine is nestled in my little polar bear’s lap.
Uh, Tahiti? Polar bear? Bill and a coterie of canoeists of like mind went canoeing every month. EVERY month. They called themselves the polar bears. For 52 years Bill and I traveled. He died in 2014. My little four-inch polar bear is his avatar.