Papeete on island of Tahiti

What a disappointment! Forget all those images of thatch roof houses surrounded by palm trees and bougainvilleas nestled between a pristine beach and verdant mountains. The truth is that the city of 340,000 is crowded with traffic reminiscent of American cities. The more rural parts of the island are also crowded. Most houses were similar to dwellings on the Texas border withall the clutter but without the trash.

In the morning I walked around the shops near the port in suffocating heat. In the afternoon we had a long, seemingly endless, drive around the island in the rain. At least it was cool. The guide had excellent English but said little. We visited Venus point famous for Captain Cooks observation of the transit of Venus across the sun. It was felt that this would help in determining longitude during navigation. Unfortunately the marker is so obscure that I missed it. There is also a much larger monument celebrating the HMS Bounty.
We also visited a tiny botanical garden with a waterfall we watched in the rain

So far I have not seen those colorful Polynesian birds everyone talks about but I have seen common Mynahs (they are so plentiful they are like grackles in the US) and chestnut breasted munias.Read more