Saturday continued”¦ We arrived at the ferry dock exactly at 1600 (4:00 pm). When the ferry pulled up, hundreds of passengers got off, all wearing clothing of the same material. There were people with them in regular clothing, also. We were trying to figure out what the group was. There was old people and young people, men and women, all sizes, shapes and fitness levels. One of the women in the uniform handed Christi the hat she was wearing and told Christi she could have it. The hat is woven from some sort of plant and was so freshly woven, it was still green. Christi proudly wore it the rest of the day. Continue reading →

The weather has improved so we decided to go into downtown to do a little exploring and then maybe go to one of the Heiva (cultural festival) competitions, which we know was going on now, but we didn’t know what time the competitions were. We caught a bus to downtown Papeete and got off at the theater where the Heiva competition was happening. The theater is right on the waterfront in the heart of downtown. We walked around looking for signs or brochures indicating which competitions were happening at what times, but saw nothing to that effect. We looked for the tourism office, which according to Lonely Planet was right there, but couldn’t find it. We gave up and went sight seeing, deciding to head down the waterfront first. Continue reading →