Leaving Bora Bora

Today we leave Bora Bora.  Yesterday I was very sad to leave paradise.  Today my mind is set on home and I am eager to wash my clothes, sleep in my own bed, have coffee in the morning that is made the way I like it, drive on the right side of the road, and see my friends.  We received a letter yesterday with a very detailed timeline for checking out, having our luggage retrieved from our bungalow and meeting at the dock for our boat to the airport.  We aren’t flying out until noon so we took our time enjoying our last views of this gorgeous place.

We were down on the dock ready to go as we waited for two other people to arrive.  It was one of those heterosexual couples we have experienced several times.  They aren’t here for the experience.  They are here for the photos.

Since Gayle and I were there first we chose the seats next to the open windows so we could get the breeze (it is very warm and humid) and so we could see well.  Gayle was a little short for the view but she managed to make herself taller.

The airport is on a very slender spit of land with the lagoon on one side and the ocean on the other.  It is only wide enough for two runways.  

The airport is completely open to the elements.  There is no air conditioner.  We were glad when we could board the plane and again we chose the wrong side of the plane.  We had a great view of the airplane’s propeller.  

We had a reservation with Hotel Tahiti Nui.  Our travel agent really wanted us to go back to the Intercontinental Tahiti but we were hoping to bop around downtown Papeete in search of souvenirs to take home.  Our hotel was extremely standard.  With sweat running down our backs we opened our door to a room in which the air conditioner had not been on.  The sliding glass door to the outside does not lock.  I didn’t want to once again have dreams about gun-toting, tuxedo wielding men trying to break into our hotel room.  So I devised this little plan.  I put three hangers in the slot thinking it would keep the door from opening.  However, it just made them fall over.  I figured the noise would wake me up.  Gayle thinks I am so hilarious that she had to take a photo.

Gayle was too wiped out by the extreme heat and journey to the hotel and ended up not joining me.  I headed over to Manua, a store that boasts exquisite Tahitian art.  Gayle had seen a carved bowl on their website that she would love to own.  Alas, it was sold long ago.  She had given me a price limit so I sent her photos of the two carved oyster shells they had (the only thing in the price range she had given me).  She wasn’t interested.  I headed over to the Papeete Market, an open air pavilion that boasts multiple stalls of flowers, black pearls, cloth, bedspreads, etc.  I arrived before 4 p.m. and found most of the stalls covered.

Call me disappointed! All the flower stall were open.  I would have liked to purchase a lei or a hei.  A hei is a flower crown.  They are beautiful.  I could have made one at our resort if I had been around any morning at 10 a.m….but I wasn’t.  But since we are leaving in the morning and I am very certain I would not be allowed to bring any fresh flowers into the USA I just admired them.  I did ask someone why everything had closed so early.  She told me that tomorrow, May 1, was their Labor Day and everything would be closed.  I checked out multiple black pearl jewelry stores….there must be five on every block.  Tahitian pearls are formed by the black lip oyster and mainly cultivated around the islands of French Polynesia.  I finally found a pair of earrings I couldn’t leave Tahiti without and headed back to the room to see if Gayle had coaxed the air conditioner to finally cool the room.

I had thought we might head out that evening to find an early supper but I just couldn’t make myself leave the substandard air conditioner.  The restaurant in our hotel opens at 7 p.m. and touts itself as gourmet.  We weren’t overcome with the menu. We ordered the green papaya salad and a plate of fruit.  Gayle had never had a green papaya salad. I was eager to introduce her.  This one had only pink papaya, cilantro and peanuts.  If there was any dressing on it we couldn’t find it.  But the fruit plate was lovely.  We ordered the Le Vacherin glacé dessert to fill us up. They should win awards for this dessert.  It wasn’t just lovely, it was extraordinarily delicious.  The dessert started out in the center of the table so we could share it but I noticed that it just kept moving closer and closer to Gayle’s side of the table.

We headed to bed as soon as we got back to our room.  We will be picked up at our hotel tomorrow at 4:50 a.m.