But, first, to finish off about yesterday evening (which stretched into this morning)...
There were no more than 14 of us checking in for our flight last night from Rapa Nui to Papeete. We asked and were told that the 787 Dreamliner was not going to be completely full, and so requested middle section seats, two aisles and an empty middle between us. That's exactly what we were assigned. Most of the passengers in transit from Santiago to Papeete chose to temporarily disembark the plane during its stopover in Rapa Nui, and it was momentarily confusing to go through Chilean immigration to see a room-full of waiting passengers that our little group of 14 was joining.
Though the plane from Santiago arrived on time, we did not depart on time. I mean, I'm not sure what time we were supposed to depart, but if I look at the range of possibilities (typical LAN), we departed about 40 minutes later than the latest one. Still, the pilot proudly announced, when we arrived in Papeete, that we had an "on time arrival!!" Sure, that's not hard to do when the schedule is a mystery.
But that's all I can fault LAN about. The Dreamliner is a comfortable plane and the on demand entertainment system is excellent. Last night, I watched three episodes of House of Cards, which got me through the dinner service and the cabin lights being darkened. Then I (are you sitting down?) managed to sleep, for exactly one hour (G had set the middle seat entertainment console to constantly display our flight information); I slept from 3:01 remaining in the flight to 2:00). I was able to raise my arm rest, twist my upper body sideways, rest two pillows on G's armrest, and then tuck my right hand under my chin and...well, that 'hand under the chin' thing is my body's official sleeping position. It did the trick.
Once awake, I had time for two more episodes of House of Cards, the cabin lights were turned back up and- voila! We were 'ici!' ('here', in French). Or aqui (Spanish). Or something. It is quite strange to have flown from one part of Polynesia to another overnight, with their common roots, one of them with Spanish as the official language and the other with French. It was noticeably much warmer here in Papeete (mid 70s at 1am; Papeete is 17S degrees latitude compared to 27S degrees in Rapa Nui), but still very comfortable. This is a wonderful time of year to be here.
We were seated toward the front of the plane, a real bonus when it came time to disembark and get through immigration. Many of our fellow passengers stopped to take photos (of the plane, of the Welcome sign, of the trio of musicians and one dancer welcoming us with music). We did, too, last year when we first arrived in Papeete on Air Tahiti Nui from Los Angeles. But we already have the pics, and knew that moving forward versus tarrying meant the difference between 15 minutes in the immigration line and 45. So we moved forward, got our luggage, snagged a taxi (2800 XPF after dark rate with luggage) and were dropped off at the Hotel Tiare Tahiti at 1:45am (6:45am Rapa Nui time). We got into our room and collapsed.
I begged G to let me sleep in this morning (breakfast is served here between 6:30am and 9:30am), and he didn't exactly wake me up, but unzipping suitcases at 5:30am and singing 'Climb Every Mountain' as he stepped up over a foot into that very strange Hotel Tiare Tahiti shower had the same effect. Three hours of sleep plus one hour on the plane...at 6am I could already predict a very early bedtime tonight!
He went down to breakfast in the little cafe at the Hotel Tiare Tahiti and I was not long behind him. On my way, I ran into Monique, the reservations manager who has been a star to us both last year and this year. We had left the Princess cookbook for her last week Monday before we flew out to Rapa Nui and she seemed thrilled with it. Two cheek air kisses followed and she followed me down to the cafe where G received the same. It's nice to see friends from last year!
While the rooms at the Hotel Tiare Tahiti are still spotless, one thing has changed. Breakfast today didn't include bacon or even an omelet with two microscopically thin slices of tomato. Instead we each received a baguette (of course!), a decadent chocolate croissant, a fruit plate, juice and coffee. I gave my croissant and juice to G and was hungry again a few hours later. I need my protein!!
We were both concerned about the clothing we had worn on Rapa Nui (and worn...and worn). While I had been hand washing undies and my cool-dry (and quick dry) t-shirts, I had worn the same pair of shorts and yoga pants for 7 days. We both saved, for last night's flight, one set of clean, warm clothing, and it felt heavenly to put that on before we headed to the airport. However, we loaded up Edith's car in a pouring rain (and low 60s), and were pretty wet by the time we got everything in the airport. Those clothes never completely dried, and everything in the suitcases also smelled of damp. We were certain mold would set in, and so asked Monique about a laundry within walking distance.
There is one, right across from Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) and they do laundry and charge by the 7 kg load. We gathered up not only the dirty and wet things (alone more than 7 kg) but everything else we had taken to Rapa Nui to fill two loads and walked two bags of clothes over to the laundry around 11:00am, to be returned washed, dried and folded for us by 3pm. Pricey...but nice!
(Mom, remember me with a backpack-full of dirties trying to find that laundry in Paris that was in a courtyard down an alley?) ;-)
By 11:30am I was predictably hungry again, so we walked back through Le Marché and picked up some Chinese food to go. I needed veggies (please!), nothing fried or spicy and no sauces, and so chose a very simple chicken with bean sprouts and carrots and white rice. G chose chicken and French fries and we took our food and beverages down to the waterfront where we sat and watched the harbor while we ate. Good grief, this city is beautiful this time of year!
Healthy eating... at least the part on the right
On our way back to the Hotel Tiare Tahiti, we needed to get some more local currency from the ATM so I stopped at the Banque de Tahiti ATM we've always used and my card was denied (but thankfully returned to me). My heart dropped; these are the kinds of issues we don't need while traveling. I was returning to the hotel for my second ATM card when G spotted a Banque Socrado ATM on the way. I tried there and had no issues. My pulse rate returned to normal and we once again have money to buy food. Ever since my ATM card was gobbled up on a Sunday morning at the Gard du Nord in Paris, I worry about the same thing occurring again (that's why I bring two separate ATM cards).
We both purchased ManaSpot WiFi time online (about $32 for 10 hours, $19 for 5 hours), and, though we left the world of free, unmetered internet behind on Rapa Nui, we have entered one of (relatively) much faster WiFi. I was able to call Mom, check accounts, pay bills, view the webcams at home and download a few books and magazines. The lower temperature and humidity made our room at the Hotel Tiare Tahiti so comfortable that we actually shut down the A/C and opened the sliding glass door and watched the waterfront and harbor activities while we worked.
We picked up the laundry at 3pm (I will never again think ship laundry prices are sooo high), and by 4:30pm left the hotel to walk down along the waterfront, along the renovated yacht quay (it looks so amazing!), through the park at the Jardins (Gardens) de Paofai and down to Hokule'a Beach, where the outrigger canoes are stacked and stored. At that time of day, the canoeists were getting off work and starting to take them out, always interesting to watch.
We backtracked then, and crossed Boulevard Pomare (the main street that runs along the waterfront and in front of the Hotel Tiare Tahiti) at that great new crosswalk near the hotel, and that put us (surprise!) right in front of our favorite frozen yogurt place. I didn't think I was going to be able to stay awake tonight (5 hour time change; 4 hours of sleep) until les roulottes (food trucks) were opened for business, so we decided that frozen yogurt and a protein bar on our balcony was just what we wanted for dinner. I had key lime pie flavored frozen yogurt (of course). Yums!
And we closed the day by sitting on our balcony and watching the hundreds of walkers and joggers enjoying that beautiful new promenade along the waterfront in front of the Hotel Tiare Tahiti and watching the sun set over Moorea (sadly, there were clouds over Moorea today so it was not a spectacular one).
Clean clothes. Faster internet. Frozen yogurt. Life is good. :-)