It is late as I'm starting this post, and something tells me I might not get it finished tonight, but I will give it a go and pick up tomorrow if necessary.
We awoke to a sunny and beautiful day in Papeete this morning. I had a definite plan for the morning, but slept late enough that I didn't even have time for breakfast. I dressed in slacks and a tropical shirt; stuck a flower behind my left ear and wrapped two shell leis around my neck and walked off the ship, bound for a final Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral, just a 10 minute walk away.
By now, I'm used to the the way things are done at Notre Dame Cathedral...Père Cristophe and his cast of robed deacons, etc. were gathered on the sidewalk in front of the church. I took a seat in the last pew, hoping for a breeze from the wide doors, the church bells pealed at 8am and the processional started. I realized, when the group reached the altar, that this Mass was going to be concelebrated by Father Jesus and two additional priests. Oh boy. These Masses always last a long time; this one would likely be longer. But everything else remained the same: lots of incense, lots of singing (French and Tahitian today), and the entire Mass was said in French. It was longer (until 9:30am) but, by skipping the juice served in front of the church afterward, I was able to get to my next destination.
The service at the Protestant Evangelical Church, located across from the Jardins de Paofai, the beautiful waterfront park was starting at 10am, and, after listening to the beautiful music coming from the Protestant church on Taha'a last Sunday, and seeing the people walking home from church wearing traditional Tahitian clothing, I knew I had to get to this service today.
The Evangelical Church was about a 15-20 minute walk from Notre Dame Cathedral, and I walked along the waterfront to get there. Such a beautiful morning, and there were already many people in the park, walking, cycling, fishing and launching the outrigger canoes stored at Hokule'a Beach.
Now, while Mass at Notre Dame was pretty familiar, this was entirely new territory. I walked in the large door on the side of the church and took a seat in the pew right there. I wanted to stay on the side aisle in case I needed to leave early (I had no idea how long this might last), but, though the church did fill considerably, I was able to stay right there. Immediately I saw what I had come for...women dressed in beautifully handmade Tahitian dresses all wearing the most exotic straw hats decorated with flowers. This is what I had read to expect before we came to French Polynesia, but had been somewhat disappointed by the attire worn in Notre Dame Cathedral. Though there was tropically printed clothing and single flowers in hair, there were no traditional dresses and hats. After seeing both last Sunday, I knew I had to branch out. The men were all wearing slacks with tropical shirts (so I fit right in with them). For some reason, the men seemed to generally sit in one area (where I was sitting) and the women sat in groups of 10 or 12 all around the church, where there was much socializing until the church bells rang at 10am.
Immediately the choir in the choir loft began singing, with no instrumental accompaniment. Tahitians have strong, loud voices, and they love to sing. Without any music books to read from, everyone seemed to know the lyrics and sang along and it was a glorious thing to hear. Over the course of the service, three different men wearing suits went to a low pulpit and spoke, all in Tahitian (no French). And that was another major difference between the Catholic and Portestant services. I had read in my guide book that, since the 1980s, all the Evangelical church leaders have been Tahitian and the services are conducted only in their language. And while there usually seemed to be some French people at the Catholic Mass, this congregation was all Tahitian.
Over the course of one hour, two men seemed to read from Bibles, while, toward the end, the third man just spoke, apparently saying something amusing. I understood not a single thing being said, but the very frequent singing kept me very entertained. One song, in particular, gave me chills. The men seemed to sing a baritone, percussive sound, while the women sang the melody in their strong voices. I could actually feel the vibrations from the music, all vocal. It was all I could do to refrain from launching the candle app on my iPhone and waving my arms in the air. Wow, that was an experience!
For every song, people would sing in several part harmony, again without words or music books. What a beautiful sound. In the end, I decided that the genders sat rather separately simply because they all formed the different parts of a choir of sorts, not as structured as the one in the choir loft, but just as loud and beautiful.
I was kept nicely cool by the strong breeze coming in from the harbor. I have to say the Protestant Church (built in the 1980s) has much better ventilation than Notre Dame (built a hundred years earlier) but their pews are downright uncomfortable, which may be why their service was shorter. It was very relaxing watching the families in the park across the street. At one point,15 or so Harleys drove by, making lots of noise and no one seemed to mind. My mind wandered during the Tahitian readings, remembering how, when I was in Catholic school in the 1960s, our classes used to save up money to "adopt" mission babies from islands in the South Pacific and we'd vote on a name for them, names like Bernadette Marie and James Michael and then we'd pray for their faith the rest of the school year and here I was sitting on an island in the South Pacific thoroughly enjoying this non-Catholic religious service. And then I wondered how people could differently interpret the same book so much that one service had robes and incense and repeatedly standing up and sitting down but the other had none of these but did offer even more enthusiastic singing
Ain't life funny??
At the end of the service, nearly everyone sitting around me (all men) came and shook my hand and said something (I'm not sure what), and to each I responded "Merci" (because I knew nothing else to say), and it was all very welcoming and genial and I didn't self-immolate because I attended a service of a different faith. Frankly, I loved it.
But I was getting hungry by then, and so walked the 20 minutes or so back to the Pacific Princess, where I changed into shorts. Before I could even go up to the Panorama Buffet for breakfast/lunch, G returned from using internet outside Chaplins (they aren't open on Sundays but he was able to sit on the curb in front of it) and he joined me for lunch, enjoyed on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet.
Afterward, we both went back to Chaplins for an hour or so, and I managed to do all the important app updates on both my iPhone and iPad. We're both still running iOS 8, because even Chaplins WiFi isn't good enough for that update, but overall we're in good shape for our last 25 days.
Back on the ship, we took advantage of the muster drill time to shower and get cleaned up for the evening, and were up on the open decks for a gorgeous sailaway from Papeete (our last one where we leave at 5pm) :-( :-(. The champagne waterfall was held, followed by the introduction of the ship's senior officers and it was immediately obvious that this cruise will be a party cruise. Our fellow passengers seem to be about 8 years younger, on average, than on the last two cruises, and the pool deck was filled with people dancing and having a good time.
Tomorrow is a day at sea en route to Rangiroa. We're doing this cruise in an order we've not done so far this year, and, after we sailed from Papeete, the Pacific Princess continued to follow the entire north coast of Tahiti, and we sailed right by Point Venus, Captain Cook's Tahiti landing spot and were so close we could easily see the lighthouse there.
I decided on the Pad Thai for dinner, but asked Melvin to add several grilled shrimp to it (it was also surf and turf night so they had them already prepared). G has purchased the Ultimate Kids Package this cruise, and enjoyed two mock piña coladas with dinner. Nothing adds calories like the UKP!
We had met comedian/magician Lorenzo Clark and singer Claude Eric at Chaplins this afternoon. We all recognized each other; we've seen Lorenzo at least twice already this season and Claude Eric performed several times last year. While we couldn't help them with the Chaplins WiFi password (they enter it in our devices so we don't know what it is), it was fun to see Lorenzo at the Welcome Aboard Show tonight looking very different. As proof that this is a party crowd this cruise, Lorenzo's show was received with wild enthusiasm and, as a result it was his best show we've seen. We also saw the new cast perform two songs/dances and it's taken one cruise, but I am finally adjusting to the new faces (but I miss our friends from the old cast!!).
Our Internet was screwed up again this cruise. Even the fix didn't work, so I went to the Internet Cafe after the show tonight to work with the Internet Manager in getting it fixed. We've never had this issue before, and we've done a fair number of back to back cruises. I think there is a procedure required to close out the old accounts that is not being done...but what do I know?
I made it through all this and it's only 10:30pm. Go me!! I mentioned that tomorrow is a day at sea; no early wake up is required and we might even sleep until 7:30am!! Right...