March 6 & 7th, 2017
We did not cope with the heat and humidity in Easter Island at all well, and Tahiti is 10 degrees further north! We seem to have a chest infection, and a dry hacking cough (that makes me feverish). It was brewing amongst passengers in Antarctica, and certainly started there for us, and has now become a major issue. As the Hotel Altiplanico did not have air-conditioning – just fans and huge opening sliding doors which might let the insects in at night – we have had little relief from the humidity. So Easter Island has been a real trial, but we did enjoy it, and certainly very happy to have been here!
So, this is two rather poorly travelers reporting that at a few minutes to midnight we were to board a plane for Tahiti, duly arriving a few minutes after midnight. However, our midnight departure from Easter Island was delayed until nearly 4 AM. We only found that out when the check-in desks at the airport opened around 9 PM. What an absolute bummer!
We were given meal vouchers at a local restaurant and told a bus would return us to the airport at 11. The bonus was that we got to experience the local (i.e. Hang Roa) night life. The meal was a bottle of water and a dish of wok-cooked fish and vegetables, and we were through eating by 9:40! So we sat around reading or playing sudoku, and savouring our bottle of water, which was wonderfully cold. As for the night life, it was busy, and even busier by 11 PM, with constant traffic and people coming and going. I doubt it stops, and this is a town of a few thousand people.
Easter island street scene early in the evening
The restaurant had a nice atmosphere
We also got to hear, but not see, the local cultural show at the restaurant. I’m a bit cynical about this sort of thing, and I was quite happy not to be seeing it as the music itself did not gel at all with the quite, soulful Rapa Nui music I’d been hearing at our hotel. There seemed to be little soul, and a lot of repetition in the numbers I was hearing. I think it was a massed choir of male and female voices, and a lot of percussive stomping.
Back to the airport … we eventually left Easter Island around 4 AM, to arrive in Papeete about the same time!
We were welcomed on entering the terminal by two guys playing a ukulele-like instrument, a “bush base” made out of a plastic rubbish bin, and singing powerfully, while a curvaceous woman danced. I mucked the picture up but here it is (also not helped by condensation forming on the lens still cold from the plane!)
Welcome to Papeete!
An hour and a half later we were through customs, and in a taxi into Papeete to meet up with the host of the place we would be staying at. The poor guy, our original arrival time was 00:40, but I had sent him an email warning him!
First impressions of Papeete from a taxi at 5:30 AM was that it’s constantly going every which way, with the roads buzzing with traffic. Second impression, when we were shown to our apartment, was that the place was seedy and run down! There were what looked like padlocked and dilapidated shop fronts all along our building. We entered through two battered street-level security doors to a lift that barely had room for the three of us, took the lift to the 4th floor and walked up to the 5th and our apartment. That we were dead tired and both rather poorly did not help our negative impression! Fortunately things were not so bleak!
Tahiti Appartement was on the top floor, with a triangular attic window
When we arrived this was all dark and looked horrible; the whole street was like it!
Once it was light, the shutters opened and they were shops. Much nicer!
Our host carefully explained that we must not run any two of the air-con, hot water heater, or washing machine together else we’ll trip the power circuits! He explained the way to open and close the security doors and our apartment door, which in turn explained why we needed a ring of 5 keys for one apartment! And then left us to settle in, in peace.
This had not been my first choice of accommodation: that was a reportedly very homely hostel with a garden. But just a week or so ago we had an email from Booking.com saying that had been severely damaged by flooding during a cyclone, would we consider this one as an alternative. So here we are, in Tahiti Appartement!
Our room. Triangular window is behind me, kitchen and bathroom off to the right
Well, the location was right downtown, and our triangular window had a stunning view over the water, of the marina, ferry terminal, and cruise boats, and across to the island of Moorea to the west. There was a big and comfortable double bed, a kitchenette with gas stove and fridge, a bathroom, toilet, and washing machine. In fact, it was quite a stunning find, set in such a nondescript building. And later, when we were out and about during the day, all those boarded up areas that looked so seedy had opened up into little shops!
As we took stock of the situation after a couple of hours of attempted sleep we realised this was a pretty good spot to be in, and the view through our window was probably one of those million dollar views.
Tahiti Appartement is a delightfully quaint, seemingly practical penthouse! It will be a very nice base for the last few days of our holiday, irrespective of our health and the heat …
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