Papeete, a happiness paradise...

hashtaglovin.life
18 de fev. de 2018
3 min de leitura

It is amazing how people lives under such different life standards, isn't it?

I did expect to go to the beach as the weather was so lovely, but there was no beach any near to the port of Papeete. Accordingly to the locals, the nearest ones were 20 minutes away.

So we just wondered around... and what a lovely surprise when I crashed accidentally into the street art museum. I would never expect them to have a museum of street art, as the French Polynesia has been so far a extremely modest place.

The entrance to the museum has a fee and they do not accept credit cards. They do have some art pieces and a map of all the places where street art can be found.

It is interesting how modest everything is around Papeete and in general in the French Polynesia. The people, the houses, the schools, but not the cars. It looks like the cars do not belong to this place, as they do have quite sophisticated ones.

In the market we have been lucky to meet a lady who was doing hand craft items that looked beautiful. She was French but spoke Italian and she moved quite a long time to Papeete as, as per her she can be free. And that's where happiness stands - by doing what you love, where you love, with who you love.

Plenty of ladies in the market were doing crowns of flowers and necklaces. And I must say the flowers are beautiful, so are these items! They are such with a lovely smile, that smile of someone who lives a simple life, with almost nothing but appreciates the simple things this universe has to offer them.

Everything is so expensive in here (most of the postcards or magnets would cost around 10-15 USD). 1 dollar would be around 98 XRP.

The market had a lot of souvenirs for the different tastes - all of them taking advantage of the natural resources they have available - shells, vanilla, leaves...

We got to know by a lady who was working at the market that the population was celebrating the Chinese New Year, as they do have a big community of Chinese in Papeete. Herself was half Chinese and half local.

They have the most amazing fishes for sale in the market! I could not believe that they would eat such beautiful and colourful fishes - from turquoise to black and orange - you feel like it's wrong to eat them!

We kept walking and wandering around. The city hall is such a beautiful building, again making a contrast with all that we saw around.

We walked in the direction of the Fautaua Valley and we made a stop in a Chinese temple which the smell of incense could be felt from quite far away. In our way there was a table of fruits by the road, but no one selling it... or at least taking care of it.

The school was quite simple and the typical school of a very poor place. from the outside. There was a table with a tree making some shadow and I could just imagine the kids playing under this table with themselves maybe the same way that our grandparents generation would do it in Europe.

As far as we started going away from the port it was clear how these people lives in such different standards from European. Houses are made in materials such as wood and zinc roofing. Sometimes they are not even painted.

Everyone has a lot of tattoos, I guess due to their tribe origins and the people is just very welcoming, but not too friend I would say (I would say a little bit wild - the kind of attitude of someone who would live in a tribe would have probably).

Our lunch was expensive... about 25 USD for a salad and a fresh smoothie but it was delicious!!!! I must say...

Leaving this happiness paradise, we felt like we had a day off and we set sail to Moorea, just 30 minutes away

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