The Living Side of the Island

Our bus took us to a reconstruction of a Tahitian temple.  The old religion was totally displaced by the religions brought by explorers and settlers, but this was an example of the former worship areas.  There are still some original worship places up in the mountains, but since they are inaccessible, the government built this as a tribute to their ancestors.

If you read French, you are strictly
forbidden to climb on these, but if you
only read English, you are just forbidden.

Currently about 60% of the islanders are some type of Protestant, 30% are Catholic and the rest are other religions.  We saw many churches as we traveled.

A Protestant church

The Catholic Cathedral

Everywhere we went there were statues.

The one on the left was in the lounge area for the National Assembly, the ruling body of Tahiti.  French Polynesia is under the control of France, but has strong local government.  The one on the right was in the Queen's Park, named in honor of the first Queen of Tahiti after foreign discovery.  She ruled for 50 years.  The name "Papeete" means water basket because there is a spring where the Queen used to get fresh water for her bath.

Now only eels and koi swim in the springs.

A monument to Queen Pumare IV

Tahiti combats graffiti in an unusual way.  They hold The Tahiti Graffiti Festival every year to honor well done works of art and to cover the blank sides of buildings.

The people we met were all friendly and welcoming, starting with this band which welcomed us on the pier.












As we sailed away, the sun setting over the mountains gave us a different view of the harbor area.

Then, as a final gift from "Paradise on Earth," we were treated to this sunset over the island.