Day 2

Sunday, November 22, 2020
Mo'orea, Windward Islands, French Polynesia
I’m a weird person. 
Sometimes I do weird things. 
I was invited to go with one of the other guests to the market- ok sure why not. I’ll learn the way to town, maybe shop with the person, and then we’ll peel off when I go to church. 
Of the people I described yesterday, which one do you think I went with?
yep- the old man with the tattoo. Let me describe him further to better paint the picture. I feel like I’ve met his type before or maybe there’s someone like him in French TV... for some reason his character/everything about him is so predictable. 
Ok so this man is your divorced (idk if that’s even true, we never talked personal details) French grandpa who was always a drunkard in the street but somehow washed up on the shores of Tahiti wearing nothing but jorts (Jean shorts for the old folks out there), a surfer necklace, and sometimes a vest. And somewhere along the way he got a tattoo of the sunset and a swordfish across the second half of his torso. I think he has all his teeth but I can’t swear by it. 
Anyways. This guy (I learn his name is Franc) shows up to breakfast in the same outfit as last night- jorts and surfer necklace. I walk in all low on confidence cuz my French sucks and I didn’t see it coming even though it’s been two years almost since I was in France. This place is supposed to serve breakfast but apparently since it’s Sunday, the hosts come later. We had all woken up at 4:45am with the sun, so waiting until 8 or later was unthinkable. Ok fine I’ll just go out and buy breakfast, not that I’m happy about it. This is when Franc offers to go together to the market. Ok. Sure.
I happen to get my things together in time and I head on out with Franck. Two seconds in I realize no. This is going to be so much French!!! It just so happened that he and I had the EXACT same plan for the day, so we would go to Moorea together and I figured I’d peel off there and just relax at a beach and he can do whatever he does. 
What does he do for work? This is the one piece of personal information from either side that was shared throughout the whole day. He founded an association that brings together kids from across the world with kids from France. They uphold five respectable values and that’s pretty much all I remember. Seems cool and good intentions I guess. Tbh kinda expected it. Oh and it was supposed to be without race, religion, economics, etc. Progressive (said mostly sarcastically). Politically I don’t think we were on the same page, but oh well. Turns out language was a bit of a barrier to have any good discussion on this. 
We headed out to the market- the biggest market in the country. On Sundays (today) it’s more of a “local” day where there are more food stands than touristy stands. This was great, although samples weren’t as common and Franck finagled a sample of raw fish, coconut milk, and lime for our breakfast. His talent of getting things becomes a theme. He’s just got one of those auras. Very personable, especially when you can understand him I’m sure haha. 
It was a super good breakfast and we ate at an empty stand, making it look like we were selling what we were eating but were all sold out. Pretty funny. We got some pineapple to go and headed to the ferry for Moorea. It was a super pretty day, although super hot and the sun! So strong. For sure got burned just on the ferry alone. Cool ride though- Moorea is such a weird island just from its geography alone. I didn’t realize most of these islands were surrounded by reefs, causing the waves to break a ways out from the shore and creating lagoons just off the land. It was SO cool to pass the point where the waves broke and keep moving into the port. For some reason it kinda felt like passing into a different dimension. The trees!! I think they had every kind of tree possible on this island. No two adjacent trees were alike, it was wild! 
We hop off the ferry and walk across the street to go rent e-bikes. Turns out the guy was all out, and just as we were about to rent scooters (much more expensive), the guy called his friend who said he had bikes available. The guy drove us there (a luxury!) and this couple was so nice! They were an Israeli Jewish couple who had done a few businesses on the islands and had a passion for ebikes which they now rent to tourists. These were nice bikes!! SO light and the assist was much needed at times. Can’t believe he rents these tbh. And of course Franck worked his charm and we all shared some beers and then the guy showed us around and took us to a nearby public beach. Wow. Nicest public beach in the world!! Couldn’t believe it. The water was beyond imaginable and everything was just perfect. Unfortunately this was the first day of my period and with bathrooms uncertain with a new country and covid, I wasn’t able to be prepared for a long swim. But we took a quick swim and enjoyed another beer. The guy that rented us the bikes then left us to have our day, and I kinda realized at this point that this was gonna be a Mary and Franck day. Oh well. I was starting to have fun. And probably best to have someone to bike around the island with, just in case one of us dies.
We embarked on our tour of the island, and stopped within about 30min to eat at a stand that the bike guy recommended. It was so good!! Swordfish kebabs cooked over a fire with pineapple wow. So good. And there’s always an ocean view!! Franck was just loving this haha and I appreciated that he liked to enjoy life as that was kinda what I was looking for from the day. No wild Utah adventure or anything haha. 
The island was super cool to bike around- Moorea means “yellow lizard” because it’s shaped like a lizard paw. Going in and out of the three fingers of the paw was so cool. The starkness of the tall mountains creates daily clouds around the interior of the island. This was a welcome break from the sun and a weird contrast that we could predict. It made the lush mountain sides look really wild. 
It was a really wonderful tour of the island, stopping here and there to eat or grab a coconut for a refreshing drink. The entire time Franck would slow down around houses and he was in the market to buy one for himself. I can’t believe he doesn’t live here already, he looks like an island Frenchman. He did end up wearing a shirt on the boat, I believe it was required. This shirt was actually just a vest (although not denim like his shorts and his mask) and it was a vest for his association so he had the bike guy take some pictures with him in it. So funny. But yes I think he wants to live on Moorea. After we made our tour of the island (maybe 4 hours total with all the stops? About 30mi) we met back up at the bike guy’s house. We had a few hours before the ferry left, so the guy offered for us to use his private beach. Of course. It was SO beautiful and his neighbor had a beachhouse on their portion. Franck went to inquire if the guy ever rents out the beachhouse and they struck a deal so he’s gonna spend the same amount of money that he’s spending on our Airbnb for a private beachhouse with a private beach on Moorea. Wow. He really is a smooth-talker I guess. Still only understand half of what he says. I forget how much French people love to monologue. 
I spoke with the bike guy at the beach and he was super interesting. He moved here to Moorea and found out that there were no shops at the airport. So, he quickly put something together and he’s been running a shop at the Moorea airport for 30 years now. Good for him. For some reason, he also got into agricultural stuff and he made guava (or papaya?) ketchup which was a big hit and was even sold in several countries around the world. Super random. Luckily he’s comfortable and can absorb the blow of the coronavirus to his airport business, and it sounds like he’s enjoying the good life he has now that work has dialed down a bit. Seems like a nice guy. 
The time finally came for the first guy to come pick us up and take us to the ferry (super kind). We lined up for the ferry and it was kinda funny Franck finally asked a personal question and asked me how old I was and why I was alone and all. Kinda funny. He only had kind things to say and we became friends I guess after this day. Very strange. 
On the way back from the ferry we stopped at a cart to get some more swordfish. Ok at this point I’ve had a ton of fish and French fries. Seems to be the local favorite. Not always feeling meat and fries on a hot day lol. And the portions are SO much. Super good though. I think found my limit for the day haha. 
We returned and recanted- well it was mostly Franck cuz my brain was exhausted from computing a language I hadn’t faced in two years- to our group our stories from the day. He was so jazzed about the beachhouse hahaha it was so funny. He couldn’t stop talking about it.
I think the others were kinda shocked that I spent the day with Franck- maybe it made me seem super desperate for travel companionship, but he literally just had the exact same itinerary that I had for the day. One of the other guys offered to take me hiking with him and his friends tomorrow in Tahiti, and I said I’d think about it. I kinda came here to be alone. And I’m so friggin sick of French!!! I wasn’t really a fan of feeling unable to express myself all day today, so maybe I don’t go out with frenchies tomorrow. We’ll see.  

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2025-02-09

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