Day 58 Papeete

A French town in the tropics
This was a day of getting settled.
We took Le Truck into Papeete to meet the agent from Polynesia Yacht Services (PYS). Le Truck is pretty much what it sounds like. It is a covered flat bed truck with bench seats that makes a circuit around Papeete. The cost per ride is 130 CFP. CFP is the Currency of French Polynesia and is worth about 12¢ so 130 CFP is about $1.50. Taxi rides are very expensive in Tahiti and an equivalent distance by taxi could cost $30 to $40. Le Truck comes periodically (although we never figured out the frequency) and stops in the middle of town.
Papeete has about 200,000 inhabitants and seems more French than Polynesian. There are a lot of cars, and the pace is much faster than anything we had seen so far.
Large tour boats dock right at the waterfront and when we arrive at the coffee shop where we were to meet, there was a Princess line ship with 2,000 passengers at the dock. This made for busy streets and sidewalks.
At all of the major islands, a formal check in is required at immigration, the police and customs. Before we left Mexico we had contracted with PYS to handle all of the administrative parts of our stay in French Polynesia since they are experts in getting the 90 day visa extension and in securing a release from the $1,000 bond requirement. At this morning’s meeting, we handed over our passports, the boat registration and the form we received when we first checked in at Hiva Oa. The agent takes these to the appropriate government departments and saves us a lot of time and potential problems.
Most tourists arrive by airplane or cruise ship with the expectation of staying less than 30 days and you they have a return ticket so none of these formalities are required.
Some people are turned off by Papeete as it is not the image of a tropical paradise. There are lots of cars and traffic and most of the people are European - not Polynesian. I understand at some times of the year it even has smog.
Others are expecting a laid back city and find what they expect. I think it would be easy to stay here for a while and explore although we will not have time on this trip.
One other aspect of the city is the view of Mo’orea which dominates the view from the harbor. Mo’orea is about 5 miles away and has several spectacular peaks that are usually partially hidden in the clouds.