On-the-Road Tales

After a 5 hour flight, we landed in Papeete, Tahiti. We disembarked into the humid night and were greeted with a local orchid, bright white and fragrant, and welcomed with a polynesian band. It took forever to get through immigration – reminding me it was like island life in the caribbean, unhurried and unbothered. Since I was arriving so late – I had arranged a room at the Airport Lodge guesthouse with airport pickup. I collected my bags, stopped at the ATM and headed outside. I found my transport and he was none too happy. After a few minutes brooding, he relayed how he had been waiting there for hours. I told him the correct time I was arriving, and he should know how long immigration and bags take so I wondered what was the problem. He snapped that he had arrived so early to get a good waiting spot right outside the airport. I was completely taken aback at the attitude and it suddenly dawned on me – I was no longer in South America where people were friendly, calm and not french!

Chile was slightly more expensive than the other S. American countries and I knew Tahiti was meant to be very dear (that means $$$ in irish slang) but I was about to suffer from some serious sticker shock the next few days. I was expecting a palace for the $50 I paid at the guesthouse. It was the cheapest place in Tahiti by about $100 so it was just one step up from backpackers, but I still had not adjusted to private, ensuite rooms for 5$ I guess. The disgruntled owner showed me my postage stamp sized room and went off to bed telling me he would wake me in 6 hours for breakfast. I did not really think it was necessary to get up at 0700 but when I tried to relay that point he told me if I wanted a ride to the busstop to leave his house, that is when he would be taking me. Alrightie – I wished I could get beamed back east! I went in search of the bathroom and found it but was unable to locate the sink. I wandered around and found it outside, on the terrace. Okay, guess you can do that in tropical environments.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 1:32 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.