We arrived in Papeete early this morning. This is a modern industrial port, but with a fairly attractive waterfront. The guide book say Tahiti’s population is 170,000 but you might guess at more. But the city is wide but not deep, very spread along the water.

We took the local bus from Papeete to the Gaugin museum which is on the other side of the island. It is a series of lovely open side building right near the water, with good explanations of Gaugin’s life and work in both French and English. However the reproductions of his paintings (there are no originals here) are of variable quality, many quite faded and dull,only a few show the bright palette he is known for. But the museum itself is worth seeing. Adjacent is a 130 Hectare botanical garden, but sadly we didn’t have enough time or energy to explore it after a long Tahitian lunch in the excellent adjacent bar/restaurant.

Getting back to Papeete was a bit of an adventure, as we waited a long time for a bus, and when one came it was only going to Taravao, which is where the main island joins Tahiti Iti. We took it any way and waited there for a Papeete bus. It would have been a long wait as a local came along and told us that the last bus left a 2:30PM. It was 2:45 at the time! However, if we walked on to the next Church, there was a place where the last bus to Papeete went at 4:30 PM. I asked when the NEXT bus was and he said “4:30 PM”.  We walked a kilometer or so to the church and just managed to catch a bus which left at 3 PM. Local knowledge is still a bit weak here, or perhaps it was his English and my French…

The ride around the Eastern coast  or Tahiti was exiting, with many switchbacks and hills. At one point the bus turned up a steep side road and climbed up to a school where a large group of happy Tahitian children, ages about 8 to 12, boarded. They were delightful, polite but also full of mischief. A little boy beside me poked the (much bigger) kid in front of him, then when he turned round the little brat pointed at me! Laughter all round.

The pictures above is Papeete harbor as we came in, and a river near the Gaugin Museum.

I’m going ashore again to walk around the town in the evening and observe the street life. There is a Tahitian show onboard tonight at 10 PM (the one at the hotels cost $75) and it is free so I’ll come back for that.