We woke up to an ominous sky. As we left our room, it felt as if we were walking into a steam room; the humidity today was around 80.
Breakfast was a hearty affair. As we were discussing the day ahead, the heavens opened. We looked at each other. That wasn’t the plan for today.
Andy went off to the activity desk, and managed to get today’s expedition re-arranged to Wednesday. Theresa agreed that this was a good move, and assured us that the weather will be lovely tomorrow. We lingered a bit longer, and had another cup of coffee.
The rain didn’t let off. We got back to our room and decided to make the most of today. Desperate times called for desperate actions. I made a list:
– Delete photos and make space on my laptops (the start-up disk is full so it’s near impossible to import new photos)
– Play games (the reception desk has a broad selection of board games)
– Write diaries
– Back up photos
– Mend bag
– Camera cleaning
– Change cameras’ dates and times
– Watch episode two of Apple Tree Yard
– Walk to town
– Swim
We started with the less fun tasks.
Around 3pm, the rain let off so we took ourselves to town. Turning left as we left the complex, one long street with a couple of hardware stores, a knickknack shop, a restaurant (which was shut) and a supermarket. Out of curiosity, we went in. There were hardly any vegetables for sale (I’m guessing that people grow their own. They certainly have fruit trees in their garden), but the wine selection was decent. We bought a couple of beers.
On the way back, we spotted crabs on the edge of the road, and eels in a river.
In French Polynesia, the point kilométrique (PK) markers start at PK0 at the airport and go around the coast in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions. A restaurant’s address for example would be the name e.g. Restaurant Andy, Maharaja, PK5.
We taught ourselves how to play dominos and then ‘Let Master’ – a kind of anagram game where you move your piece a certain number of spaces depending on wether you won the round, or lost it. The rules were in French. We played a version of the game. Who knows.
All day, it’s looked like the place was deserted, and then slowly people started to emerge from their rooms either stretching their legs or going for a swim. There are fewer people staying now that the weekenders from Papeete have gone home. The pool wasn’t really busy so I was able to do a few lengths. We settled by the pool with our books, and then a few pages in I realised that it was Happy Hour.
Time for rum cocktails and an early night. Not only it is tiring doing nothing, we also have an early start in the morning.
It looks as though you get get a half decent bottle of claret for £15 from that off licence. Yay. I’m guessing all the wines are French :-). In other news it was a bit worrying to find out in a news article that rum is distilled from sugar cane.