After a few long days and lots of waiting, our plane landed in Papeete, Tahiti at 5:00AM. Boy! Were we rummy and jet lagged. We paid for an early arrival at Tahiti Nui Hotel, and so glad we did, because as soon as the Taxi dropped us off....... we fell on the bed and didnt move for a few hours. After some rest, we went for a walk to orient ourselves and also eat something. The ATM's in Tahiti do not seem to like our Debit cards, so the morning also turned into a "find a machine to spit out local francs" . I called our bank they said all was ok on their end.....but machine after machine spit denials...
We walked to the Harbor where our Freighter/passenger ship was moored and ready for us in the early am. Papeete is a busy bustling, noisy kind of gritty city......and we are looking forward to our passage thru one of the 5 Archipelagos that make up French Polynesia. After the Harbor we continued our quest for the one machine in Papeete that would spit out local money ....and found ourselves in the "local market" away from the tourists. We also were lost. We enjoyed poking around the many food stalls and veggie stands and eventually, not only made our way back to our hotel...but we were finally able to use our ATM and get local currency! Lucky the franc is about one franc to one US penny, and many of the vendors would take small amounts of American. But as we cruise thru the Marquesas.......we will need local money for the small towns.
So...tomorrow...we will be up early again, and dragging our gear the 6 blocks to the Harbor, and board the Aranui. Then, the real adventure starts.
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