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‘Happy New Year,
It is the 3 of Januar and we are pumped. Tim my friend from Canada
is here to see me and we have had a busy week. We have been all over Tahiti to
see tourist stuff . It seems that using th old thumb is the best way to get
around here. We get to see and feel the way the locals live and interact.
It is faster and a lot more interesting than the slow and poorly timed public
system that stops running at 5:00 p.m. You might catch the last bus home if it
is not
full. We still dont have a clue why they are so friendly to hitchers but here is
two quick examples of the hospitality of the Polynetians.
(before Tim
arrived) Me, Julian and his Sister were hitching from Papeete to Taravao witch
is about 60 kilometers when and older man looking kind of like santa picked us
up. We got in the back of his pickup and off we went. First he took us to a
little restaurant for drinks then home to see his wife?. He asked her if she
wantetd to come with him to Taravao with these tourists and she said yes and
grabbed us some snacks for the journey. They took us the last 50 kilometers. As i learned later, he was not going there at all. The drink in the
restaurant, the food and the drive to Taravao was all just for fun...
Another day me and Tim were out hitching we got a ride to Tiahupa a famous
surf spot here with an older lady. We asked here if she was going to Tiahupa and
she said 'Yes,we just have to stop by my house first and drop off some fish i
bought in town' After dropping of the fish she drove us and two other hitchers
to Tiahupa just for fun, of course she was really only going home but why not
drive the tourists an extra 17 kilometers and back.
Friday
was 'New Years' in Taravao and saturday was new years for real. We hitched 60
kms to Papetee to welcome in the new years. I was planning of haveing a great
New Years and willing to spend some money that day but drinks were 15 dollars a piece!. It
was safe to say We did not drink to much on New years. Tim phoned his girlfriend
two times to leave a message, on the time it was midninght in Canada and when it
was midnight here. He seems to be totally lost in her and i am happy for him.His
plan is to meet up with her in Hawaii at the end of january so we have to get a
move on soon if we are to do eny sailing. The plan is to leave for Papeete
tomorrow and then go island hopping to Moreea, Raitea and Bora bora but who
knows, it is the wrong season for sailing here so we might get stuck somwere.
For christmas i bought solar panels. I were not really looking for panels but a
store here was closing down the business and i got 3 panels for the price of one.
Me and Julian actually got the panels so cheap that when more people came to buy
the dealer refused to sell more for that price and they had to pay 25% more than
we did. New Years were two days and so were christmas. On the 24 i celebrated
European christmas with Julian and his sister with french wine and all kind of
french food and on the 25 i celebrated South African christmas with Paul and had
a great big steak.
Special Happy New Year's hello to:
- Adrianna in Ecuador, Pauls Girlfriend Andrea who is home for the holidays,
Darryl & Shelly (Congrats;-) and a big one to Tanya for letting Tim come see me.
Kjell O.
Stave & Tim Logue |
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