Mo'orea: Like a German vegetarian...

... I feared the wurst. Have we already seen everything on Mo'orea?

I haven't adjusted to the local time. It's 4:30am, it's dark, and I hear something crawling and scratching nearby. Hope it's a gecko. I'll assume it's a gecko.

It's Sunday today, and we always go to church while on vacation. If we can't find a Catholic church, we'll still go to a local service. However, there's a Catholic mass at 10am. Maybe. Due to the sparse population and the distance between islands, it sounds like mass isn't every Sunday. We dress up and decide to head to church and hope for the best.

I forgot to mention that in order to drive in or out of the property, I have to get out of the car and open or close the gate for the car. The gate is pretty heavy and hard to roll at first, but once you get started, it's not too bad. Turns out Rob has been taking photos of my struggles. Here are a couple.

Opening the gate in my Sunday best

Closing the gate on a different day

Another neat thing about the island is the kilometer markers. The airport marks kilometer 0. Then, in both directions, there are island-shaped kilometer markers, until they meet on the opposite side. Very handy.

My very accurate map of Mo'orea

Road marker, in the actual shape of Mo'orea

At about 14km from the airport (north side), we get to the church. I couldn't take any pictures while in church, but it was wonderful. When we got there, a lady gave us a sheet with the readings in English. A man undid the rope knot and rang the bell. When we entered, the holy water was in a clam shell.

St Joseph's

The mass was in French. Almost all of the singing (and there was a lot) was in Polynesian. All the words were projected onto a screen, so we were able to sing along. The singing was accompanied by a djembe, a guitar, and a ukelele. There were two choir directors who took turns directing the congregation.

The travel book said that people like to sit in back, and sure enough, there was a big empty section right at the front. We sat at the back of the front (if that makes sense), and were promptly and politely asked to move. There were two or three other family groups who came after us who went through the same thing - turns out the Sunday school kids join the mass about halfway through, and these seats were reserved for them. The church wound up being full from front to back.

There was a baptism of a wee baby during mass, too. All of the 20 or so family and friends were dressed in white, which looked lovely. Throughout the whole congregation, most of the women and girls wore tropical flowers in their hair. The whole celebration was very joyous and prayerful.


Back at the house, over lunch, I suggest we hike up to the mountain with the hole.

How hard could this hike be?

Rob does a bit of research, and one experienced mountain climber wrote an article saying that it's never been summited. The climber tried, but found it harder than some of the Himilayan mountains he's climbed. Some excerpts from said article:

• "small things come in terrifying packages"
• "considered impossible to climb"
• "lucky to have made it down alive"

So... we decide to go snorkeling at Plage Temae, a local public beach.

The beach is pretty crowded with locals, but there's lots of room. One group of about 20 people has hooked up a large speaker and is playing loud music. But it's really good reggae music. The song we liked best was essentially, "Live life to the fullest, because we're dying every day". (It sounded a lot happier with the music.)

There's not a lot of fish off shore, so we start swimming out a couple of hundred meters. Jackpot! Some fish and octopus photos:

Octopus!

Sea cucumber

Fish

Here is a fish that swims the same way that Kathryn's dog goes for walks.

And of course, Rob once again raises the ire of the mighty Picasso fish.

Coming home from the beach: In Mo'orea, during the rainy season, there can be a lot of water flowing. To keep the roads clear, they've built very substantial gutters. They're about 2 feet deep.

Every time I ask Rob to turn around so I can take a picture of something, he tells me, "I have to find a safe place to do it. And I have to be careful not to get stuck in the gutter."

Except when we see a wedding car go by, covered in flowers. "Ooh, I want a picture!"

Rob starts a three-point turn in a driveway, and suddenly one wheel goes in the gutter and is spinning freely in the air. We are stuck.

There are three substantial Polynesian men watching (this is their driveway). They sigh, then get up and push us out so fast, I couldn't get a picture.

I did not get a picture of the wedding car, either.


I forgot this conversation: Rob stopped the car to let a woman cross the road.

MJ: Wow, she's pretty.
Rob: Didn't notice.
< Pause >
Rob: ALL the women are really pretty. But I didn't notice.


Tomorrow, we spend most of the day travelling to Bora Bora.