We rented a car Monday from the airport (a shocking $110/day) and are doing our provisioning for the next few months. It's always nice to just get in a car and drive wherever you want not having to worry about bus stops or little legs getting tired of walking...or sweating to death. First on the list was to find the bulk store we had heard about. It's called Cost &; Co, no relation to Costco...other than carrying the exact same brands! I have no idea how they do it but it's like a mini Costco complete with Kirkland brands and giant bags of pancake mix (yeah....my homemade pancakes aren't very good). So we stocked up there and unfortunately left the beautiful little portable stainless steel grill where it was sitting (it doesn't fit right on the boat...would be a toe breaker...but I'm still hoping Andy will change his mind). Then we went looking for all the chandleries...why, I don't know. For once, we don't have anything that needs fixing but it just doesn't feel right to go to a big city without walking through the boat shops.
We found the duty free liquor shop we've heard so much about, Kim Fa. It's a fabulous find...after you check out of Papeete, you take your papers and head over to Kim Fa. You put in your order and they deliver it to your boat in 24 hours. You have to keep it separate from your normal stuff because you can't drink it until you leave French Polynesia. But it's well worth the effort. You can get a good bottle of wine (at least by our very low Mexican standards) for about 450 Francs ($5). Jo Anne spoke wonderful English and she was nice enough to warn us to come a little early next week as there will be a Chinese cruise ship here and hundreds of Chinese people trying to buy their duty free booze. Thanks for the heads up.
We've made several stops at the Carrefour (big grocery store), dropped of laundry (I won't even tell you how much I paid. You either won't believe me or you'll think I'm crazy for paying it), and refilled our propane tanks.
After our last grocery run, Jake went to play on La Fiesta with Natalie while Andy and I drove around the island. It only took a few hours to do all the touristy things but it was really fun. We saw lots of waterfalls (I love waterfalls) and a few gardens and just some really pretty scenery. Today we're going to take Jake back to one of the waterfalls and let him swim around. At least that's the current plan...
One thing that baffles us (but makes us laugh) about the French Polynesia is the chicken. You can't throw a rock without hitting one...little boys are carrying them all over town...we've even seen one on a leash...yet if you go to the store to buy one, it's about $10/lb. And the cheap frozen ones we buy...guess where the come from. Gainesville, GA. Yes, I said Gainesville, GA. Now it's been awhile since I've been home to GA, but I don't recall Gainesville being noted for it's chicken production. But no worries, it tastes delicious and at least we know it went through some sort of quality control at some point in time.
So we ended the night with sundowners (after sun down) with La Fiesta and Lardo and are feeling good. The boat is stocked up, gased up, and love is all around. At the very least we're ready for our party this weekend at Moorea with the rest of the fleet. At the very highest of hopes, we're stocked up for the Cook Islands. We'll see...
1 comment:
Actually Gainesville GA is known as the "Poultry Capital of the World" LOL. They are proud of their chicken. I have a good friend who's husband is in management of a big chicken place. They also have a lot of Mexicans in Gainseville too. They all work in the chicken plants and often I hear about raids for illegals. As soon as you said it was from there my first thought was I'm not surprised. There are processing plants around here too, we always see the trucks of chickens on the commute to Athens. So now you know!
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