Streets of the World

Friday, March 1, 2024: Day 389 – Motu

written by

Brenda

This morning when we left for breakfast, we opened the door and there were birds everwhere. It was like a scene out of Hitchcock’s The Birds.

Rob and I thought that we would spend some time on the deck. On second thought, maybe not. The birds beat us to it.
Today we traveled by boat to snorkel at the motu where we will have lunch. Jacques is our guide and Ari is our boatman.
We go there by boat. We give passersby the “Hang loose” sign.
Cool blue water and lush green mountains.
Rob slathers on the sunscreen. It looks like a milk moustache.
Do you see the man on the very top of the mast? YIKES!!
A motu is an island without a mountain. A fenua is an island WITH a mountain. Our hotel owns part of a remote motu. I have always thought MOTU meant MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE. We used to have a little MOTU trophy for friendly family competitions.
It came from beneath the sea!!
We saw so many beautiful, colorful fish while snorkeling around the motu and again when back at our bungalow. Too bad that we don’t have an underwater camera.
Some very friendly stingrays came to us. Jacques said to reach under and feel its mouth. It felt rubbery. I kept thinking about Steve Irwin.
A hermit crab. This is the first one that I have seen in the wild without having garish  paintings on it.
We saw these reef sharks later that night. Even though they are small, I am glad that I didn’t see them while snorkeling.
Wait! What are you doing here? Could this dog be considered an aquatic species. Well, I did see him swim from one motu to the next despite a strong current!!

We turned on the TV briefly to see what people in Tahiti watch. It was all in French. However, there was a show in English about origami. A man from Lawrence, KS, named Joel Cooper has apparently taken origami to a whole new level adding tessellations to the origami.

French is the official language of The Islands of Tahiti. Tahitian is mostly spoken by islanders in their homes while French is commonly used in schools and business.

The Tahitian language has a melodic intonation like a siren’s song and is very simple with only 16 letters and 1,000 words. With only five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and eleven consonants (b, f, g, h, k, m, n, p, r, t, v), learning the language is very easy. An apostrophe indicates a short pause and most vowels are pronounced.

Here are some words and phrases that are commonly used in Tahiti:

  • Hello – Ia Orana (yo-rah-nah)
  • Welcome – Maeva (mah-yeh-vah)
  • Thank you – Maururu (mah-roo-roo)
  • Man – Tane (tah-nay)
  • Woman – Vahine (vah-he-nay)
  • Child – Tamarii (tah-ma-ree-ee)
  • Bye/See you later – Nana (nah-nah)
  • Cheers / To your health – Manuia (mah-nwee-ah)
  • Good – Maitai (my-tie)
  • Yes – E (ay)
  • No – Aita (eye-tah)
  • I love you – Uua here vau ia oe (oo-ah hay-ray ee-ah oh-ay)
  • Morning – Poipoi (poy-poy)
  • Evening – Ahiahi (ah-hee-ah-hee)
  • Island – Motu (moh-too)
  • Look – A hi’o (ah-hee-oh)
  • Ocean – Moana (mo-ah-nah)
  • How are you? – Maita’i oe? (may-tay oh-ay)
  • I am fine – Maita’i roa (may-tay ro-ah)
  • What? – Eaha? (ey-ah-hah)
  • Why? – No te aha? (noh-tay ah-hah)
  • No problem – Aita pe’a pe’a (eye-tah pay-ah pay-ah)
  • Bread – Faraoa (fah-rah-o-ah)
  • Water – Pape (pa-pay)
  • Pearl – Poe (po-ay)
  • Black pearl – Poerava (po-ay ra-vah)
  • Flower – Tiare (tee-ah-ray)
  • Beer – Pia (pee-ah)
  • Let’s go – Haere tatou (ha-ay-ray tah-taw)
  • Cloth wrap – Pareu (pa-ray-oh)
Rob has found the only way that he can carry the hotel key!!
I wondered who was shining a laser on me. I felt like I was a target in an action movie.
Our shower had cool water, and the tub had hot water. I didn’t mind having a luxurious soak.
Good night!!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from Streets of the World

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading