Maururu Tahiti!

Another word we heard on repeat and spoke while

on the island was maururu (ma-roo-roo).

Which means, thank you!

MAURURU Bora Bora!

I could hardly believe it was time to go. 

Walking away from perfect bungalow.

I just couldn't stop looking back as we walked away.

I may have shed some tears.
It was a hard goodbye!

Looking forward we did have a

fun day planned ahead of our red eye back home.

Another last glimpse of the Sands restaurant.

 

While waiting for the boat to take us back to the airport,

we noticed this employee boat coming back from getting provisions.

They must had hit up a bakery because look at those sacks of baguettes!

A conch shell farewell.

Soaking in the last bit of blue water. 

Flying out and now knowing the island made it fun to point the landmarks we

had seen and been around.

I spotted our resort and exact bungalow we stayed in. 

Back in Papeete!

We rented a car and zoomed off to explore as much as we could

 

This island was not luxurious at all!

It felt third world and was old and very run down.

I am sure the nicer resort areas had a better vibe to them.

I guess they are known for their black sand beaches. 

I was hopeful to swing by one real quick but we had so much to accomplish

in a short amount of time.

This island was also a lot bigger with crazy roads and freeways.

Glad I wasn't the driver!

And SO many scooters!!!

We grabbed a quick bit to eat.

Chickens everywhere!

See the scooters?!

I didn't dare eat the meat.

I struggle with USA hamburgers from here.

Wasn't willing to risk food poisoning on an 8 hour flight!

Dessert and fries hit the spot.

They had different options than back at home.

Lava cake?!

I was beyond disappointed that we never made it to their

well known street market.

I guess its vendors of all sorts for miles.

I tried so hard, but with their silly business hours, and being closed

on the weekends it didn't work out. 

I still needed to get souvenirs for the kids.

Which was tricky because all stores had closed by now.

We found a few "surf shops" that were still open.

They weren't authentic, but had Tahiti printed on them.

It will do! 

We ran into a typical grocery store to grab a couple of things.

It was fun to see the differences in their stores vs ours. 

Way more seafood selections!

Their carts were cute.

Half the size of ours!

They must eat very local and fresh.

Baguettes, of course!

I grabbed things I thought the kids would like to try.

We did a session at the LDS temple!

Tiniest temple, ever.

It's only on 5 acres of land, and has a total floor area of

9,900 sq ft.

We have homes were we live about this size!

It was a humbling experience, with a strong spirit. 

You could tell we were out of the touristy areas as we

truly had major language barriers.

Lots of pointing and chuckling as we tried to communicate with each other. 

I'm so glad we put forth effort to make this happen.

I asked a sweet temple worker (who is a native to the island)

where we should eat. 

Once she figured out my words, along with eating actions, lol.

She wrote down a restaurant.

I trusted her and off we went!

Hands down, our favorite meal of the trip!

Authentic in every way.

Blue Banana.

It was Mothers Day as we landed in LAX.

Another flight home and we had Lane picking us up at the airport.

It is wild to think that we were just on the beaches in Tahiti, now we

are back home and living life like normal again.

Our normal life is so different than what they consider to be normal.

Another reason why I love to travel so much!