Raiatea Vacay

For two days now, I have been cleaning, doing laundry, running last
minute errands and packing. Because Coco and I are going on vacation!
Yup, we are taking the boat over to Raiatea to visit some friends, the
Boutot family! Coco and I are leaving tomorrow, Wednesday, and Daniel
will join on Friday! Mini vacation, here we come!

For the trip, Coco got a new collar (not that he really needed a new
one but he got a new shining blue one!). The little guy has to look
nice when we travel!

It's going to be interesting to see how he does on the boat. It takes
2 hours to get there, and depending on the weather, it can be a little
bit of a bumpy ride. Not really looking forward to it, but don't have
any other options.

The boat leaves at 7am! Oh lord... And they reccomended to be there 30
min prior. That means I have to be there at 6:30am (which means the
alarm will ring at 5:30am?!?) I'm going to be so tired!

Not sure if I will have any Internet while I'm there, but I will take
plenty of pictures and update as soon as I get back!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Swimming with Turtles at Le Meridien

Today we spent the day at Le Meridien. 

The resort has a Turtle Sanctuary where anyone can come and watch the feeding and also learn about the protection program they work on. Afterwards you get to swim with the reptiles in the lagoon!

It's a great program they have. Sebastian, the turtle man, has worked with the program for 7 years. The Green Sea Turtle is extinct and what they try to do is involve the locals in the mission to ensure a future for the turtles, as in their "culture" they eat sea turtle. It used to be only the royals who got to eat them (when they had tribes living on the islands), but today the locals hunt them and sell them on the black market for a lot of money. Just a few turtles, and they can buy a fishing boat! 

It's a hard task though for the turtle man as the locals don't understand the seriousness. A sea turtle live for about 80 years, but don't mature until it's about 20-30 years old so the process is very slow and only 1 out of 1000 baby turtles survive! The turtle man said something very interesting. The tahitian language does not include past or future, so the people only live in the present. They live day by day and he said it's complicated to get them to understand that if they continue to hunt them, there will be no left in a few years.

It's a slow process, but the turtle man seems hopeful!

We sure had a great and interesting day! 

Le Meridien as we arrive with the boat

Three turtles feeding 

A young turtle!   

Feeding time. They eat lettuce and tuna.
Interesting fact... They eat meat when they are young, but turn vegetarian when they get older!
Also, as they turn vegetarian, their color turn green! 

We were not allowed to touch them or feed them

It was so much fun!

And they would swim right up to you

Me at the sanctuary

La Meridien infinity pool! Had to check that out too!

 Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Swedish Cuisine

Oh la la! Haven't been updating in a while, so I have to say "sorry" about that one! Can't say that I have been very busy, but sometimes it just happen!

Anyway, I have been in "Swedish-food-mood" in the last week with focus on Skagen röra. First I waned to go big and make a Smörgås tårta (translated in to Sandwich Cake). It's a "cake" with white toast bread (untoasted!) layered with different fillings. You can do shrimp, ham, or what ever you feel like! Plenty of mayo in it, but it is so yummy! Unfortunately the grocery store didn't have a few of the key ingredients I needed so I had to scale it down a little. So I went with a räkmacka (shrimp sandwich) instead!

Shrimp Sandwich, Swedish style!

During the same time Daniel and I watched "Mamma Mia", which is an incredible good movie! After the movie, the Bose was rocking to both ABBA and Ace of Base! 

  

That same night my culinary enthusiasm continued as I decided to cook for Daniel, for a change! 

This time I went with baked potato with Skagen Röra.   

A hot potato!

      So easy but so good, so I thought I would share the recipe with y'all!

Skagen Rora

3-4 dl Shrimp

2 tbls Dill

1dl  Mayo

1 dl Creme Fraiche

2 tbls Red Onion, finely shopped

  Salt

Pepper

Lemon

Cut the shrimps in small pieces

Put all ingredients together and mix well.

Squeeze the lemon in the mix (instead of fresh lemon you can buy lemon mayo)

Salt and pepper to taste

Bake your potato and add some shredded lettuce, butter and spices (if you want) before you topp it off with plenty of Skagen mix!

Oh what A great "Swedish night"! ABBA, Ace of Base and A hot potato!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Coco's Toys

The toy selection for Coco (well, toys in general. No wait,
everything!) is very slim here on the island, so we have had to turn
to other resorces to keep him busy.

The Slipper - Hilton flip flop slipper is a great alternative to mine.
He now has 3 (all Daniel's!)

The Bee - Still hanging in since he was very little. Only the nose is
gone!

Random pieces of Fabrics - No need for fancy rope toys here!

Tennis Ball - Finally found them at the grocery store, but only so
much fun.

The Coconut - In various "forms". Whole, which has started to grow
(fun to bite, drag and try to rip open), coconut which has been cut in
half (with or without the meat).

Plastic Water Bottle (1.5l) - Must be one of his favorites. It keeps
moving! He plays with it until it's compleatly flat. Good for me as I
don't have to do it myself to make more room in the garbage bin. Very
noisy though!

Baseball Hat - Mine, but hey, who needs a baseball hat? And it's yellow!

The only "real" toy he has is The Squeeky Tire - it also have a rope
through it. Very fun!

The Cewing Bone - Do I need to say more?!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Cargo Ship

Yesterday I dropped off and waved good bye to friends that are moving

to Raiatea which is another island about 2h with the boat (3 if you go

with the cargo ship) from Bora Bora.

They took the cargo ship Taporo VII as they needed to ship over their

car as well. The boat takes only about 12 passengers, and there are no

luxury, such as chairs, on board but it's a cheap alternative to the

ferry boat. The car was packed from floor to ceiling, and only left

space for the driver to squeeze in!

We arrived in the middle of unloading the ship with random goods for

the people of Bora Bora. The interesting thing is that if there are no

ship, there will be no goods in Bora Bora. Let's just say, 1 week of

bad weather where the ships can't get here, and the grocery stores,

hotels, restaurants etc will not receive anything! I can tell you,

the grocery store gets empty fast!

Anyway, I was watching them unload and load the ship and I have to say

the guys were very fast and efficient! A few things amazed me though

while I was watching.

If you as a private person or a company are expecting anything to be

delivered, you better be there when the boat arrives! I'm not sure

about the organization, but I'm sure they got one. But there seem not

to be any kind of security. I mean, I could probably pick up anything

and walk off, as people are allowed to be where the goods are dropped

off! You would assumed that you have some kind of proof that you are

expecting something and that someone would check it off before you get

to take it! I didn't see anything of that! There must be a lot of

things "disappearing"!

Another thing that amazed me was when they were loading a small

truck on the boat. One like this!

They drove it up on a rectangular "base", and secured the truck with logs of wood 

behind and in front of the tires(!) and then they put 4 chains 

(one in each corner of the base) and lifted it up on the deck!

Wow!! Seriously!?! Pieces of wood, that's it?! But hey, it seemed to work!

Now I'm planning a trip to Raiatea, with Coco of course! 

They say they have painted lines on the road over there! 

How exiting! LOL!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

 

Swedes

I forgot, but yes, finally I met some fellow swedes on this island!

Of course I was overly excited, not sure why, but I guess it hasn't
gone this long before, without Swedish contact!

Me and some friends decided to head over to one of the hotels on the
main island for some cocktails, and we ended up at Maitai Resort, just
past Matira beach. We walked in to the beach restaurant and as I
passed a big table, I thought I heard Swedish from one of the guys. I
just stopped, turned and dove in to the table and asked with my
southern Swedish accent if they were from Sweden. And they were... And
8 of them!

Had a great chat with them and it turned out they were from
Gothenburg, where I have family!

Really nice people, and their advice was to put on a "Sweden" shirt to
attract more swedes, because they had already met another one! Still a
tourist though, so I still believe I'm the only swede living on the
island. So I guess I will have to put on my "Heja Sverige" (and that
means "Go Sweden!) tank top and head down to Vaitape, park myself
somewhere and just wait!

I really hope they had a good vacation here on the island!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Great idea!

Another weekend has passed and this one went by a little faster than
normal, as Daniel had to go back to work on Saturday morning to hand a
"warning" letter to one of his staff. Nothing too unusal! Then in the
afternoon/evening we watched two movies. Couples Retreat with Vince
Vaughn was funny, and best of all, it was filmed here in Bora Bora at
the St. Regis resort. Didn't show that much of the island, but you get
a good sence of how the resorts looks like! After that we watched
Sherlock Holmes. Great movie!

This Sunday afternoon I had a great idea. After a day of wind and rain
it finally cleared up and I thought a walk on the beach, while the sun
set, would be a perfect ending on a weekend with my two boys! So we
all got in the car and off we went, parked and started walking along
the beach.

We didn't get far until I realized it was a bad idea to bring Coco.
This island is not suitable for domistcated dogs! After maybe 10
meters the first dog showed up. Small one, not a big threath. Another
few meters, a mean looking pitbull, tied up, went off barking telling
Coco he would eat him for supper as soon as he got loose. By now, Coco
is flying down the beach, pulling like crazy on the leash, terriefied,
yet brave!

We pass more dogs, packs of dogs, huge dogs and cute dogs. After about
400 meters we decided to walk back to the car, on the road! About half
the walk we had to carry Coco as the other dogs looked at him as an
intruder.

What a great idea I had! Will never do that one again, that's for sure!

Now I'm smelling good food from the kitchen, and another movie in the
DVD player is loading! Not a bad ending on this weekend, after all!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

What grows in my Backyard?

As I have mentioned before, I live in a house on a big property with 5 (soon 6) houses. 

It's more or less a cleared area in the middle of the jungle with a dirt road leading up here!

The view is just extraordinary and from the house I can see Motu Toopua and Motu Tapu (motu = small island) and the Orient-Express property Bora Bora Lagoon Resort and Spa (BBLR). Unfortunately, they are still closed down since hurricane/cyclone Oli passed back in February.

Anyway, on the property random things (for me) are growing. And I get so excited! I know, I get excited easily, but growing up in Sweden, I barely knew what a papaya was, and now I can pick them from my own tree! We also have lime tree, pomelo and bananas! 

And it's so much better when it's super fresh!

  

My house on the property with Motu Toopua (the big one) and Motu Tapu (small one) across the lagoon

The coconut!

Coconut trees are everywhere. Here is one that is just starting to grow. 

Also, one of Coco's favorite toys!

Traditional Polynesian dish is raw fish marinated in coconut milk, by the way!

Pomelo tree. Can it be more fresh? I love this fruit 

Papaya! Plenty of it around here.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers?! 

Never see this one before, so I was extra excited when I found it!  

 

And bananas of course! 

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

The Golden Rule!?

We have a neighbor, and he's a doctor. He lives after "our" property,
on our way down the hill.

He's the doctor who will ask you when you make a visit to his offic,
no matter what's wrong with you, how many sick days you want your
paper to say!
And of course, he's a popular doctor, with an exception of the
employers!

Last night as I was driving down to Vaitape, I met him on the road.
The road only has space for one car, so if you meet someone, who ever
has the first opportunity to pull over will do so. At least, so I
thought!

When I saw the car I thought he would pull over by the house, and I
could pass, but he didn't pull over, and he didn't even try to get out
of the way. So I didn't either! He hangs out his car window and say
something, in an irritating voice. Then he yells at me that I can
pass! What?? No I can not pass! So he gets out if his car, all
frustrated, and shows me a path where my car would fit. So I had to
reverse and pull in so I was out of the way, literally.

Since he had an attitude problem from the get go, and he was not a
guest in a hotel where I work (usually I'm very professional, and have
plenty of experience of irrate guests) I had an attitude back and told
him I didn't see the path, which I sincerely didn't see. As he walks
back to the car, he screams some more.

And this is the part when I realized I had missed a huge golden rule
in life?! Or not! He screamed at me, that going up the hill you had
priority on the road!

I said (in a sarcastc way) "Thank you SIR, I was not aware if that
rule, but next time I know and I'll get out of your way!" Ass hole!

Seriously, did anyone know this? I feel like I missed out on something
huge!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Blue Pictures

I'm continuing posting pictures and

today's photo theme is blue! 

And there is plenty of blue around here!

The different blue colors of the water with the green mountain popping up is just amazing. 

You can really understand why they call this place Paradise! 

Below is a picture of the over water bungalows at Pearl Beach Resort

It was a cloudy day!

Here I am at Pearl Beach with the main island of Bora Bora behind me 

Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa

More bungalows

Here is the Presidential suite at the Hilton

Bora Bora Main island (Vaitape side)

Palm-tree lounging at the beach

At Matira Beach on the main island                                 

Pearl Beach

Small Motu's

Island Living

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Eclipse Pictures

So, I already told you about the solar eclipse we had in Polynesia! 

We got up really early on a Sunday (July 11-10) and headed over to the Hilton to have a great view.

We put on our glasses, and this is how cool we looked!

Plenty of people had gathered to watch (as you can see in the background) 

We almost got a full eclipse (94%)!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla