Pepeéta (pronounced ‘Poppy-eh-tay” means water basket due to the abundance of natural springs on the island. Pepeéta has a population of 27,000 and the island has 200,000 people with 80% of them located near Pepeéta or the airport which is in Faaá. I mention this only because I like pronouncing the name - Fa-ah-ah-ah!
A quick city tour took us to the Assembly building where the ‘Queen’s Bath’ is located. It used to be part of Queen Pomare IV palace but is now part of the beautiful gardens surrounding the Assembly. As we left the city and suburbs our guide gave us a few facts about the French Polynesian islands such as it encompasses 5 million square kilometers of ocean, 3600 square km of land and 6 archipelagos and 118 islands with 76 islands inhabited.
The ancient temple - Marae Arahurahu - has a large alter that was used for sacrifices fronted by a large rock plaza and homes or huts for the elders. The tikis scattered about are to protect the site and the people.
Our next stop was at the Gardens VaiPahi where I really enjoyed all the flowers such as the Porceline Rose of the ginger family, the Monnette and the water lilies.
A local couple who have live on the island for over 40 years in a home that was built in the 1930’s opened their garden to us. Juliette is very versed in the medicinal qualities of the trees and shrubs found aroun the grounds such as the Noni plant that is a cancer preventative and the Tamanahi oil used for skin problems. She also gave us the full history of the house as we ate fruit grown here.
Our last stop was at the Fern Grotto, a 100 yard deep cave with 10 foot ferns hanging from the cliff overhead. We might have enjoyed this stop more if it hadn’t been raining.
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