Pape'ete Parade – Surfers Paddlers and Coconut Carriers

Coconut carrying, a traditional native Polynesian sport. 
 Here it's part of the Pape'ete's Autonomie parade.

French Polynesia is not independent but is autonomous…. It even has its own currency.

Instead of independence day French Polynesia celebrates Autonomie Day. We were lucky enough to catch the parade a few days ago. 

Outrigger canoeists, Tahiti's Autonomie parade.
Guessing the canoes were too unweildy for the parade.

Starting karate young, Tahiti's Autonomie parade.

Karate demo, Tahiti's Autonomie parade.

Football fans, Tahiti's Autonomie parade.

Surfers, Tahiti's Autonomie parade.

Skaters, Tahiti's Autonomie parade.

Capital of Tahiti and French Polynesia with a population of about ¼ million, Pape'ete by U.S. standards would be considered more of a town than a city. Town or not it is a vibrant community and rich in culture.

The parade offered an excellent slice of life. The pictures tell the tale…. More photos coming when wifi improves.

Could you walk a parade wearing the shoes the woman
in the red dress is wearing?

Location Location

We are in Pape'ete Tahiti French Polynesia (S17.32.393 W149.34.219) at the downtown marina. We planned to be in M';orea but strong contrary winds delayed us a day. As our French Polynesia visa is the standard 90 day visa ours will run out July 21^st. We hope to visit Mo'orea, Bora Bora and perhaps Huahine before we leave French Polynesia.

Selfies... a trend I hope will end soon.

No parade is complete without a float.  This was one of three.

Sidenote

Please excuse a bit of stilted writing and less than stellar photos. My Macintosh is dead so no iPhoto images and this is created using a French keyboard using Wayne's former PC laptop. Still learning how to access punctuation on that keyboard (and in this case editing them afterward on Wayne's current PC laptop). The plan is to replace my Mac when we get to American Samoa. That will likely be early August.

Too cute!  Dad and daughter in Papeete Tahiti parade.

Clever way for Dad to get through
the parade with his boys.