Mark's Pages

"The view from le truck was just as deflating. Papeete seemed a congested, honking mess, combining Parisian insouciance with Cairo-like infrastructure. Cars double-parked on crumbling sidewalks; motorists plowed through pedestrian crossings; signs toppled from cement-block buildings. We climbed out at Papeete's central market and watched women whisk flies from fruit and fish. Then we wandered up Rue Colette and Rue Paul Gauguin, past peeling shopfronts and eateries called American Wave, Bip-Bip Burger, and Snack La Vague. No one returned my smile."

— Tony Horwitz, Blue Latitudes