Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/198651
French Polynesia, which covers more than 4,000 square kilometres. (Nineteenth-century French Catholic missionaries were clearly more influential than 18th-century British sailors: Tahiti's been a French colony since 1880.) My room at the Manava Suite Resort features seashell-adorned walls and a king-size bed beneath a ceiling fan. After breakfasting on a chocolate croissant with coffee, I stroll down Avenue du Générale de Gaulle to admire the Bounty wall mosaic by Italian artist P. Volpatti. Measuring eight metres by four (this page and opposite) darryl leniuk A wooden statue at Papeete's Notre Dame de L'Immaculée Conception Cathedral depicts the Madonna and Child – with breadfruit. metres, it portrays sailors and natives exchanging greetings and gifts in vivid hues. The tension between Bligh – stiff and Napoleonic – and Christian – brooding and powerful – is palpable. Farther down the street is the 1875-consecrated Notre Dame de L'Immaculée Conception, a yellow Catholic cathedral that's partly made of coral. Inside the front door is a wooden statue of the Madonna and Child, with Jesus gripping a breadfruit – historically implausible but culturally sensitive, and something that might have resonated with the Bounty's breadfruit-gathering crew. Tahiti grows more than 200 varieties of this starchy plant. During their idyllic five-month stay, the sailors feasted on roast hogs, plantains and coconut milk. Similar delicacies abound at Papeete's nearby two-floor Municipal Market. I inhale every savoury scent while passing tables full of mangoes and bananas, bakers hawking coconut bread and pineapple pie, and women in pink tank tops selling glistening slices of tuna. Upstairs, I browse through mother-of-pearl necklaces, handcrafted ukuleles and carved tiki idols, sacred human forms common to many Polynesian cultures. These stone statues reputedly have mana (intangible power), and families still keep them for protection. For lunch, I drive to Chez Nous, a small restaurant with a pandanus-thatched roof. Not only do I get 18 w e s t w o r l d A l b e r tA | w i n t e r 2 0 13 p12-21_Tahiti.indd 18 13-10-15 9:49 AM