| TAHITI, The Island of Love
Tahiti, often called the Island of Love is the largest of the 118 islands and atolls that compose French Polynesia.
The 1,042 square kilometers (402 sq. miles) of Tahiti's surface area consists of mountain peaks reaching over 2,235 meters (7,353 ft.) into a lei of wispy clouds, deep green valleys, covered with rainforests and soft ferns, waterfalls cascading into cool sweet rivers and streams and flat coastal land, with fields of taro and flowers. Around Tahiti-Nui (Big Tahiti) a 114 km. (71 miles) road winds between the mountains and the sea. And on the peninsula of Tahiti-Iti (Little Tahiti) the road continues down each coast for 18 km. (12 miles).
An interior road leads past dairy farms and citrus groves to a panoramic view on the Plateau of Taravao, the isthmus that connects the two Islands.
Papeete, the bustling capital of Tahiti and her Islands, contains the government offices, gendarmerie, hospitals and clinics, banks, telecommunication center, airline and travel agencies, boutiques and Black Pearl shops.
International cargo freighters, copra ships, luxury liners and sailing yatchs share the harbor. A modern city, it hums with happy voices as the daily drama is staged.
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