French Polynesia

French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of the French Republic. It is composed of 118 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over an expanse of more than 2000 kilometres in the South Pacific Ocean, yet its total land area is only 4167 square kilometers.

Did you know that:
1. It's common to put a tiare (Tahiti's national flower, a fragrant white blossom) behind one's ear - left side you're taken, right if you're looking.
2. Moorea is known as "The Island of Love," and Bora Bora as "The Romantic Island."
3. Natives of the lush Austral Islands grow many crops in the fertile soil. Due to their diets of foods rich in fluoride, people from these temperate isles have beautiful white teeth.
4. The beautiful black pearls, cherished by natives and visitors alike, are indigenous only in the Tuomotu Islands of French Polynesia.
5. The letter "B" does not exist in the Tahitian language. Bora Bora is actually Pora Pora, meaning first born, but early visitors heard it as Bora Bora.
6. The Pearl Museum on Tahiti is the only museum in the world devoted entirely to pearls. The unique presentations about Tahitian Cultured Pearls describe and demonstrate the history and practice of cultivating pearls as well as their place in art, history, mythology, and religion.
7. The word tattoo originated in Tahiti. The legend of Tohu, the god of tattoo, describes painting all the oceans' fish in beautiful colors and patterns. In Polynesian culture, tattoos have long been considered signs of beauty, and in earlier times were ceremoniously applied when reaching adolescence.
8. There are no poisonous snakes or insects in French Polynesia.
9. Those things that look like mail boxes outside the homes of Tahitian residents are not for mail, but for French bread delivery. Residents get a fresh loaf dropped off twice a day. But alas, they must go to the post office to retrieve their mail!