Anse Vata & Noumea

The pictures below are of the beach front and Noumea. The first two, of the dancers lounging about under a trees, and the water Taxi were taken on the same area of beach shown in center panel of the tryptic button you pressed to get to this page. The third is of the terrain enroute to downtown, and the fourth of Noumea itself. On the top right of the photo you can see the central plaza in Noumea and the tops of ships docked in the harbor. Other views of Noumea will follow as time allows.

Downtown Noumea reminded me of Juarez. Everywhere there were open front and open air shops and busy streets being swept by shop keepers of all ages; People lounging in doorways and lots of different smells. Like in Juarez there was lots of signage on the walls and in shop windows.

I found the art supply store quickly, where I had quite an ordeal trying to buy a lead pencil; clearly attributal to my poor French skills. Spanish didn't work there for me either, but eventually we found some pencils and I walked away a happy customer. I also got a bit lost and had to seek assistance at the local police station. They were quite intrigued that I was American, not to mention Texan. They found among their ranks a young woman who could speak English and she interpreted, introduced me around, guided me through the station and gave me directions to the market place.

The various images of plants and flowers below were taken at various places along the way.