Views of home

This is the view from my deck--on the left you can see the Rotui juice factory, and beyond that the Mo'orea lagoon and the open Pacific.
I discovered this skink while unrolling the bamboo curtain on the day I moved in--since then, the skinks have relocated to the counter by the kitchenette on the deck.

In other news, I now have a vini! Vini in Tahitian literally means parakeet, or alternately, is an adjective meaning "always ready to respond", and now, rather poetically, has the additional meaning of "cell phone". Vini is also the scientific name for a genus of parakeets endemic to the Pacific islands, many of which, like the ultramarine lorikeet I was unable to see in the Marquesas, are endangered. (One fossil species, the conquered lorikeet, has been named Vini vidivici.)