Tahiti: What the Water Teaches (ft. Elisa Schwarz)

Think of it this way. You are a cluster of
atoms working together to make a unique human being with
a particular life. You alive right now carry a singular
set of thoughts, emotions, and stories moving across this great
spinning globe among the rest of us. For now, this
planet is our only home, and it's through travel that
we get to witness all of the beauty, culture, and
complexity that this earth has to offer. It's how we
expand our sense of what's possible while uncovering the hidden
landscapes within ourselves. This is Wayfinder, life changing travel. This
podcast goes beyond the guide books into the heart and
soul of real life travelers as they journey around the world.
I'm your host, Daniel Scheffler, and I have spent my
life traveling the globe and staying curious to the ways
we human beings experience the world, whether it's a meeting place,
a sheard meal, or a singer. I've seen firsthand how
our stories connect us and inspire us. For today's conversation,
I spoke to Elsa Schwartz, a young woman from Austria
who worked as an all pair in Tahiti last summer.
Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, the South
Pacific Archipelago. Eliza could never have imagined she'd be living
in Tahiti, but soon came to learn just how many
ways that the islands surrounding oceans had been calling to
her throughout her life. Her story shows us what happens
when the unknown stops being scary and starts feeling like home,
and stay tuned for local tips throughout the episode. Let's
hear from Elisa about how her journey got started.
I think it was always present, this idea of me
just traveling and leaving home. I grew up in a very,
very small town in the countryside. We have like one
thousand inhabitants. My graduation class were ten people, so I
was always in this small town bubble and I felt
like there is so much more out there that I'm
missing out on. And my parents weren't really big travelers.
We went on some of vaccasions one week per year,
or to Croatia. But the connection I felt with the
ocean there was so strong, and the whole year it
was the only thing I was looking forward to to
jump back in the ocean. So since I was ten,
I think I knew that after my graduation, I'm going
to go somewhere where it's warm and where it's the
ocean and out of Europe. So it was kind of
always there, this idea.
Right, tell me the story of how you came to
find yourself in Tahiti.
I never had the plan to go to Tahiti. I
wanted to be in a pair and travel instead of
straight going from high school to university. I needed a
bigger perspective first of all, to know who I am
and what I want to do, because I knew if
I st our university now I'm going to be stuck
here again for at least three more years.
Eliza started looking for jobs as an au pair in France,
but was surprised to be messaged by a French family
in Tahiti.
And they said, we like your profile. Would you want
to come to Tahiti? And I was like, Tahiti? Where
is Tahiti? Like I had to look it up on
the map and see where it is, this little island
in the middle of the Pacific. I didn't know what
I could expect going there.
Well, maybe that's the thing that's so wonderful about travel, right,
Like you have all those preconceived thoughts and ideas about places,
and then you get there and it all gets dispelled,
and it starts to unravel who you think you were,
and who you think you are and who you think
you will be.
Right.
It sort of starts to mess with all that. Tell
me what happened when you first arrived there. Okay, so
you take the plane and you're like, where am I
going in this tiny island? And then.
I arrived early morning. It was I think like five am.
We had the sunrise. I stepped out of the plane
like in like a jumper, like big sweater because it
was beginning of.
October in Austria, so it was super.
Cold and the humidity just hit me in the face.
I was like, yes, I arrived on the other side
of the world.
I can feel it.
M I smell like flowers, the ocean, like the saltiness
and the hotness is just omnipresent in the air. Looking
around on the other side of the airport, you see
the neighboring island Morea, and I was like, whoa, this
is real.
Every traveler can relate to that moment when you land
somewhere new and the air smells different, the light feels thicker,
and just like Dorothy and Oz, you found yourself somewhere
far away from home. Travel can lock a certain vulnerability
in all of us and bring us up close with
how well we trust the earth and the living beings
that surround us. Fortunately for Lisa, the people of Tihiti
showed their true colors right away.
I had two host families in Tahiti, and the second
whole family was a Tahitian family, So I had a
lot of French Punician culture and the kindness of the
people that I met, and the kindness that I've received
was very overwhelming. Also, like them being very welcoming, like
I'm a white European girl, like coming to their island,
staying there on their land, and this is not something
that I take for granted that they just welcomed me
with open arms. I had so many situations where I
was so grateful that Tahitians are so kind and even
if they don't know you, even if they know that
they're never going to see you again, they will always
help you no matter what.
It was the kind that stayed with Eliza. But in Tahiti,
generosity isn't an exception. It's the rhythm of daily life.
Tell me about a typical day in Tahiti.
So I had a privilege to wake up around eight.
I would have my favorite breakfast in Tahiti. It's called
Phili Fiery. It's like this sweet pastry. It's made out
of coconut bread and like coconut oil and you tie
like a little braid and then you fry it and
you could dip into avocados and it was so yummy.
Like we had an avocado tree in our garden and
we had those huge avocados that were like big as
my head. I have never seen something like this. Then
I would go to the beach go surfing. I started
surfing in Tahiti. I have never stood on a surfboard
ever before. It was the first time, and it took
me a while to even like try to catch a
wave because it's intimidating, like there's this.
Wall of a wave forming behind you and scary.
But my friend Comi serfs and she was the one
who said, okay, let's go. The first two months those
are the hardest. It's gonna get better, you just have
to stick to it. And the moment I caught my
first own wave, like pedling on my own standing up.
It was the most incredible feeling.
Any new surfer will tell you that the first time
you stand up on a surfboard, it's as if you're
finally speaking the same language as the water. For Lisa,
that moment rewired something in her.
I love everything about it. The anticipation before you take
the wave, like cooking, is it coming, trying to stand up,
try to balance it, and then I feel like this
is one of the best parts, Like getting slammed by
the way, feeling the power of the way, feeling the
power of the ocean. It's about like does this wave
accept you or does it not accept you. They have
this world called Mana, and Mana is kind of the
energy of the island. You can kind of compare it
to karma, like if you give something to the island,
the island gives something back to you.
You really feel the energy that is there.
You can really feel the spirits. The land itself gives
you so much energy. And because everything is so connected
that people are connected. The people are connected to the nature,
people are connected to the ocean. They have cultural connections
with sailing. Taitians don't take their land for granted. And
this manna energy that you have there, you really feel
it that it's missing when you go somewhere else.
As a Lisa shed, Polynesians live in a rhythm with
the life force that flows through all things. It's an
energy she could only experience by being the in person,
and it would later guide her through her moment of
reckoning with the ocean itself. But before we dive back
into those waters, let's pause for something a little more grounded.
Here are some food spots that I loved and I
would recommend to people traveling to Dahili. So in Punaya
in the park, there is this little food truck. They
sell fresh poky bowls and wraps, also with fresh tuna.
They always go out fishing in the morning, so it's
freshly caught and you have a big variety. My favorite
food spot in Punarya. And then of course we have
food trucks next to the surf spot and they sell
huge portions.
They sell steak avectifrid.
It's like steak with fries, but it's like a very
typical dish as well as poisson crue. Poison crui is
the most local dish you can eat in Tahli or
French Blonesia. It's basically raw tuna laid into like coconut milk,
with onions.
And then some other vegetables.
It's not everybody's taste, but I feel like if you
go there, you should definitely try for crue and then
get yourself a fiuri firiri, which we talked about earlier,
or coconut bread.
It's incredible.
It's made out of coconut flour as well as coconut.
Everything coconut delicious.
By now, Lisa's days in Tahiti had found a rhythm
morning surf, afternoons as an old pair, and warm nights
about town. And then came one of those ideas you
only get while you're traveling. What if I hitchtiked on
a boat.
I was staying with my friend Cami, She's the sweetest girl.
In Tahiti, it's very common to hitchhike with cars, Like
if you go to the neighboring island, you just put
out your thumb and everybody's got to take you, no doubt, Like, oh,
you can always hitchhike. It's not like in Europe that
you will get a weird look. You will always get
it right. And then We were like, hmm, like, maybe
you think we could hitchhike on a boat to Tiki.
How.
So we went on Facebook, because sin Tahili, everything runs
over Facebook.
We looked up.
Hitchhiking sailing French Polynesia and there were groups where people
were proposing, yeah, you can hop on my boat, like
just help with cooking or whatever. So I put on
a post and then this guy sent us a message
and he was like, yeah, sailing to Tiki How it's
an island in the tour motus.
Long story short. We took the flight the next day Tiki.
How looking down from the plane, Eliza had a new
perspective of the islands below and of her place within them.
When you fly over those little motors, you see them
from above, you have the lagoon in which goes from
crystal clear blue to light blue to dark blue, and
then outside you have just the wild Pacific ocean like
that goes endlessly and you see the little palm trees
and the white samp and yeah, it was just I
think it was one of the most beautiful things that
I have ever seen. And we stepped on the boat.
It was this super new catamaran. You had the two
little nets in front. You had a big living space outside,
a big living room with a kitchen inside. Me and
Commie you were expecting to share a little bunk, you know,
like in a little boat.
Me and her.
We got separate rooms, two windows each looking right outside
on the little motor strip.
During that week of ocean hedgehiking, Eliza saw more of
the islands from her place in the sea, and even
got to try fishing for the very first time. Then,
on one beautiful day, conditions were right for something rare.
The next day he was like, it's full moon. So
the hammerheads are very present right now. I saw them
a few days ago when I was snorkeling in the
past the river mouth. We were like, oh, yeah, there's
gonna be a current. There's maybe gonna be hummerhead sharks.
So we were like preparing ourselves mentally, Like he told
us about all the precautions.
If there's really a shark.
Get back to back in the water, so that you
can look this way and Cami could look the other way.
Breathe.
Sharks can feel your heart rate, and the faster your
heart is beating, the likely you're considered to be a prey.
So with all those things that we jumped into the
dinghy we went to the pass.
At Liza's journey thus far has told her how to
read the water, to move with it, not against it.
But her next encounter wasn't about riding waves. It was
about facing all that lived beneath them.
And first this quietness, like you're in the water, you
hear nothing, you see the floor, and you never know
what will come out of it. So I'm in the
water like it's super quiet. And then the guy we
were hitchhiking with put his hand on his head straight
up and like, get fin of a shark, and this
is the sign that shark is around. The moment where
I saw him like putting his hand up, I was like, Okay,
it's happening. It's really happening. And I was like, oh no, Bree, Bree,
And I looked down and two hummerheads were circling at
the bottom of the floor. And it's not like a
guided shark touring Hawaii, you know, like we were in
the middle of the past, in the middle of the
Pacific oceans where there are not a lot of tourists,
Like people don't go there and people don't swim there,
so sharks are not used to the people, so we're
like something new for them that like, it's different.
It's it's the desert in.
The middle of the ocean, and so you're just trying
to keep calm. And then two other hammerheads came. They
were huge, like and seeing their eye on the side
and like passing you like. It was an experience that
I will never forget. I kind of even describing words
was what was going through in my head.
You know, how do you think that that experience transformed you?
I think I just gained so much, first of all,
thankfulness and gratefulness for the ocean, because I was never
scared of the ocean. I was taking the ocean for granted,
I think, and seeing those creatures and them welcoming me
and my friend in their home because the ocean is
their home. We're jumping in their home and them accepting
us and saying hello. Because what are the odds that
the hammerheads would appear right there? Right?
We could have.
Jumped in and we would have never seen them. But
if you're ready, they will come and they will give it.
Back to you.
When we move and flow with our environment, the world
tends to open up to us. By following her intuition,
Eliza found herself in quite the humbling experience, in symbiosis
with the water that had been calling to her for
so long. It's in these uncharted spaces that the world
begins to shape us. But between catamarans and starlit water,
Eliza found time to uncover the city's pulse, discovering the
hidden corners, nightlife and beauty that makes Tahiti so beloved.
If you're a person that loves to party, there is
a nightlif in Tahiti, even if you can imagine it. So.
First of all, you have the reeftop. They have like
French modern music, but also like the typical Tahitian deck.
It's like the music of the young people there. It's
called deck. And after the reef top they close at
twelve o'clock. You can go to the Perchois. This is
an absolute must and local tip. There you will only
find locals, but always welcome people from outside and they
will play only Tahitian Deck. Then one must activity in
Tahili is the hike by Taree. It's a thirty minute
hike up and a thirty minute hike down. But don't
be full because it's like it's super steep hike. You
have the most gorgeous view of the mountain ranges and
you will really see how the volcanic mountains form, and
you will have an amazing view of Morea at the
end of the Vita Ri hike. Of course, if you
find yourself traveling to Tahiti between July and November, there
is a whale season. Tahiti is one of the only
places where you can actually swim with them. I feel
like this is the most magical thing you can do
in Tahiti, swim with those whales. I had the luck
and I was blessed with a whale mother and their baby.
They were sleeping, and they were coming from the blue deep,
from the dark, and you think they're so small, but
they're so far down and I felt so home and
it was super magical. So if you find yourself between
July and November in Tahiti or in Morea or in
French Polynesia, absolutely try and do this well tour because
it's absolutely worth it.
Okay, So our last thing is I want to know
what stayed with you most from your travel experience to Tahiti, Like,
what is the thing that you just can't stop reflecting
on and the stories you tell people and when people ask,
they tell me more about that.
Yeah, the island quite literally transforward my perspective on how
to live your life because there you live on island time,
you wake up with the sunrise and your work day
with sunset, and then you relax. Every day can be
a great day and you don't have to look forward
to the weekend to have an enjoyful life.
It showed me that traveling.
Is also like kind of an experience to find your
home that you're not born in, and to find your
home where you feel most comfortable in and feel like
that every day is worth living, like a good life
is not only the place, but also the people there,
the maybe the nature you find there. And for some
people Austria might be the most perfect country with skiing
and mountains and economic opportunities. But I find myself most
happy in places where I'm surrounded by people surfing and
I feel like exploring is It's a never ending story.
There will always be something to broaden your perspective, especially
through traveling.
Before her journey began, Elsa couldn't point to Tahiti on
the map. Little did she know just how welcomed she'd
feel by the people on the island and by the
powerful ocean waters that surround it. Every trip changes you
a little, but some remind us that home isn't just
a place. It's a way of being. It's a way
of moving through the world. It's the wavefinder in all
of us that leads us home. Wherever you're heading next,
may you follow your inner compass to lead the way.
I'm Daniel Scheffler and this has been Wayfinder.
My message to future travelers to Tahiti. Come with an
open mind and don't take the nature you will encounter
there for granted. The culture you will meet there will
welcome you with open arms, but never be appropriating, and
always be very mindful that you are on an island,
and treat the.
Island with respect and kindness.
And then the island will treat you back with respect
and kindness and will welcome you with open arms.
Wayfinder, Life Changing Travel is a production of Iheart's Ruby Studio.
I'm your host Daniel Scheffler. Our show's executive producer is
Sierra Kaiser. Our story producer is Ryan Amador, with post
production by James Foster and editing by Sierra Sprain. Don't
forget to subscribe to Wayfinder, and please rate and review
the show wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening.