Tales from the South Pacific
Monday, May 23rd - Moorea
Our next jeep tour stops were considerably less worrisome, but no less amazing. We stopped to see coffee bean plants, vanilla bean vines, and pineapple plantations - all on our way to one of Moorea's most popular vistas - Belvedere Point. In my continued linguistic inadequacy, I thought Belvedere might be a famous person/explorer... but then I noticed in our travel books that nearly every island had a Belvedere... which... duh, is the French word for "a panoramic viewpoint, photo spot." This "belvedere" was much easier to get to thanks to a narrow, but paved, curvy road... we had gorgeous views of Cook's and Opunoho Bays.
Cook's Bay and Mt. Rotui from Belvedere Point:
From Belvedere Point... the peak that was the inspiration for the fictional Bali Hi (from South Pacific):
Pineapple plantation... again pretty stupid of me, but I thought pineapple grew on trees?!
One of the more interesting stops were to see some of the island's archeological remains... we saw two maraes (though there were many more we passed by). I didn't quite grasp what exactly these areas were from our jeep driver... but my guide book tells me they were "places of worship, built in the open air for the purpose of celebrating the religious and social life of the clan. The gods were honored and invoked, chiefs formally installed, rituals performed and offerings made" including, yes even "human sacrifices." While not scary (well, okay maybe a tad creepy), I definitely felt a presence in these spots.
The final stop on the jeep tour was "happy hour" at a pineapple distillery, where we had the opportunity to sample all different types of liqueurs. It was hard to really enjoy them all since our guide was pouring them as fast as we could drink them. I would guess we downed about 9 shots in about 3 minutes time! From what I can remember, we had pineapple liqueur, coconut liqueur, vanilla liqueur, coconut cream liqueur, vanilla cream liqueur, and coffee liqueur.
But the discovery "shot" was a concoction called Tahiti Drink. It comes in a cardboard container similiar to a milk or OJ carton... but with a kick! It was orange juice, pineapple juice, passion fruit juice with 10% alcohol (what kind I do not know!?). But given the ingredients you can imagine it was quite tasty -- and a true French Polynesia bargain with a liter costing only 900 CPF ... we have been paying 1200 CPF for ONE cocktail at the hotel bar! We joined the other couples in purchasing some as a much more reasonably priced way to drink away the evening.
On the way back to the hotel, we experienced our first tropical rain of our vacation. It was a bit more than a mist but enough to create a rainbow... which almost magically seemed to end right at the foot of our hotel.
If this vacation didn't already seem like a dream...
Had a really wonderful last night in Moorea... we brought our portable speakers for our iPod so we sat on the deck of our bungalow... listened to some great music and enjoyed our Tahiti Drink... which we managed to finish with little worry.
Tuesday Morning, May 24th
This morning we woke up to a steadier rain, but it already seems to be clearing as I write this. We catch our ride to the Moorea Airport at 1045am and hop our flight to Bora Bora just after 12 noon.
We certainly do not have any regrets about our first stop here in Moorea. Before we started researching this trip, I have to admit I had never heard of it (Tahiti and Bora Bora seem to have the big name recognition). But the island was staggeringly beautiful... I can see why it provided (and provides!) inspiration to artists. The activities were once-in-a-lifetime... but give our age (and desire!)... I guess we have something to say about that!
But just a great start... while I am certainly sad to leave Moorea, those feelings are tempered in knowing that great things still lie ahead as we head to Bora Bora.
Wow, I just got back from a trip to Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora, and Googled "Tahiti Drink" to try and find the ingredients! Your post came up, and we evidently took the same tour, and I, too, thought pineapples grew on trees, and was equally surprised to find out "Belvedere" was not a person or place, but rather a scenic point. What a great memory you have for the details! It is my new goal to reproduce Tahiti Drink, that is some magical stuff!!
Posted by: Christine | Thursday, March 05, 2009 at 01:27 PM