No Work!

Ah, if only…..

We took the day off today. We arose late, had a leisurely breakfast, and enjoyed a slow road trip around the South end of the island. We’d seen it before, but at the end of a long day and we had just wanted to return to the boat. This time, though, we had a bungalow as home and knew that we had the entire day to enjoy.

We departed at midday so there were few people out on the roads. Church is big, here, of course, and most were ensconced in various pews around the island. Excellent!

We started by simply driving across the street and investigating the lovely houses at higher elevations. They were large, well-spaced, and at the higher elevations, were naturally cooler. If we lived on Raiatea, we’d live up there.

We drove through Uturoa, the main city on the island, and continued on South. We stopped here and there to ogle something particularly interesting, but stayed moving for the most part. When we arrived at Taputapuatea, the holiest marae in French Polynesia, we did stop for a long while.

The ruins, and there’s not much remaining to see, are the largest that we’ve ever seen. They’re quite extensive, in fact. So much of the original construction was “organic”, such as woven mats, wooden shelters, and such, that one misses the effect of what it must have been like.

The construction is still very impressive and I’m at a loss at how they might have built some of the structures with such huge stones but without the use of any common building equipment.

I also don’t understand their decision to construct in such linear fashion with right angles at corners. As I’ve mentioned before, what had they ever seen that was in a line or at right angles? The horizon, I guess, but right angles? It mystifies me.

At any rate, it’s a haunting site and it makes me feel odd to walk where they walked and touch stones that those ancient humans had touched. Their religion, whatever it was, served them well for many hundreds of years, but finally fell to superior technology. I also wonder how different their world was than what we see here now. How many plants are here now that weren’t here then? How many animals? Certainly it was less noisy than now.

As we were reading the signage that helped fill some of our knowledge gaps, a rat strolled across in front of us. I mentioned the technological superiority of the Western invaders (for invaders they were), but the rat and disease were also aboard those vessels and their effects are still being felt as much as Wifi and cars. In a way, I’d love to be able to visit, surreptitiously, and watch through some accelerated time. I’d like to have my travel-self be there when the first explorers (that’s Polynesian explorers) arrived in the 900s. The island flora and fauna were never the same. I’d also like to see the faces of these explorers when the honkies arrived. How interesting.

We traveled on, and the next stop was the Opoa Beach Hotel, a resort/restaurant that Conni had seen on-line. It’s supposed to be the best cuisine in Raiatea, so we had to stop by to visit. It’s lovely, beautifully kept, and obviously not for the destitute. We each ordered cocktails, of course, and were very impressed with both the range of unique drinks and the quality and presentation of our choices. My Planter’s Punch had guava juice in it and no doubt someone had squeezed it that morning.

That afternoon, “regular’ church had been dismissed but as we drove through these tiny communities, there were groups of residents sitting and being harangued by various someones. Now, I don’t know that it was church-related, but I can hardly imagine that it wasn’t, it being Sunday and all. The one guy that set me off had a book in one hand and was pointing at the people, no doubt telling them of their sins. Before the missionaries arrived, the locals had their own deities and practiced human sacrifice and, we are told ritual cannibalism. It wasn’t exactly a “touchie-feelie” religion, but I’m not convinced that they are happier now. Sigh. Moving on..

We returned via a road through the mountains, and that’s where the rain caught us. Still, it was a spectacular drive and we arrived at the head of Faaroa Bay, a deep (over 100-feet) and deeply-cut bay. There were a few sailboats anchored out, a few homes on the shores: altogether a beautiful location. More important to me was that it’s in the shade of a huge mountain so misses the midday and afternoon heat. Yes!

As we drove back to the bungalow, everyone was out. The rain was over, church was over, and families and friends were out in droves. Almost everyone was on a bicycle, but many were on foot, too. This is such an outdoor-oriented society. As were driving South today, we happened across a small creek’s bridge. Perched on one rail was a young girl, just sitting and watching the lagoon. She smiled and waved back as we passed but it struck me how nice it was that don’t (yet) live on computer screens. There are pay phones everywhere, and that means to mobiles. Before someone jumps on me about my using this computer and Internet, I’m just saying that it’s refreshing to meet a “pre-Internet” culture. Here are teens who don’t know what Youtube is. An observation without implication, that’s all.

We’re back to work, tomorrow. Weather permitting, I’ve got a trip up the mast to repair those radome support bolts. We’ve accomplished a lot and our To Do list is getting shorter, but we’re not on the water yet.