Tahiti with Teiva
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 13 Aug 2013 22:37
|
Our Tour of the Highlands of Tahiti with
Teiva We jumped up this morning, crossed the
road and met Teiva. Clearly I was not disappointed to
be a woman..........we hopped in his wagon, a Land Rover built in India with a
Ford engine, with Dave (Alexes). We were greeted by Monica and Loic,
the other two on our drive through the centre of Tahiti. Monica is Swiss, both
spoke perfect English, the couple currently work in Cologne and hope to move to
Switzerland next year. Teiva stopped so we could pick up filled rolls for lunch
and then a stop at a supermarket for water, sweets and treats. Our first
official stop as tourists was to look over the bay
toward town (Papeete). I admired Teiva – oh sorry, I meant to type a tree.
The Arch.
We are obviously very sheltered in the
town marina, so it was a surprise to stand in a stiff breeze and take in the
dramatic waves, complete with surfer. Staying put we quite quickly loose our sea
legs.
No sooner than Dave had rolled back the roof of the truck, at our next
stop, then the first tiny spots of rain fell. Being good troopers we told Teiva
that we would be fine as it was nice and warm. Mmmm. By our next stop it was
really raining and none of us complained when Teiva put the roof over us once
again.
At this stop Teiva picked up a large stone and whacked a hollow tree, a
deep, booming noise echoed in the valley. This was how messages were passed
between villages, Teiva remembers hearing the noise to call him for lunch and
again at the end of the working day. Teiva left school at eleven and worked the
land in this area with his grandfather who taught him so much. We stopped
several times for him to show us uses of plants and flowers - ladies used the
stamen of a hibiscus just like a lipstick, colouring their lips a deep brown. At
the end of the evening they would then use a hibiscus petal as a make-up
removing pad. He showed us herbs and a variety of plants that had medicinal
uses.
Cars have a hard life in
these parts.
We thought this looked rather like Ivybridge......................
.....................but you don’t see too many lorries in rivers in
Devon.
Bear paddled as we watched the art of stone
balancing in a long, thin valley.
Had
to have a ‘tourist shot’.
Today was the last day of Monica and
Loic‘s honeymoon – we wish this lovely couple a long and happy
marriage. The rains came at this point, you
can actually see the rain falling in the first picture, the second it was
spitting but jolly cold in the hills.
Lunch was in the family meeting-cum-dining room.
Out here we really did feel out in the
wilderness. We were told we could rent these traditional
homes from the family of Teiva, but, we all agreed it would be a
miserable experience with the constant attack of mosquitos – despite the
two different types of mozzie spray we had between us. We all got a goodly
number of welts – except Bear of course as they don’t like hacking their way
through his fur. No sooner than we had left town than the critters were at us,
but, after the rain they got really nasty and every time we stopped during the
day they gathered in the truck, until I sprayed inside the roof..... held them
at bay for a while at least.
After lunch we set off up a really steep
unmade track, so steep that if I didn’t hold on tight I squashed poor Monica. The a steep track down to a lake and back again. Don’t I look like
the archetypal Great Brit on holiday............ The height of the
cascades and waterfalls, coupled with the rain means Tahiti can produce 75-85%
of her electricity needs via hydroelectric production.
Teiva asked if we could see a black dot half way up the mountain, actually a tunnel......
The
views were well worth it.
ALL IN ALL A WONDERFUL
DAY |