Moorea and the archeological trail

We slept pretty well in this small air-conditioned room. I would have liked to sleep longer, but my biological clock set for 6am prevented me from doing so.

So we got up early enough to head for Moorea. We had breakfast at the guesthouse and crossed the road (we were right opposite the ferry terminal).

The crossing is nice and only takes 30min. We keep our eyes on the sea. Some people say they've seen whales, but I'm not too hopeful - it's not the season.

Barely 9:30 a.m. and we're in Moorea with our rental scooter. Our campsite, Chez Nelson, is on the opposite side of the island in a less populated, quieter part. It takes 30 minutes to get there on our little two-wheeler.

The campsite is nice. It has a white sandy beach and a lovely shady lawn. We pitch the tent and take a breath, contemplating the sea.

As noon approaches, we roll the short km to the nearest "shopping center". By "shopping center" we mean a tobacconist's, 2 caravans, a mini-market and a hairdresser.

At the tobacconist's, we found our postcards and stamps. And we snapped up a packet of tagada strawberries (I haven't had some in ages!). We had lunch in the restaurant next to the store and then drove around a bit to eat sorbets de Moorea. I recommend it, the ice creams are of very good quality and they have many tropical fruits as sorbets.

In the afternoon, we hit the road to hike the Ancestors' Trail, which links the archaeological remains in the Opunohu Valley. The little loop is 1.7km long. There are plenty of explanations (in English and French).  You'll see temple structures, community sites and the foundations of houses and villages. In all, over 500 structures can be found in the valley. The trail passes by some of the most important.

Time to learn a little trivia by linking the information on the panels. Apparently, the Polynesians worshipped the god Oro over 300 years ago. The god demands human sacrifice. But when there was no man to sacrifice, then a regiment of bananas would suffice. So, if we draw this out a little: a human life is worth a regiment of bananas?

It's hot, even if the path is completely in the shade. The heat is much more intense than in Malaysia. Of course, we get sidetracked, otherwise it wouldn't be fun, and we end up walking 5km... The ancestors' trail intersects with other hikes, and we did a bit of the red one... ( Ours had green markers).

We return to the campsite dripping with sweat. It starts to rain, and we take refuge in the kitchen. We take the opportunity to write postcards and look at what we're doing tomorrow. As soon as the rain eases off, we take a nap.

At nightfall, we head off for a meal at the O2coco restaurant, which features a singer and guitarist. It's an island atmosphere, with a bit of ukulele. A very pleasant evening. Ideally, I'd have liked to do the traditional dance show in the tiki village, but there was no performance this evening.