Tour de Hiva Oa

With Tryg flying out on Tuesday, we wanted to see a bit of the island before he left so we scheduled an island tour with Jean (phone 87 230 740). A very Gallic looking chap, he had French and Marquesan parents and spoke good English. We piled into his extended crew cab truck (we were soon to learn why everyone in the Marquesas drives trucks) and headed down the road about one mile and then took the right hand fork (left goes to town) and headed up a steep grade into the mountains. About ⅓ of the way up we saw a beautiful house situated on a point that overlooked 1,000 of miles of Pacific Ocean. Jean mentioned it was owned by the guy who owns the grocery store we visited. I guess that explains the grocery prices.

His truck slowly climbed the continuing steep grade, shifting from 1st gear to 2nd and back down. He was a member of the “shift at 300 rpm” club and sometimes Tryg and I wondered if the truck would make it.

Jean explains that thousands of Marquesans once lived in these valleys and sacred sites covered the island.

The Tiki Souriant (the Smiling Tiki).

Our first stop was the site of the Tiki Souriant (the Smiling Tiki). We walked down a long double track and then turned right onto a small trail through some of the most beautiful tropical forest I’d ever seen. It was like being in the Kew Gardens Botanical Center in London. I kept waiting for Tarzan and Jane to come swinging over on a vine.

These sacred sites were constructed by the Marquesans in the 1700 and 1800’s. The most common sites are called paepae, which are house platforms. There are also tohua,  large ceremonial plazas, and me’ae, which are temples. The tikis, large stone statues, were worshiped by the Marquesans and were often located at more remote locations (although when the islands were fully populated maybe these weren’t remote areas). The Smiling Tiki, with large round eyes and a smiling face, leans precipitously to the right with a somewhat comical look. The site, hidden in the deep forest, had a somewhat magical and reverent nature to it and I could understand the religious nature of these locations to the Marquesans.

Jean had a bag full of the sweet tasting pamplemousse that served as our mid-tour snack.

We continued into the mountains on a single track concrete road that switched to dirt in places. Jean said that during rainy periods some of these sections become very dangerous and impassable. We stopped at a beautiful overlook on the south side of the island and Jean pulled out several very ripe pamplemousse, a Marquesan version of a grapefruit. It is very sweet to the taste but less meaty than a grapefruit.

Once we topped the mountain ridge and began downhill on the windward side of the island (northern) the topography changed dramatically. It was very windswept and barren, with mostly steep brown cliffs reaching down to the ocean. I have to say at times it’s just better to keep your eyes shut to avoid thinking about what would happen if the brakes on the truck failed. They don’t do guardrails in the Marquesas and steep takes on a whole new meaning.

The road slowly wound its way down to the ocean and Jean asked it we’d like to stop at a farm to buy some banana products. Walking up to the small house I was amazed to see the family name was O’Conner. There’s got to be an interesting story there about someone who jumped ship in the 1800’s and married a local woman.

Meryl samples the dried bananas at the O'Connor farm.

The young lady there had some handicrafts for sale, along with vinaigrette de banana (banana vinegar) and preserved bananas wrapped in a banana leaf. These preserved bananas (good for several months) were used by the Polynesians when they did extended inter island trips in their large canoes.

As we traveled northeast we’d see the small Marquesan horses being ridden alongside the road. They have adapted well to the islands and are very strong; they have to be to handle to steep mountain grades. In some areas they race the horses along the beach at low tide.

We next arrived at the beautiful Puamau Bay and took a short road up to the Me’ae Iipona historical site. The large, well preserved site was the home of the Na’iki tribe. Various tribes lived on the island and were constantly at war with each other. Jean showed us the platform where they would perform human sacrifices (the Marquesans felt themselves civilized since they only ate the thigh meat of their victims, whereas the Tahitians would eat the whole person). The last act of cannibalism was in the early 1900’s. Jean said this platform would be ringed with the desecrated skulls of their victims.

The Me’ae Iipona historical site is one of the larger sacred sites in French Polynesia. It was home to the Na’iki tribe.

The site contains the largest stone tiki west of Easter Island, called Taka’i’i. In the background is Maki’i tau ‘a pepe,

  The stature of the pregnant priestess Teu’s Pepe, who died giving birth to a boy.

The Marquesans, both male and female, have very intricate body tattoos. In the olden days the priests would tattoo the warriors using this rock to steady the arm or leg, while the small circular area served as a receptacle for the ink.

 The site contains the largest stone tiki west of Easter Island, called Taka’i’i, and also Maki’i tau ‘a pepe, and statue of the priestess Teu’s Pepe, who died giving birth to a boy. One of the tiki’s heads was removed and now sits in a Berlin museum, but they did replace it with another head they found on the site. Interestingly the penises of the tikis have been hammered off by the missionaries who considered them offensive. The missionaries would also topple the tikis to show the Marquesans that their gods had no power, and only the Catholic God was all powerful.

You will never starve in the Marquesas. Jean fixed a fantastic chicken/papaya stew complemented by fresh baguettes.

After the tour Jean took us to a local church by the beach were he served an excellent chicken and papaya stew served over rice, with fresh baguettes and lemon water. It was so good we all went back for seconds.

The beauty of the Marquesas Islands is breathtaking at every turn of the road.

The trip back was long and we were all wiped out from both the full day and the stress of looking out the window at the precipitous drops just feet from our truck’s tires. Back at the anchorage we took showers in the outside community shower and filled all of our 5-gal water cubes and lugged them back to the dingy. With the little 2 hp. Yamaha on the back I wasn’t sure we’d make it back to the boat with all the weight. We then hooked up the electric pump and Tryg helped me empty all the cubes into our water tanks. Got to get a water maker one of these days.