Mark and I are still not able to receive or send emails through our trustworthy sat phone; the one way of communication and weather information we need and hoped to rely on. There is a problem with the mail service we use and nobody can figure out what went wrong. So, we still feel cut-off from the world, being on an island without internet facilities. We hope to respond to everybody when we get to the island of Hiva Oa, the latest, where internet is available. Not sure when that will be. Fatu Hiva is still amazing and we are not ready to leave yet. To be honest, I don't even know whether these blogs are getting posted, but I'll write them anyway. :)
We were very lucky with the weather on Monday, when we planned to join a crew into the mountains, where they would clean up a trail. On Sunday, it rained all day, making us question the expedition or the state of the trail the following day. On Tuesday, after a rainy night, it kept raining throughout the day, turning Hanavave Bay into a massive brown mud puddle.The highlight of that day was a morning show performed by a big pod of dolphins. They jumped, turned and flipped at the mouth of the bay for hours, feeding and frolicking. When we finally joined them in our dinghy, they played with it and jumped alongside. Too bad the water was so dirty or we would have been able to snorkel or swim with them.
On Monday morning, it stayed dry. Mark and I were picked up at the "Mairie" (town hall) of Hanavave by a truck full of old people. Were these the guys responsible for widening the trail in the mountains? No, they were just getting a ride to Omoa, the other town on the island. Where did we want to be dropped off? Well. How about the trail head where Lionel and his friends would start their work? The driver didn't seem to know anything about our arrangement, but luckily he did know which trail I meant. There really is only one trail into the mountains, which ends in Ouia, an ancient village of thousands of people hundreds of years ago, but empty and abandoned now. Together with a local guy, hiding in the bed of the truck, we were deposited
halfway between Hanavave and Omoa, at the highest point of the bumpy road, which had been extremely steep the whole way. In the chilly mountain air, we waited for Lionel, our French friend we met a few days earlier in Omoa.
After twenty minutes or so, he showed up with three big guys and a truck load of equipment. They unloaded the four weed whackers, extra cans of fuel, cooking utensils, food, cooler, propane, stove, and personal belongings, and arranged everything on the covered picnic benches along the road, one of which they wrapped into a tarp. They would spend the night here. Then, we all set out on the overgrown trail, at a fast pace, following Lionel, the aged leader of the gang. The path was hard to see at times and so narrow and muddy that it was a bit scary. We tried hard not to slip and fall into the depths, off the rocky, steep slopes.
Every 25 minutes, a man stayed behind with his gear to clear the trail towards the beginning. We followed our host until the "col", the highest point on the trail, where the last man started work. The same group would do the second half of the path, the steep decent to Ouia Bay, a few weeks later. Mark and I also turned around, getting freaked out by the steep, muddy, overgrown and narrow continuation of the trail. Our old sandals with no traction were not up for the job, and we had both already slipped a fewtimes. The hike back was at our own pace and very enjoyable, apart from the narrow stretches and one short fall off the side of the bushy mountain, a good scare. We took in the amazing scenery and magnificent views, the different kinds of trees and ferns, the strands of bamboo, and many colorful flowers, the songs of the birds, the sight of green parakeets, the quiet of the mountains. We took our time getting back to the main road, following short lengths of neatly cleared path at intervals, handing a homemade peanut butter cookie to every member of the work force we passed and thanking them for their efforts.
Once back at the road, the next part of our walk started. We followed the rickety dirt road all the way down, first to where the rutted and rocky part turned into pavement, then to Hanavave village, all the while enjoying the views, taking lots of pictures and cursing the steepness of the track, holding ourselves back, making our knees suffer. One car drove by. We watched the sailboats deep down in the protected bay. We passed the little Maria statue, where our driver had stopped and everybody in the car had said a long prayer. We saw the waterfall dropping off a steep cliff in the distance. We cut off a rack of bananas and carried it for miles and we finally found a mango tree with (unripe) fruit. We walked and walked for hours in the sun and finally arrived on Irie, exhausted, covered in mud and happy to be home, and to have been part of this interesting "expedition"!
The Belvedere is one of the highlights for tourists visiting
this popular and beautiful island. A road gently slopes towards and impressive
viewpoint, where people gather to take pictures of the surroundings. A bench is
strategically placed in the shade; it should be reserved for the ones huffing
it up by foot. :-) Mark
and I started out walking on the sunny road, but once we reached the marae
(archeological site), we picked up a trail leading to the Belvedere. We could
chose: road, sun, traffic - fumes, noise and being “pushed” to the side – or
path, shade and mosquitoes. We picked the second option, applied bug repellent,
and had a nice walk up.
From the Belvedere, two trails start in different
directions, branching off to more points along the way. None of these trails
have signs (they want tourists to hire a guide), so you take a bit of a risk
not knowing where you will end up. We started west, thinking we would reach
another bench and then somehow end up back down in Opunohu valley. We found the
bench with a nice view, but after completing somewhat of a circular route, ended
up back at the Belvedere. Huh? Looking
for an alternative way to descend, we backtracked the trail we had arrived on
and took a split, away from the main route. It was a lovely hike through the
forests, with an unexpected and impressive open view once we reached a
pineapple plantation in the valley. Since the trail seemed to have vanished, we
followed the dirt access road which ended up on the “Route de Ananas”. Not
knowing where to pick up another track to the bay from there, we were “forced”
to walk back on the steaming hot asphalt road back to the dinghy. We have more
exploring to do in regards to trailheads!
Two days later, we set out again from Opunohu Bay. This
time, we managed to hitchhike half way up to the Belvedere. A short climb
brought us back to the marae, from where we followed a trail marked “trois pins”
(one of the few signs around!). Shady and well-maintained, these paths are
great! As long as you – kind of – know where you are going. After an hour of
climbing, we reached the viewpoint of the “three pines” (yes, there are
actually three pine trees and a shady log to sit on), from where we beheld the
two northern bays, some of the reefs and a few impressive peaks. The idea was
to follow a “ridge trail” down to Cook’s Bay, where we hoped to arrive an hour
later, do some grocery shopping (there are no stores nor baguettes at the head
of Opunohu Bay), and order a sandwich for lunch…
We could see a steep trail leading down on the other side of
“trois pins”, but according to our Moorea map in Lonely Planet, the path we
were looking for, went the other way; a split from the trail we arrived on. So,
we headed in that direction, and started hiking, up and down, along the
mountain range. Before long, Cook’s Bay was a body of water in the distance,
only getting smaller with every step we took. Not willing to believe that we
hooked up with a well-kept, but non-existing trail according to all the maps,
we kept on walking, our feet slanted on the narrow side of the mountains. The path would have to bend back and down
soon, for sure! Nope… More and more it started to dawn on us that we were
headed for the pass overlooking Vaiare, the top of a mountain we had climbed up
and over a few weeks ago. It was located on the east side of Moorea. At least
we knew how to get back to Cook’s Bay from there!
A couple of hours later – hungry and thirsty (we weren’t
prepared for a day hike) – we reached the Vaiare viewpoint. This time,
unobscured by rain and mist, we could see the surrounding peaks and Vaiare Bay.
Who would have thought we’d ever make it back up here? A very steep descend
followed, while we were holding on to tree trunks and roots. The last part of
the walk was easy and flat, but the rain had returned! 
