Raiatea

March 4, Monday

Raiatea (pronounced Rye-a-tay-a) is considered the religious and cultural center of the Polynesia Islands.  During our tour this morning our Polynesian guide pointed out that this island is the center of the islands of Hawaii, Easter Island, New Zealand and islands west of here. He also pointed out that rocks from Raiatea’s temple were taken to the surrounding islands as the beginning of temples on those places.

But first we rode in an outrigger power boat along the shore and up into the fresh waters of the Faaroa (Fa-ah-roe-ah) River.  We went as far as we could before it got too shallow for the large boat.  Ahititi, our tattooed native guide, invited us to join him in a ritual of horn, nose flute, drums and song that he sang to the forest and streams as a way of honoring their spirit and power.  It was from here that the great migration voyages to Hawaii and New Zealand started.

We got off the boat at Marae Taputapuatea, a sacred temple area of great archaeological importance. From here we rode in eight passenger Land Rovers up to the huge crater of a volcano that blew out over a million years ago. Today it is the cradle of agriculture for the island where they grow Mano, papaya, limes, grapefruit, breadfruit, bananas and much more.  There are hydroponic gardens growing lettuce, tomato, cucumber, eggplant and other vegetables. 

Vanilla bean pods growing on vine. 

 Then we saw the best vanilla beans in the world grown under shaded screens dotting the hillsides.  The Tahitian vanilla bean is considered the best tasting but it is a very intensive and time consuming process to grow them.  Each flower on the vine has to be hand pollinated (there are no bees) and it has to be done quickly because they only bloom for 6 hours.  It takes 9 months for the bean pod to grow and it can have only 2 hours of direct sunshine every day.  The pods are picked and dried for another 6 months, then they are massaged to determine their moisture content which has to be at 38%, more or less than that and it goes bad.  When the 38%i is reached they are put into a dark room for 3 months before being sold.  They cost $600 per kilo.