This worked out very well. Yesterday, we climbed up a muddy, slippery hill to see actual ruins of a sacred site (Marae) where it was actually used. Today we visited a reconstructed Marae located close to the road where we could easily walk to it. Visiting both added depth to our understanding of the Marae — not that we understand very much. We don’t understand very much because the Polynesians had a verbal culture which was suppressed for a long time. Nobody knows thee details of how the chiefs or kings ruled. One thing that seem to be true is that every Marae had a cool Tiki I think this Tiki looks pleased to be near Danita. That can’t be a bad thing.

Maraes had several stone platforms. One was much larger and more impressive than the rest. You can see the large platform below. This is all there was. There was not a structure or thatched roof. The written descriptions of the early European explorers were written by men who didn’t understand what they were seeing. But we know that the ruling class was on the platform. Whatever happened, happened on a platform that looked exactly like this.

We visited the Tahiti museum. This is a small but very modern museum, with lots of video and lots of air conditioning. When an important chief died, he would be laid out until his body had dried. He would be guarded by a mourner wearing a costume like this. This is an actual mourner costume. It lived in the British Museum from the 1800s to 2023. It is on a 3-year loan to the Tahiti Museum. Whatever you think of the English keeping important artifacts from other cultures, the fact is that this costume would not exist today if the English hadn’t stored it.

We also visited the Jardins D’eau de Vaipahi botanical garden. Here are a couple of pics.

We stay here we are overnight. We will take another excursion tomorrow. I hope this finds everyone doing well.