We spent a few days exploring the interior of the island of Tahiti, the capital of French Polynesia.

The Papenoo river valley.

Many waterfalls lined the valley on both sides.

Clouds sat on the tops of mountains, but were constantly coming and going.

The river valley is the home of a large hydroelectric project. Only small four-wheel-drive vehicles were allowed beyond a certain point.

Here we drove our rented Suzuki jeep across a bridge that didn't bother with more road surface than absolutely necessary.

We stayed at Relais de la Maroto, a quirky resort at the top of the road which was built to house the construction workers for the hydroelectric project. Here's the unused swimming pool from outside our window.

When we arrived, they asked us if we'd like a drink. We said "we have reservations". Apparently we were the only ones, because they took us to the nicest room they had without even asking our name. Here's the "sexy bathtub" inside the room.

There's a wine cellar there with 3000 bottles. Our room rate included one free dinner, which was raclette served in the cellar.

This is a raclette machine. The top part is a broiler. The cheese is rotated and heated right next to the broiler, and then rotated back and the melted part is scooped onto a pile of potatoes waiting on a plate below. They also served proscuitto and salad.

Of course, we also had a bottle or two of wine.

This man, an electrician who had moved from France to Tahiti. was here with his "vahine", and was apparently also spending the night at the resort.

There was a large restored archeological site near the resort -- many sites have been found in the valley.

An archery platform at the site. The target is the pointed rock about a kilometer away.

This truck belongs to the electrician we'd met the night before. Piecing together the story, he was there with his employee's wife, and his employee had driven up there in the boss' truck, punched him in the face, and driven the truck off the road.

A dam near the resort.

People arriving for lunch at the resort.

Note the truck at the bottom (for scale).

We spent a day driving around Tahiti. Here's an abandoned church on the north coast.

A fixture inside the church.

On to The Eclipse Cruise