Manuia means cheers

On Saturday we went on an ATV tour to see the highlight of Moorea island… the pineapple juice/rum factory. All good ATV tours start with alcohol and this was no exception. We had a tasting of their fruit juices, fruit juice liquor, and various rums and Jess discovered her new favorite drink cleverly named “Tahiti Drink”. It is pretty much an 8% ABV fruit punch and somehow tastes like birthday cake when mixed with champagne we discovered. We will be figuring out how to get some Tahiti Drink at home, really think it’ll be a crowd pleaser in Jess’s lightweight friend group.

Back on the ATVs, we drove through a pineapple plantation, where we learned how pineapples are grown and cultivated. Each plant grows one pineapple at a time, but also grows multiple spurs that can each be pulled off and planted to grow more. We saw pathways hacked with machetes so each pineapple can be harvested by hand when they are ready. We were also given two infant pineapple plants to try to bring home and grow since they are “such easy plants” according to our guide. We didn’t have the confidence to tell our guide that we had attempted to keep an adult pineapple plant alive at home once and failed so miserably. Alas, in Colorado you can’t just set plants on the ground and come back in a couple days to them having put down roots like you can here.

At the final stop of our tour, we learned the answer to the age old question: can you summon a dozen eels by pouring canned mackerel water into a stream? The answer is a resounding yes. To answer your next question, yes they do feel as slimy as they look. But apparently in the islands eels are sacred because their faces look like coconuts and are therefore to be fed and not eaten. I feel like we need some more backstory to that explanation, but that’s what we have so far.

Now for fire dancing!!! (The performers will be holding the fire. Not Ben)