Tahiti... a backpackers paradise?

Is Tahiti a backpackers paradise? I do not think so, because everything on Tahiti is expensive. The accommodations, the food, the tours and sights and there is barely no public transport system on the island except super expensive taxis.
The main city Papeete is very expensive as well, super busy and really no place to stay longer for a backpacker trying to save some money.

 After my first night on Tahiti I took the ferry to Moorea, which is the neighbour island and spent 4 days there. These island is much more nicer than Tahiti in all belongings. Stayed on a camp side next to a very beautiful beach. Beside the beaches there are rainforests, volcanoes, pineapple plantations and reefs to explore,...

Moorea is not that big, so I made a round-trip by a rented bike (~60km) in one day.
Except for the round trip I relaxed most of the time on the beach as I had four very stress full days on the Easter island to recover.
On the last day there was quite much wind, so I rented a Kite and did some Kite-surfing in the lagoons, which have cystal-clear and warm water but lots of corals. Slowly I got used to this relaxing way of life and started liking it, as it was already over and I had to catch my flight to New Zealand.

Before I left the Kite-beach of Moorea's west coast to catch the ferry to Papeete, I saw three very beautiful girls (holy sh..!! They must have been models!!) sunbathing on the beach, wearing nothing than their bikini-slips...
I stopped, took a deep breath and enjoyed the view for a moment while I was thinking: There is no better way to say goodbye to me, French Polynesia!! :-)

I think holidays on French Polynesia`s island can be very very nice if you have the money to spend. As I saw lots of very luxury good looking hotels and bungalows as well as cool activities to do. But it is definitely nothing for poor backpackers, trying to save money... Or was I just used to the cheaper life I lived in South America? ;-)

On Rapa Nui

Spent 4 days on Rapa Nui, better known as Easter islands (discovered by a dutch explorer on an Easter-Sunday in the 18th century). It is famous for its 887 stone monuments, which have a shape of human men and women and are called moais as well as for the magnificent landscapes.

Stayed at a camp side in the only town on this island and made some day tours to the countless interesting places on the most isolated island in the world.
Although Rapa Nui is very small, there are so much things to visit that you can easily fill up a week.
I wanted to see everything so I had four very stress full days. Because beside the moais, there are interesting caves, coast-lines, volcano-craters, ruins with petroglyphs, etc to explore.

Did some diving as well, because the coast of the easter island has one of the clearest water in the world due to missing water-pollution. But there is not that much sea-life to see and I had to share my diving equipment with another guy. So I ended up diving for 20mins as suddenly I could not breath anymore because my compressed-air tank was empty. Luckily I had just 6-7m to the water surface... :-)

On the highest hill (507m) you have a great view of the whole island. And suddenly get a feeling
for how isolated this island lies in the middle of the pacific ocean, a few thousand miles away from the next land side.
I felt a little bit like Robinson Crusoe when he stranded on his lonely island.

Most moais are destroyed, so that you can just see the platforms or parts of the moais like faces or their hats. The few of them which are still one piece or were restored are visited by everybody, especially during sunset and sunrise. Although it is very crowded I think it is worth to do it as well. :-)

One evening I visited also one of the dance shows performed by the local people. Was quite cool with lots of very beautiful girls wearing unique costumes or almost nothing... (No more to say at this point!! :-)  )

Had really a great time on Rapa Nui and can recommend this island far far away, to everybody. But do not make the mistake and spent to less time here!
As the guide-book "A companion to Easter island" says, if you have just two days time here, go first to the LAN-airline office and ask if you can change your flight back... :-)

On the Deathroad

On my last day in La Paz I cycled down the famous "Deathroad". This road was once the only connection between the cities La Cumbre (4700m altitude) and Coroico (1700m) and is known as the most dangerous road in the world.
Why? It is not more than an unpaved path down a valley, where you have the abyss of several 100m next to you. It is so narrow, that you barely can fit a car on this small lane. Every time when two cars have to pass each other it is more than risky and dangerous (especially for the one next to the cliffs...).
Ah yeah, I forgot to mention that there are hardly any crash barriers to protect the cars from falling down the cliffs (Why? Well, that is BOLIVIA!!).
Every year about 700 people died on this road by falling down with their cars the cliffs. That's almost 2 persons/day!!

A few years ago a new road was built taking a less dangerous root through the mountains. So nowadays the old road is mainly used by agencies to offer downhill-tours with full suspension bikes for brave (and a little bit crazy) tourists. As well as by some patriotic Bolivians, still using this road by car...

Together with six very cool people and the coolest two guys you can find in Bolivia, we cycled down the most dangerous road in the world.
One guide in the front and one in the back we made about 3000m altitude difference during our ride.
The first part was pretty easy as it was part of the new paved road. As we turned right after 30min to the old road the real adventure begins. We found our self on an unpaved narrow road with big rocks spreaded on the road every now and then.
But the full suspension bikes did their jobs, so we just rode our bikes with full speed over this crappy road. You do not feel any big shock or vibration with those kind of bikes, it just feels a little bit spongy, but you get used to it... :-)

The weather also changed from freezing cold and foggy on the top, to tropical warm and clear at the bottom.
According to our guides we were a very fast group and it took us about 2,5h to cycle down this killer-road. At the end of our ride we had a nice lunch and rewarded our self with cold beer for an injury-free downhill session.

After lunch we put our bikes on the roof of our van and we had two options to go back to La Paz: The Deathroad or the new, safer but longer road. Guess what road we took... :-)

On our ride up the "Deathroad" by car we stopped several times and enjoyed the view, as we did not pay attention when we were riding our bikes down the road. You were just fixed on the road, very concentrated and trying to make no mistake. As a mistake on this road can result your death, you simply have no time to enjoy the view... :-)

We also started drinking beer and Cuba libre and arrived in La Paz completely drunken singing and yelling songs in Spanish...
It was a really nice last day in Bolivia for me and one of my highlights on my trip in South America.
I can just recommend this ride to everybody who searches for the ultimate kick... :-)