Rarotonga! Most of you probably haven't even heard of Rarotonga. We hadn't until we started planning our trip and found out that with our Air New Zealand plane tickets, we could have as many stopovers in the South Pacific islands as we'd like (for only $50 per stop). Our airline ticket broker suggested Rarotonga, stating that it's similar to Tahiti but less crowded and less expensive. No further convincing needed.
Rarotonga is the main island of the Cook Islands, which lie between Tahiti and Fiji. There are many small surrounding islands, considered some of the most beautiful and unspoiled in the world, and we look forward to visiting some on our next visit. Because we scheduled just one week in the Cooks, we decided to focus our time on Rarotonga.
The Cook Islanders speak English, use New Zealand currency and attend Christian/Catholic church. Their lives are quite simple (by American standards), with modest houses and relaxed lifestyles - especially on Sundays, when everything is closed. They are very friendly and welcoming of the tourists (most of whom are British) who visit.
Our time on Rarotonga was very relaxed and laid back. We enjoyed just taking it easy, having leisurely breakfasts and taking short walks to the internet cafe (where the connection speed unfortunately matched the slow pace of the lifestyle). We also spent a majority of time at the beach, of course! The atmosphere was similar to Tahiti, with clear blue lagoons, swaying palm trees and sandy beaches strewn with fallen coconuts. Again, we had found paradise!
GETTING AROUND: Since the island is relatively small, everyone's preferred mode of transport is to rent a motor scooter. After a few days of trying out the bus and hitchhiking options, we decided to fork out the money for a scooter so we could blaze our own trail a bit more (note to Moms: Yes, it was safe and we drove carefully!). Ken had to take a driving test and get a license to drive class 1 vehicles (motorcycles):
Ken: "The driving test was quite difficult and thorough. First, I had to provide my own scooter and drive it to the police station. I walked into the station, joining other fellow travelers, paid NZ$10, took the scooter and paperwork to the back of the building and was instructed to drive around what amounted to a back yard with two large trees in the middle. After the 3rd lap around the trees (literally, just riding in a large circle), the "proctor" gave me the thumbs up and I returned to the front office. There was no paperwork indicating that I had passed, just my word, NZ$15 more, a photo, and, 30 minutes later, a laminated driver's license! Like I said, quite thorough..."
NEW FRIENDS: We met some really great fellow travelers at our first accommodation, Aremongo Guesthouse. Two couples with lots of spirit and funny stories were Russell and Abi from a town near Manchester, England; and Chris and Nicola from Bristol, England. Chris and Nicola were just starting a year-long adventure like us, while Russell and Abi were just ending a year overseas. They kept us laughing all week with their good humor. On our first night in Rarotonga, we went out for a drink with everyone from the hostel and watched a "Cook Island Dance and Drum Show", which was touristy but fun to watch. The performers wore traditional costumes and danced to island drum beats.
RUGBY: On our second night here, we went to a local rugby game with Russell, Abi, Chris and Nicola. There are seven Rarotongan teams and that night's game was the final game of the season. It was our first time seeing a live rugby match, and we were treated to two (the 2nd string team and the championship). The field was surrounded by lush greenery, palm trees and a colorful sunset (not a bad place for a game… at least you have a nice view if you're bored by the game!). We sat with the Brits, who explained the game to us since we had no idea of its rules or purpose. It was almost a cross between American football and soccer, but with more shoving and some very rough and wild hits. There was even a little baseball thrown in for good measure when a fight broke out and the benches cleared. The brawl lasted a good 2-3 minutes! We had a good time and could see why rugby is such a popular game. Afterwards we all decided to meet up at Trader Jack's, a popular local bar on the waterfront. Everyone else had rented scooters and had driven themselves there, but we had gotten a ride from someone who worked at our hostel. We looked for him afterwards and couldn't find him, so we were almost stranded there in the parking lot, but we ended up hitching a ride with the police (hey, whatever works!). We met our friends at the bar, had a couple of drinks, and then caught the local bus back to our hostel.
VARA'S BEACH HOUSE: After a few days at Aremongo, we decided to move to the neighboring hostel, Vara's Beach House. We're grateful we stayed at Aremongo initially because of the people we met there, but Vara's was right on the beach and a bit cleaner for the same price (Ken actually saw either a mouse or a rat on the kitchen counter at Aremongo one night in the dark… mental note after that: wash every dish twice before using it). Even though we "moved up", as the others teased, we still ended up hanging out at Aremongo at least once a day because the atmosphere was so much more social. We wished we could have merged the two places somehow.
CHURCH: On Sunday we went to a local church service. We had heard that tourists really enjoy the services for their beautiful singing and surroundings. The entire chapel was white inside, and decorated in flowers so it smelled very sweet (although, despite the fans, it was hideously hot). We went to a smaller church so there was no choir, but the congregation sang for over half of the service and it was beautiful. Christianity is Rarotonga's main religion, so having grown up going to church, I recognized a few songs (most were sung in the native language, which is similar to Hawaiian, but a few were sung in English, including "Jesus Loves Me"). The actual service was also about half English and half in the local language. They welcomed their overseas guests several times (there were several of us). The best part was that for about a half hour at the end, all of the children, dressed in white, did a little show with singing and readings. They ranged from about ages 4 to 16. Apparently they only do that show once a year so we really lucked out to see it.
THE FLAME TREE: We treated ourselves one night with an outstanding dinner at The Flame Tree, the nicest restaurant on Rarotonga. It was an eclectic mix of foods, with heavy Indonesian and Asian accents. We went with several other couples and spent four hours dining and drinking. We shared an appetizer of Camembert cheese (like Brie), deep fried in coconut, topped with fruit… you've never tasted anything so good! Ken had parrot fish as an entrée, cooked with brie cheese in a phylo dough pastry. Stephanie was especially pleased (ecstatic, actually) when she saw that Amarula was served as an after-dinner drink (for those of you who don't know, Amarula is an incredible creamy liqueur, similar to Irish Cream, made from the Marula fruit in South Africa and seemingly impossible to find in the U.S.). We were able to enjoy this meal thanks to Ken's grandmother, who generously gave us a little something before we left on our trip so we'd be able to enjoy a nice dinner out (our thanks again!).
SCUBA DIVING: Ken went scuba diving twice early in the week. This was the first time he went diving since he was certified back in August (in L.A.). It was absolutely beautiful! He saw amazing coral, a sea turtle and a moray eel. To those who haven't gone diving, it is like visiting another planet. It is very peaceful and you feel like part of the underwater world. Most fish are not frightened of divers, just going about their business, and a bit cautious if you get too close. The eel was quite shy swimming in and out of small holes in the coral, checking us out.
SCOOTER: One day we took the scooter out for a ride around the island, did a little shopping, and took a short cut back on one of the less crowded roads. We passed by a tiny house on a hill which couldn't have had more than two rooms, and looked incredibly run down. We stopped because they had cute little pigs running around the front yard. We then saw a mother and her small son sitting together on the grass out front. We waved to them and smiled, and they did the same. The boy looked so happy, sitting quietly with his mother, and kept waving and smiling to us. Here he was, living in total poverty, certainly with no Playstation or computer or Pokemon or whatever the next big thing is, and he was as happy as could be. Seeing things like that makes you wonder who the lucky ones really are.
We spent too much money on food in Tahiti, so we joined the youth hostel movement of cooking one's own food. It's really an art of cooking the best meal possible with the least money (or sometimes a not-so-great meal, just as long as it's cheap!). One day I saw a girl cook a bowl of rice topped with canned tuna, tomatoes and corn… not exactly gourmet but I suppose she would have won "cheapest meal" that night nonetheless. The markets have delicious, fresh, long loaves of french bread for super-cheap (about 40 cents), sold in barrels by the cash registers, so we ate those six ways to Sunday… with peanut butter, with jam, with cheese, or plain - it filled us up for hours. They also have really good fruit juices here (especially pineapple), so we drank a lot of those too.
After taking it easy for a few days, we decided to fill our last couple of days with snorkeling and a last scuba dive for Ken. Nature had different plans. On Monday afternoon it began to rain, and it was still going on Thursday morning when we flew out to Fiji. This wasn't just Seattle drizzle, but buckets coming down (when we were in Fiji a few days later, we actually heard that a cyclone was passing through Rarotonga and planes weren't going there, so at least we avoided that). Ken also caught some sort of stomach flu and wasn't feeling well for the last few days, so we had two reasons to stay inside. We were disappointed not to be able to snorkel or take the scooter out, but we enjoyed it in an odd sense, because it just forced us to relax, do some reading and go to sleep early (we were waking up at 6:30am, if you can believe it… Steph: "Yes, I can see your dropped jaws from here!"). The rain also cooled us off, which was a welcome change.
It took a bit getting used to driving on the "wrong" side of the road. And for that matter, even crossing the road was awkward. Since traffic comes at you from the right when you're crossing, you're supposed to look right first. Just taking a small step into the street looking to the right sets off alarm bells in your head - the likes of which we haven't heard since fire drills in grade school - 'Look to the left!' 'Look to the left!' So now we just look both ways about three times, pause, and hail a cab.
It's amazing how quickly our viewpoint changed. With the rainy weather, Stephanie did some house-keeping one day… repacking her bag a bit, washing out her soap dish, changing the blade in her razor, and transferring some addresses and e-mail addresses into her address book. That was a full afternoon at "Rarotonga pace", and that's how we like it these days!
Anyone who knows Stephanie knows she loves a trip to Starbucks (or anywhere with a good latte). As you'd expect, the best we could find was a small tin of instant coffee at the market. One day, on the "free shelf" in the hostel kitchen, she found Nestle coffee in a tube - yes, it's actually like toothpaste - you squeeze it out and it has the flavor of coffee, milk and sugar - you just add hot water. Bizarre, yes, and probably unforgivable to a coffee aficionado - but pretty good when you're desperate!
At the rugby match we attended, they were playing for the "Fosters Cup" (yes, the Australian beer, which was the sponsor of the game). Fosters had posters by the side of the field, plus their name on the scoreboard, goal posts and flags. Even half-way across the world in the middle of nowhere, we were flooded with media! It's impossible to escape it!
This story is a little more atrocious than funny,
but we still found it amusing. One night, as we sat around a table on the
patio sharing stories and beers with the others at our youth hostel, the conversation
turned to drinking stories. The Brits were saying how much the Australians
drink and how crazy they are. One person then told of an even worse story,
where he knew of people who were so desperate to get alcohol, they used to
drink bleach - and you can imagine what happened to their insides. Someone
else was even able to top that. In his great British accent, he told of some
rich guy who was on a charter plane with his friends, getting plastered on
liquor. They eventually ran out, so they looked for anything that would do…
and ended up drinking all of the duty-free perfume that they sell on the plane!
They were hideously drunk and sick for days.