Monday, April 23, 2012

What days do we train!?

wow. let me just say that the last 3 weeks were amazing!!!! Monday morning Lauren was nice enough to take me to the Christchurch museum to catch the bus to Picton at 7am. after a 6 hour bus ride up the east coast I met Emma and Bert, 2 of my fellow Honey Badgers (UC Ultimate team) on the ferry that we took over to Wellington. The ferry ride was beautiful though we honestly spent most of the time in the cabin because it was beyond windy!!! We played fruit ninja for almost 3 hours, and I can proudly report I've busted 500. hahaha my accomplishments in this semester are quite profound. Anyways, we made it to Wellington around 5:30 and hailed a taxi to the fanciest hostel in all of town…. i'm lying. It was, well cozy. There were 6 of us in 3 bunk beds shoved into the smallest room you can imagine. Emma couldn't even get into her bed seeing as the ladders were pushed against the wall. To add, 3 of us were boys who significantly contributed to the foul odor of our humble abode EVEN with the windows open 24-7. Anyways, we moved right in, got sorted and headed out for dinner. We went to burger fuel which was DElicious. Then after a wander around town, we finally found a bar open on Easter Monday. Thank goodness for those Irish folks keeping the pubs open without fail. haha We had drinks at Molly Malones, and then went back to the hostel for a FANTASTIC night of sleep. (s-a-r-c-a-s-m). I woke up with a cock roach in my bed. lovely. Don't let that indicate how awesome the rest of my day was though. Emma, Bert, and Chris were nice enough to walk around town with me and Mai (newcomers to Welly). We went to Te Papa, the local museum, rode the cable car, and wandered around Cuba street. Wellington is a really cool city. That evening we all dressed up in Tron outfits for the Uni Games opening ceremony. Nothing a little spandex and electrical tape can't handle. We had a scavenger hunt at the zoo which was fairly uneventful except that we won a $60 dollar bar tab for Thursday. That night was full of healthy socializing at the hostel and then off to check out Wellington night life. It was a fairly early evening which was good because Wednesday was the first day of the tournament which held 4 games. Games were first to 17 or hard cap at 2 hours of play. That's 8 hours clocked in for the first day. We woke up at 7 and headed to the fields. Everyone had to get their accreditation checked, and then games started at 9. The first game was against Massy Albany. Most of their players were pretty new except one awesome girl who plays for the Aukland women's national team. It was good for our team to get our feet on the ground. We won pretty easily and it was SOO fun. The awesome handlers set me up to score a gagillion times which is always exciting. haha one point I got sandwiched between 2 guys something awful. I definitely felt a few things pop which was sweet, but it was worth it because I scored. lol Anyways, the second game was against the other canterbury team. honey badgers v. honey badgers. :) It was a fun game, and my team came away with the W. The third game was against one of the Vic teams which is the university in Wellington. It was a pretty close game, but we couldn't make it happen in the end and lost by 3 if I remember correctly. At this point, you might imagine that we were all feeling pretty tired. It was raining, and we were all walking with some serious swag (or limping… your call). We played AUT. They were all new ultimate players, but they were super athletic and really did well for their experience. It was sorta funny because they kept saying maybe they could beat us because we were injured. haha thankfully we were able to win, but they drug us out nearly the whole time allotment. During that match we tried to some interesting tactics. my favorite would have to be Alamo. it's pretty simple. Pull the frisbee, then let Tom do all the work. Call me pathetic, but I was DEAD. I was so so sore. We hobbled back to the hostel, left ALL our shoes and socks outside the room and got ready for dinner. After dinner it was another fun night of socializing. I must say that Canterbury clearly knows how to have a good time. Several other schools came to party with us at the hostel. Ultimate is an awesome community internationally. I met SO many great people, and actually while we were out on the town, I ran into the girls I was going campervanning with at the end of the week, Michelle and Rebecca. It was a late night, and an early rise to RAIN. Despite the pouring rain we loaded up the van and headed to the fields. to sum the next several hours up. It was FREEEEZZING cold, raining and windy. They relocated us to artificial fields, and after hours of deliberation, we decided to play out the draw just like it was to begin with… right. STIFF doesn't even begin to describe how i felt. Regardless, we played Aukland which turned into a complete social game. The wind was impossible, and all the players were really just having a good time. We lost, but honestly gave them a run for their money towards the end when we threw our super special drunk d on them. haha! This game I did lay out to score which was a kinda cool first.  Then it was an hour and a half to get stiff again before we played the other Vic team from Wellington. Seriously SO stiff and spent, but picked ourselves up for another game. We ran drunk d and actually played really well. High point for this game would have to be the hand block I got. This was my first tournament so give me a break for being excited about these little things. I'll also mention that I got skied really bad by a giant guy in the in zone. That was sorta embarrassing. I took a dramatic tumble. We won, and then it was more prep for another super fun evening in Welly. We had a $60 bar tab to use. (stick with the girl who has the voucher) we conveniently made it to the bar early. It was a great night and everyone from Canterbury was on form to say the least. The next morning, we entered semi finals play third seed out of 7. The first game was against Aukland again. We played surprisingly really well and led the entire game until the last few minutes where we hit hard cap at 10-10. After a nearly 30 minute universe point, we lost. We all put everything into that game, so the game we had to play directly after for 3rd was a complete joke. in fact, after 10 or so points, we just quit to go watch the final btw Vic and Aukland. When I sat down, my muscles would charley horse. spent is the only word to describe my state. At the awards ceremony, our team got the spirit award which was cool and several of our players made the tournament team. Also, Tom, one of our internationals won male MVP which was awesome. :) I  met SO many great people at Uni Games and I'm really glad I got to participate. After, I got back to the hostel, I showered, packed up, said goodbye. My sweet friends Michelle and Rebecca picked me up in our SUPER fancy campervan. 

We left Wellington around 4 and started our 4 hour drive to Napier. We stopped for gas and dinner in Woodfield and situated somewhere to park our campervan when we arrived. It was SO great to catch up with Rebecca and Michelle. They're the girls I went on the overnight hike with early in the semester. We all get along really well. When we stopped for dinner in Woodfield, found a place just off the main road that when we walked in was clearly a local joint considering everyone and their mother looked at us. It was great food, and then we were back on the road. I'll mention here how awfully slow I was moving at that point. It took my at least twice as long as the other girls to get in and out of the van and even out of my chair at the restaurant for that matter. In Napier, we managed to plug ourselves in, and then I PAASSSEEEDD out. It was a long and taxing week for my body. In the morning, we got sorted for a Hawks Bay wine tour. We drove into town and picked up groceries and then the van picked us up for the afternoon. We visited 4 wineries in the area. The first was called the Mission Estate. It's the oldest in Hawks Bay, started by monks in 1851. The drive was lined with beautiful trees and it definitely fit the picturesque image you would expect. Behind the winery there's a giant hill that they do concerts on every year played by pretty big bands where somewhere around 50,000 people come out!! It's a beautiful place, and I really enjoyed what they had to offer. In fact, this place had my favorite wine of the whole trip, Pinot Noir. I wish I would have purchased a bottle. Maybe I can order online while I'm still in NZ. The second stop was a place called Ngatarawa. It means between two ridges. The vineyard was owned by a family with an English man and Maori princess. The location of it is on their original estate. The horse barns have been converted into a tasting room. The grounds were again, BEAUTIFUL, and we had some more great wine. What's unique about Ngatarawa and the next one we visited called Craggy Range vineyard is that they're both Gimlet Gravels wineries. This is a piece of land that put Hawk's Bay on the map internationally. Apparently the area is an old river bed, and the rocky soil forces the plants to be smaller, but produce larger grapes because they put all their energy into reproduction and not growth. Also, just outside the gorgeous modern facility of Craggy Range, is the Te Mata peak which is iconic to the Hawk's Bay area. The legend is, Te Mata, a maori warrior fell in love with a maori girl who was conveniently the chiefs daughter from another tribe. He requested the chief to marry the girl, but he said Te Mata had to eat his way through the mountain range to prove his love. So he started eating the mountain, and had some trouble with one chunk, and then died up on the mountain. The peaks of the range look like a man's profile laying down. It's especially visible after a few glasses of wine. The last stop was a place called Clearview Estate. It's right down on the water. At this stop, they fed us a YUMMY meat, cheese and cracker platter and we tried more delicious wine. At this place they had a red dessert wine that was unlike anything i've had before (which honestly isn't that difficult consider i'm FAR from a wine connoisseur.) but I wanted to buy a bottle to bring home, and we weren't going back to Mission, so I went for the dessert wine. I figured I'm going to be strapped for space/ weight already getting home, so the smaller bottle was probably a good idea. I can't wait to enjoy it back home with the family! I'm thinking this will be for a dinner at the See's with all the usual suspects kind of evening.  After the wine tour, we jumped in the campervan and started the 6 hour drive to East cape… Now you might be thinking that sounds like a terrible idea to drive after a wine tour in the dark on a windy road up to a super remote region of NZ. Let me give more detail. We drank approximately 1 glass of wine over a 5 hour period, and then ate, sat around for an hour on the drive back to Napier, and then got in car. We were all sober as judges. It was quite an entertaining drive though. The roads that lead up to East Cape are not top on the list for quality. I can honestly say that some of the roads I've been on here in NZ hold a dim candle to the roads of Costa Rica and Spain. The most exciting part would have to be the blind turns one after another that require you to reduce your speed to at least 40ks. Towards the end of the drive, I went back to take a snooze which wasn't very snooze like because as my dear friend Michelle described… THE ROAD HAD WAVES IN IT!!! haha and there were seriously rats and possums the size of cats which was DISGUSTING and worthy of some girly screams. When we made it to the free campground, it was after mid-night and there was NO one there. It was sorta eerie to be honest. None of us even got out of the van. We just crawled back into the bed and snuggled up!! haha We woke up at 5:30 to drive out on the East Cape to see the sunrise. It's the furthest East point in the world. So we saw the sunrise first. Unfortunately, it was sorta cloudy on the horizon line, so it wasn't as amazing as it could have been, but it was still well worth all the effort. It was BEAUTIFUL. Totally energized but the sights, I jumped in for my 4 hour shift towards the Cormandel Peninsula. It was seriously the most beautiful drive I think i've done in NZ. Not surprisingly, when I went to nap that afternoon, I was NOT feeling so hot. everything was catching up with me, and my body, rightfully so, was starting to get sick. I had a terrible sore throat!! Thankfully, I was able to rest the whole afternoon on the way to the Hot Pools Beach which I definitely needed. We hooked up our van and sat out basking in the sunshine. It was a gorgeous day. 
In the AM, we got up, and headed over to the hot pools beach with our spade to dig us a hot tub!! HA! such amateurs. we dug this hole for us to sit in, and then realized we were on the wrong part of the beach… by that time, the tide was coming in and we only had time to go sit around the bubbling, BOILING water coming out of the sand. Poor Michelle actually stepped on the bubble and scorched her foot. Hot Pools is no exaggeration!! Then, we thought why not enjoy the sunshine. So we laid down on the beach and soaked up the sun. There was a guy playing the guitar just down from our towels and it was perfectly relaxing. After a while I noticed there weren't anymore people on the side of the beach where we were, so I recommended we pack up. Thank goodness I said something because the tide had come in and all these rocks were nearly blocking our way off the beach. We weren't exactly fit to climb over the rocks, so we just waiting for the right break in the waves. Unfortunately, our spade was carried away in the water and Michelle got soaked by a wave that crashed on a rock near where she was standing holding all her gear. When we made it to the other side, we decided it was safe to hang out a little longer considering that's where all the people had gone. (when I say all the people, don't be confused. there were maybe 20 people on the entire beach.)  After that, we went back to the campvervan to devise a plan over lunch. 
First on the list was head up to check out Cathedral Cove. It's a half hour walk down to this beach surrounded by rocks with a caveish thing on one side.. Harder to explain than I thought. Definitely check out the pictures on Facebook. It was pink sand, and completely picturesque. After that we started our drive across the peninsula to Cormandel the township. It was another drop dead gorgeous drive on an unpaved windy road in what looked like a jungle. The sun was setting, there was a river that ran along the road, and it was just perfect. Only about 10k from our designation, we came across this whole group of BABY baby pigs along with a whole slew of other animals. All three of us reacted completely appropriately squealing like children and jumping out of the van to take pictures. They were the tiniest pigs I've seen in person. The funniest part is after we made this big to do about the pigs, we get back in the van and start to drive off and notice there's a farmer standing just out of sight laughing at us in our obnoxious "BACKPACKER" campervan. We made it into Cormandel for sunset, found our holiday park and made quite the feast for dinner. In the morning, we started the drive down the west coast of the peninsula and around to Aukland. Again, it was great drive!! SO beautiful, and actually all paved roads :) Hamish, One of the guys I met at Uni Games from Aukland was nice enough to let us park our campervan at his parents house for our time in the city. They were all over the top good to us letting us shower and use their kitchen as well as giving us all kinds of advice on things not to miss in the area and all around the North Island. After getting situated, we took the ferry into the city central. We walked up Queen's street and then headed over to the Sky Tower. I'm actually really glad we went up because It was the perfect way to see Aukland with someone there to point everything out. We also watched someone buggy off the top.. NUTS. that's all I have to say. After the Sky Tower, Hamish's sweet sister took us back to Howick to get ready for dinner. That night we ate in town, and then enjoyed running around the city on a Tuesday night. real classy!! The last day of vacation, we drove out to Mount Eden (volcano) and hiked up to get another awesome view of the city, and then went out to Musick point to eat lunch and sit in the sun some more. That evening, Michelle and Rebecca dropped me off at the airport and they headed up to the Bay of Islands (JEALOUS i missed it). We were so sad to leave each other. it was pathetic. We just had been spending so much time in that little campervan, it was weird to say goodbye. There are not many people I would be willing to cram into a 2 person campervan with, but i can honestly say there wasn't one time I wanted to get out. We had the BEST time exploring the North Island and I'd do it a hundred times over. 
My flight back to CHCH was a STRUGGLE. I did the head bob the entire way. Thankfully, Lauren came to get me at the airport and when I got home at 10:30.  I had to unpack, do laundry, repack and get to bed for the last part of my 3 week vacation. The next morning, I finished off some last minute details, and literally ran out the door to catch the bus to Uni for my field trip with my Ecology class. We loaded the buses at 8:30 and headed towards Arthur's pass to Cass Research Station. I won't bore you with all the details of my trip. I identified plants, estimated lots of canopy coverage, trapped and counted bugs, measured 120 tree diameters, and struggled through 2 short reports. I have to say, it was the coolest field trip i've ever been on. I actually learned quite a bit and really met some MORE great people. Another American John, taught me how to take pictures of the stars with my camera. You can imagine that they were pretty spectacular out there, and while my camera doesn't even close to do it justice, I was SO happy to have captured the southern cross. 
After this COMPLETELY full on 3 weeks, I returned to CHCH and had a lovely dinner with Lauren, James, his parents Alison and Ian and Tess. It was really nice! Today was my first day back of classes. hahahahahahahahahahaha classes. i'm in classes? right. thank goodness my grades don't transfer. There's not much chance i'll be paying attention for my last 2 months in this AMAZING country. 

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Akamaroiroi: go with strength.

Last Saturday, I woke up, and packed my bag for Rarotonga. IES, the program i'm studying abroad through sets up this trip during mid semester break. Eunice, our coordinator has been going to the island for the past 5 years, so she's great at planning an awesome week. For those of you that don't know, Rarotonga is one of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. It's the biggest island and is inhabited by about 10,000 of the 15,000 people who live in the country. We left in the afternoon and stopped in Aukland on the way. The descent in to Raro was pitch black. There was nothing nothing nothing, and then within a minute of touchdown we finally saw a few lights. We didn't arrive until 11:45pm. Then we cleared customs, and loaded into a van… scratch that, we STUFFED into  2 vans with all our luggage. Thank goodness its a small island and it was a short drive, because we were all in a bit of heat shock coming from Christchurch. When we arrived, I settled into a room with my two sweet friends Erin and Jackie. Then all the people in our group met on the back deck that overlooks the water. It was nearly 1am by that time, but we were all captivated by the stars. You could very clearly see the milky way, o'ryan's belt and the coolest thing was the southern cross which i've never seen before!! Also, the shooting stars were the best i've ever seen. I could follow them for almost 5 seconds some times. Everything was so clear. I started to realize how "in the middle of nowhere" we were. Then it was off to bed to get ready for the first day. We woke up around 7 and walked down the beach a little ways. It was a beautiful and peaceful start to the day. Jackie, Erin and I were on breakfast making duty. We cut up some paw paw (papaya), mango, and assorted cereals and toast stuff. Shortly after we were off to the saturday market (so yes, i lived saturday almost twice). The market was huge, bumping with music, and full of bright colorful things. We watched a few performances, and I bought a pretty new dress to where to church the next day. For lunch, we picked out some home-made bread, pumpkin humus, a few guavas, and star fruits. All were DELICIOUS, and it was fun trying new stuff. 
After the market, we walked over to a local families house for some "cultural activities". We tie-dyed a sarong, weaved coconut tree leaves into dinner plates, and head pieces. This was all in preparation to learn our dance. While we were making our head pieces, we sat and laughed at the boys learning their part, but shortly after it was our turn… I can't say any of us will make it as maori dancers. Then we headed over to the taro patch. Taro is starchy like a potato. Its a staple to cook islander diet. We helped the family turn over the soil, and plant a patch of taro. After, one of the guys scaled up the coconut tree and kicked down a few for us to eat, drink, and huck. SO yummy!! We had a coconut hucking competition. They make a sharp stick with a machete thing, drive it into the ground, and then shove the coconut onto the sharp end. Sounds easy, but there is definitely an art to it. It took me about 15 minutes to finally get one open. After my pathetic attempt, the dad of the family literally hucked the coconut with his teeth!!! That's who I want with me if i'm stuck in a jungle. While at the taro patch, I made an oopsy. There was a young kid that had been with us the whole day. It had long hair that was braided and really pretty eyes. So, making assumptions like I never should, I asked his mom how old she was. HE was an 11 year old boy… right. Then we headed back to paradise inn for a shower and a few beers on the deck before dinner. We walked down to the convention center for dinner with the plates, head dresses, and sarongs we made that afternoon. They welcomed us with traditional music and fed us like kings! Thankfully, I made a rather large plate, so there was plenty of room for all the kumara, taro, chicken, paw paw, mango, and passion fruit. YUMM! After we ate, I realized that I should have paid more attention at the dance moves because it was our turn to perform. If that wasn't bad enough, they insisted that we have a dance competition. I was proud to not be the first out… good enough for me!! I wish I had better skills because the winners got the cool hand-made wooden drums. 

Sunday, when we woke up, Erin and Jackie went for a run, and I made my way down the beach so that I could see the sun rise. It was gorgeous! Afterwards we had breakfast before we walked down to church. It was communion sunday, so all the mammas and papas were wearing white. My favorite part was the singing. Most I couldn't understand, but it was really cool when I recognized the tune to songs I knew. Also, it was really interesting to watch the behavior of the kids. They mostly sat by themselves, and literally played an talked through the entire service and no one seemed to mind at all. One kid even threw something down on his grandma's hat from the balcony. Speaking of, the women of the church are required to wear hats every sunday. Most of the service was in maori, but some was english, and besides being terribly hot and tired, it was a really neat experience. 

After church, we loaded up and headed off to the eastern shore of the island to snorkel!!! It was SOOOO cool. There are over 100 species of fish just off the shore in the lagoon. I'll stop here and tell you just a brief bit about the island. Its volcanic and then theres a fringing reef that surrounds it. It is reallllly important. It breaks the surf to help prevent erosion of the island among other things. Anyways, it made for some awesome snorkeling. there were tons of beautiful fish and other marine creatures including an eel. YIKES! We lounged on a beach for a while afterward and then were served passion fruit and coconut. Later, we went to play put-put before dinner. It was a beautiful evening, and actually quite fun to play with my friends. Out of our group of 5, I managed 3rd which I decided was respectable enough. The same place prepared another FANTASTIC feast for us. oh my gosh. This was a meal that I enjoyed like the one I had in Springfield that Kaeko prepared for me. My favorite part was this fish that they put a paw paw chutney over. SO SO delicious. On top of that there was super tender and yummy steak, and an assortment of potatoes and salads accompanied by really good garlic bread. And then of course, desert was cream puffs, some chocolate meringue type thing, and fruit salad. We came back to the Paradise Inn deck and played cards with the rolling pacific ocean close by. 

In the AM we had the typical breakfast and then it was off to USP (university of south pacific) for a couple lectures. Sounds boring, but they were great! The first lecturer is the president of the voyaging society of the Cook Islands. They make these vakas that resemble what their ancestors used when they stumbled upon the pacific islands. Then they sail around the pacific without GPS. Their navigators rely on stars, sun, wind, currents etc to make their way across the ocean. It's amazing. It would be a unique opportunity to go on a voyage. They've traveled to Tahiti, New Zealand, California, Hawaii,  among other places and currently there's a vaka coming back form the galapagos islands. He was a fascinating guy, and the hour flew by! To be honest, he did say that often times the captain carries a GPS and records lat/longs or safety reasons. If they were to become in danger, they would need to be able to transmit their location, but this information is not shared with the crew. The voyaging society is an attempt to maintain the cook island culture. It's really a cool practice. The second lecturer works for the NES (National Environment Service. He is tasked to work with one other person to maintain the biodiversity on the islands. What a job for two people!! To put in more manageable terms, the cook islands land area is about 2 disney worlds, but their exclusive economic zone (aka, the water thats considered cook islands), is the size of Alaska and Oregon put together. That comes from measuring 200 miles off the coast of each island. He's quite a busy guy, but was nice enough to come speak to us. He taught us all about the flora and fauna of the island. There are several native and endemic species he works hard to maintain. Most are threatened by human impact and invasive species. 3 of the 15 islands are uninhabited, and work as a great location to manipulate and isolate animal populations. They've had a lot of success growing up species on these islands. Back to the EEZ. Within CI waters, there are trillions and trillions of dollars worth of resources. I think it was something like 30 trillion dollars worth of lead. Even better, its sitting there in ball shapes just waiting. The cook islands are being very cautious in assuring that the mining won't do more damage than good before they release any permits to the several countries waiting for a green light. The big hold up is to develop technology to suck the lead and other resources from the ocean floor because we are not allowed to scrape it. After the lectures, we ate lunch and then met a local guy and his son to start on the cross island walk. It's marginally marked and decently treacherous. The track leads from the Avatiu valley, up to the Needle, about 400 metres above sea level, then down through the Papua valley to Wigmore’s Waterfall. I must admit it was a little more intense than I anticipated. It was like climbing up very large stairs for about 25 minutes which is 20 too many. Though, when I got to the Needle, It was well worth it. The views were spectacular. I could see both shore lines, and the lush green mountainous center. Funny enough, we ran into a rooster that lived up there which I guess isn't too much of a surprise because they're literally EVERYwhere on the island, and they LOVE to wake you up in the morning. Anyways, it was an awesome hike complete with river crossings, steep slopes, beautiful views, narrow pathways, a few near death experiences (kidding… sorta) and I had the company of some awesome people. At the Wigmore's waterfall we went for a swim which was well deserved after being wet with sweat after the 3 hour hike in the super humid forest. 

For dinner that night, we hopped on a bus to begin a progressive dinner. We started at the house of this nice man who showed us all around his piece of land. If you are a cook islander, you are entitled to land somewhere within the islands, and this man and his family live on theirs. Several family members all on in one place. What's cool is like most families on the island, they're nearly self sustaining. They have taro patches, ALL sorts of fruit trees (coconut, passion fruit, guava, oranges, limes, star fruit), as well as a vegetable garden complete with tomatoes, lettuce and various other things. In fact, everything we ate except the fish was from their property. Its a special month for this family because the man (i can't remember his name for the life of me… ) is accepting his responsibility of king of the family name from his mother who passed away 2 years ago. After the ceremony, he can't leave Rarotonga unless one of his son's is there to act as "power of attorney" (ok, i'm a little tired, and when I was writing this I wrote power of eternity, got through another sentence, and then THANKFULLY caught my stupid mistake. haha!)  They were so welcoming and wonderful to take us all into their home. The entire night, the sweet man and his sons came around with us playing ukulele and guitars. The main course was served at a really nice house just above the new sports auditorium. This auditorium was built by the chinese. They came in with their supplies, tools, and workers to build the arena at no cost to the CI…. sounds all too fishy if you ask me. All they ask in return (for now) is that CI acknowledges one China (this means they don't consider Tiwan as a country). They also want fishing permits. Something to keep your eye on thats for sure! Anyways. the main course was once again, DELICIOUS and served by the sweetest couple. When we all sat down she came in and welcomed us to her home. She's no more than 5ft tall and she half jokingly informed us that she was in charge and then said "claps for me". haha it reminded me of my mom, the admiral. She said her husband was just the helper boy that sleeps in her bed. They were the most endearing people constantly telling us we were now part of the family and welcome to return and stay with them whenever we wanted. Two of her grandkids also came by and performed for us. It really is part of their culture to dance, sing and play instruments together all the time!! Desert was served by a couple. The husband is a cook islander and his wife is a kiwi. He's 3 generations from William Masters, a man with a super unique story. It went something like this. He had a child with one lady, then married her sister. then left England and one one island he made friends with the chief and got 3 more wives whom he had kids with. On a voyage to another island he met another lady who he promised he'd come back to. He did, but it took too long and she was already married to another man. Then he came to Rarotonga and met a woman who he stayed with for the remainder of his life. Funniest part about it is that he came with the London Missionary Society! They served a delicious desert. Guava, mango passionfruit cheesecake, fruit salad, banana bread, and meringue with passion fruit on top. It was great!! I really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time in these families houses and see how they live daily. 

In the morning, we headed off to Takitum Primary school for a visit. When we arrived, they gave us leis and hurried out to their positions. On Fridays and when there are special visitors, they do an assembly. A few kids play the drums, and the rest go out and march around this perimeter. They're so sincere and adorable in their uniforms. After their march they came in and sang songs and when it was time to pray before lunch, the principle told them to close their eyes. It was near impossible for them to not watch us. There's a funny picture i put up that shows the little girls and boys really struggling to not watch all of us sitting in front of them. They served us a delicious lunch, and then we played with the kids for a little over 2  hours. It was a blast! we played soccer for a while, and then I sat down with several little girls playing ring around the rosy. After a few minutes, we went for a water break. I sat down on the mat with them and they went to work on me. They braided my hair, sprayed "perfume"on me, and wanted to do my makeup! Thankfully I talked my way out of the last one. Lord knows i needed some perfume though. It was another scorching hot and humid day. After several hours of games, we loaded back on the buses and headed to the CICC (Cook Islands Christian Church). This is the new name for the CI London Missionary Society. We went to their theological school. The timing on this one was a little poor. We were all exhausted from the school that staying awake during his talk was near impossible. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before we headed out to Parliament. When went into the room where Parliament meets and actually sat in their chairs. Most exciting was the fact that the building was air conditioned!!! SO exciting. A sort of jack of all trades for the Legislative branch of the government gave us a quick history of the country and current problems and concerns. It was quite interesting. They had a huge recession in the early 90s that was followed by a controversial election where tons of money was spent to bring voters from NZ which ended up invalidating the results which were then simply given to the opposition for all offices. He told us about a lot of their current issues. Land ownership is probably the cause of the most drama which was technically supposed to be handled by the House of Sek (which is the native leaders), but it's too complicated considering some plots of land may be entitled to up to 30 people. China is a significant concern also as well as the trillions of dollars of resources in their waters. I really liked the simplicity of the place. A small room where all the legislation is passed through. Their budget is something around 110 million for a population of 15,000 heavily relying on tourism. Speaking of, on the south side of the island, theres an unfinished hotel that stands near the end of the cross island walk. It looks like a scene from a movie. It's all over grown and looks like they just up and left in a hurry. The Rarotonga Sheraton got pretty close to completion in the early 1990s, but dodgy behind-the-scenes dealings; including the embezzlment of large amounts of money, Italian mafia connections, and attempting to build on “cursed” land meant this hotel has been a lost resort for nearly 20 years. So the concrete structure just stands there empty. 

After parliament, we headed to Aro'as Bar and accommodation. It was such a cool bar area on another beautiful beach with a sunset brewing when we arrived. We all got delicious cocktails served from mason jars and sat out watching the colors paint the sky. They also served us dinner which was AWESOME. the best part of the meal was desert. They made guava cake that was phenomenal!! SOOO yummy. When we got back to the hotel, I was dead tired. I crashed in no time. At about 5:30am, i was fast asleep when a crab or spider or cockroach (still unsure) climbed on my arm. YIKES! Thankfully, Jackie had just gotten up to go to the bathroom, so in my scrambled attempt to shine my phone light on on the object I could not see without my glasses, she saved the day and smashed the creature. then for the next 10 minutes I had a serious case of the creepy crawlers. And sure enough, within 15 minutes, another creature was on my leg. I slapped it away and then begrudgingly wrapped the sheet around me so I could fall back asleep. yuck. 

The next morning we had breakfast and then headed over for a lecture from Nan at the Whale Research center. She gave an great presentation about all her research on the humpbacks that use Rarotonga as a corridor. She does a lot of work to prevent whaling and is currently studying migration technoques etc.. After the whale center we went to pick up our bikes for the rest of the afternoon. It started raining just as we got there. Regardless we all rode down to black rock beach anyways and went for a swim. It was GORGEOUS. The water was super warm and crystal clear. after an hour or so, it was time for volunteering at the only vet clinic in the Cook Islands whose director came to Rarotonga simply as a handy man with no training. His girlfriend is a vet and they're supported mainly by volunteers that cycle in, some for 1 week up to a few months from all over the world. Generally its just as long as they can take time away from an income. We cleaned the animals cages and then fed them. There were some adorable kittens, newborn puppies, and a small dog with tetanus. Apparently, he will be fine, but he looked like stuffed animal with his paws stuck out like that. I also got to see a dog get spayed. It was pretty interesting. haha After Animal shelter it was time to dry off and then head to the cultural show. Erin and I ate BBQ Kebabs there sitting in rice with coconut milk mushroom sauce. SO delicious especially considering we followed it with a giant slice of banana cake. The cultural show was performances by all the local schools on Rarotonga. IT was really good! The first few were just plain cute because these itty bitty kids were dressed in coconuts and little skirts shaking their hips best as they could. It progressively got more impressive through out the show, but let me clarify that we were there from 6:30-10:30. They haven't quite got the "on time" and "keep things moving" theme from showbiz in the states. We finished the night with ice cream sundays and attempted to go out for a drink in town, but didn't get there until 12 which is when everything closes. So instead we came back to the deck and had a few drinks. It was a beautiful night. 

The last morning, we rolled out of bed extra early to make bacon, eggs, and pancakes for breakfast. Afterwards Chloe, Miranda, Erin, Jackie and I went back to Takitum School for another day of volunteering. They were once again SO welcoming and wonderful to us. We organized sports games, and helped situate their classrooms for the Easter holiday (2 weeks). I ended up using this little straw "broom" to sweep some classrooms which actually took quite a bit of time. Thankfully, the sweet kids 'helped' me out best they could. We stayed for almost 3 and a half hours before we biked back to Paradise Inn. Then we packed up again, and headed to the beach. ended up being a great few hours wading in the perfectly clear water and playing frisbee with my friends. It was a fantastic way to finish the trip. After this it was just a quick stop at the Inn to pack our bags and pay our tabs. We left Rarotonga in a 777 to Aukland. It was a 4 hour flight, and by the time we got to Aukland, it was too late to make a connection to CHCH so we rode to the hotel and went to sleep pretty quickly because it was a 5 am wake up call. After the short flight to CHCH it was LAUNDRY time. It was near impossible to get anything to dry in that humidity, so I can't say my bag smelled like roses. I'm happy to report I'm all cleaned up and ready to leave Monday on my next adventure up to the North island. I'll keep you posted!!