where is narva now?: Rarotonga, Cook Islands

22/04/07-27/04/07

Upon applying for a study abroad program I simply knew I wanted to go to NZ. I didn't care what program, just as long as Skidmore accepted the credits. Unbeknownst to me and about every other student on the IES program, we were about to be treated to a very good semester abroad. IES took us on an amazing orientation program and even spent some extra cash to bring us to Willowbank Cultural Preserve (post is still yet to come). We were all aware of our Easter Break field trip but had no idea what we were in for. Skeptical of our busy itineraries for our 5 day stay in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, about 38 of us boarded our plane at 5 am. It was so foggy that New Zealand Air had us on the runway for 25 min before having to return back to a non-existent gate and refuel (apparently we only had enough for taxi, take-off, and landing in Rarotonga...good job boys). I've heard some nasty jokes from the Kiwis about the airlines here and our experience definitely fit the bill. We got to Auckland just in time for boarding on our 2nd flight on a big 757 decked out with individual in-flight entertainment and complimentary alcoholic beverages (per usual). I watch Borat and disturbed probably half the plane with my outbursts of laughter while i sipped my mimosa at a lovely 7:30 in the morning. The minute we stepped off the plane I realized why I only brought one pair of pants and thankfully two pairs of shorts; this country was hot, humid, and gorgeous.

Every morning we had an hour or so lecture around 10 am at the University of the South Pacific followed by refreshments. Then usually onto another activity followed by lunch at which point we were dropped off at one of many beautiful beaches and were given free time until about dinner. Every night we had dinner at a new restaurant (fish every meal for me and Dante). The rest of the evening was up to the discretion and energy levels of each individual. I found myself out every evening with some of the IES kids at some of the bars in town (Whatever! Bar and Banana Court mainly) where we socialized with the locals and other foreign tourists.

Overall this was probably one of the coolest things I've done in my study abroad experience. I've never been to a tropical environment or island and never understood why people waste their time sitting at beaches all day (they used to bore me). I was accustomed to finding the coldest-tallest mountains to climb during my vacations. Now I finally understand. This island was amazing. The people were incredibly friendly. We learned so much about the Cook Island and Polynesian culture: they taught us out to weave baskets, tie dye, cook Umu (their Maori equivalent of hangi), and even dance and perform a ritual welcoming haka. By the end of our trip we had locals wishing us off at the airport saying goodbye (and even Dante O'leo/Pedro came, see below, haha). We may have been a bunch of abnoxious American college tourists at first but I think we all left with a good understanding of one of the oldest cultures in the Pacific and were more than welcomed by the people of Rarotonga.

Sunday:

getting off our 757 (i love walking down stairs out of planes, lots of that in nz and such). the airport is inherently bound into the economy and survival of Rarotonga.

welcome to the Cook Islands!!!

apparently this guy is here all day long as flights go in and out. he was even there at 1:30 am when we were leaving, seriously.

our home for the next 5 days: the Aquarius hotel and hostel.

our view outside the back of the hotel...wawaweewa. this is where we spend a lot of evening time.

Monday:

this is Parliament...i think it used to be a Motel 6 before.

this is the exquisit plateware Parliament uses to entertain its most esteemed guests: us apparently.

this is inside the actual Parliament where all the governement and commerce dealings occur for all of the Cook Islands. it is quite an impressive government and the first one to grant woman's suffrage in the world i believe. this was one of the highlights of the educational activities for me, possibly because i was sitting in the prime minister's chair.

then we went on a short walk through the Takitumu Conservation Area. its a beautiful rainforest. there is even a hike that goes directly through it from one side of the island to the other. a handful of kids did it, took a while and ended up almost getting lost and extremely muddy.

this tree was wicked cool. it just keeps growing in all directions, and its only a couple of years old.

a view from the top of one of the lookouts. that would be the Pacific.

it then preceeded to rain (normal mid-day showers as the westerlies condense on the mountains and cool off half the island with about 20 mins of insane rain).

a nice orange orchard on the way back to the vans. their oranges are green; most of their fruits are funny colors.

Dante and I decided to rent bikes instead of hiking through the wet rainforest. we picked up these awesome recreational bikes with baskets and sped off through town. our plan was to circumnavigate the island (takes only 2 hours on a bike & 35 min in a car). but quickly our ADHD kicked in and we decided to ride up a winding road and get some elevation. here is what we saw.

the paved road led to the hospital and then a dirt road led another 100m or so up which of course we decided to take our gnarly bikes up. yah we had to walk up part of the way. here is Dante, proud of himself for finally riding a bike with a basket so he can put his flowers and teddy bear in. just behind him over the edge of the hill is the valley where their city dump is located, well hidden from any tourists.

beautiful hills...

panning down into the ocean.

some of the local homes...

some are nicer than others.

they pretty cool to look at and see the backroads where normally you wouldn't go unless you lived here.

this one was kind of in a swamp.

narva on a bike!

oooooo coconut palms.

pic of dante taking a pic of me while riding bikes.

pigs!!!

bananas!!!

goats!!!

beautiful beaches!!!

we found a nice empty beach right by the...

...airport!!!

so pretty. no one around except for homes in the trees which emmitted the smell of bbq.

speechless: seems to be the word of this entire trip.

a view at the water level.

hey yah Dante, why don't you just poke that cute sea urchin.

Tuesday:

this is the Ministry of Culture. we were given a traditional welcome where we apparently were 'brought in as turtles and left the building as humans'. go figure. this is also the national auditorium where events such as the dancing championships are held (we ended up there the last night to see the competition).

we learned how to tie dye from all these kids who were clearly more talented than us. everyone made really cool designs, the colors were brilliant...until they ran out of half of them, haha.

this reminded me of Mitre Peak in Milford Sound.

i like these coconut palms.

kids playing.

property along the beach. apparently you can only own land if you can trace your geneology to someone in the Cook Islands that also owned land. the government owns all of it. you can lease it for 30 or 60 years, then give it back.

Suzy climbing at 'Fruits of Raro' one of the big tourist beaches.

we spent hours at Fruits of Raro snorkeling and swimming in the water. i've never been snorkeling anywhere else besides Lake Armington in NH, and let me tell you, it's not cutting it anymore. i snorkeled for about an hour getting pretty far out to the break following schools of huge blue fish and diving down to about 8-10 ft to look at what can only be described as: 'Finding Nemo.' it was another one of the highlights of the trip for me. we also played with some of the local kids. they would just come up to us and play in the water. Dante and i taught them our new game which we are pretty sure will become a national sport by the time we return to the Cook Islands: throw a coconut in the water, and try to hit it with rocks as it floats away. this kids ate it up, haha.

Wednesday:

after our lecture on Polynesian canoe expeditions (which there have been many) we were dropped off at Muri Beach for the rest of the day where we were taught how to...

paddle outrigger-canoes. they're the narrow ones which hold about 6-8 people and have an external piece of wood which is attached parallel to the canoe on one side to give it stability.

we all took turns as we were instructed by the locals as we paddled out to the far end of the lagoon and then raced back. it was so much fun. when i jumped out of my canoe, a young gentleman approached me an introduced himself as Jon's brother (my roommate from Raro). Jon asked me to bring his XBox to Nz, so of course i told his brother to bring it over to the Aquarius later in the evening. he did and now i have a very happy flatmate.

looking into the lagoon. Dante and I rented kayaks and paddled all the way out to the break and rode the waves all the way into one of the small islands before coming back to shore.

a happy narva. check out how clear the water is!

check out how awesome i look! haha, thanks Dante!

relaxing on the hammock with a $3 'lion red' while...

watching the sunset.

(i have more sunset pictures, inquire within).

the three stooges: me, toli, & dante. we are cute.

and tim, the stud.

Thursday:

this is the hammocks behind the Aquarius. i finally had some time in daylight to take some pics. these hammocks were always fully of IES students at the end of the day before dinner, just relaxing or taking a nap.

some beaches aren't quite as nice to walk in, very rocky. there isn't really sand either, just lots of broken-rounded pieces of coral, or calcium carbonate for all you science geeks out there.

looking to the west from the Aquarius.

looking through the hotel.

this picture shows several things: a) how awesome the Aquarius is, b) how close we are to the airport (the Air New Zealand Hanger is in the background across the street), and c) one of the 3 major holding areas for tanks of petrol on the island (there is another on the other side of the Aquarius and another just down the road)...don't light a cigarette near too close...

Charlie taking pictures as well. these lounge chairs were filled with IES students as well, especially at night when at any evening there were 10 students sleeping the night outside.

shotgun!!! Toli and i on the way to the uni for another lecture.

looking down the road of what is town, kinda. there actually is a nice downtown wich shops and markets.

a small marina with 4 big boats which appear to be permanantly docked.

we walked along this road many times into town durn the day and night. and i would pay to do it again.

back to the Ministry of Culture for some dancing lessons.

this island is so small (about 6,000 people total) that i saw license plates 1, 2, 10, and 11. some people said they saw many of the same plates as well. the most recent census in 2004 said that there are approximately 100,000 Cook Islanders in the world. the politian at parliament told us that number is most likely grossly exaggerated. only about 11,000 Cook Islanders actually live on the islands, the rest live in nz and oz where the British government made a deal that Cook Islanders can be nz citizens, but kiwis are not Cook Islanders. interesting, eh?

this is a hostel. its like an old auditorium and the stage has lots of mattresses where you sleep. cost: $11 a night and what looked like a compliamentary continental breakfast.

cool statue.

i heard that our Polynesian canoe expedition lecturer carved one of these. he was pretty awesome. he helps to organize some of the traditional sailings of double-hull canoe replicas which he helps build which go all over the pacific. it took him 4 years to plan and carry out a sailing of 2 of these canoes plus dozens of smaller canoes to sail off the coast of Gisborne, NZ to see the first sunrise of the new millenium as it shined on the first city in the world to catch the rays of every new day. impressive, i think so. he had the newspaper article to prove it.

the locals showed us how fast you can husk a coconut the tradional way.

and then they let us try and race each other. i only made it halfway through mine before someone else won. but later i worked at it until i had the naked fruit. then i had someone show me how to properly break it open, and then i drank the milk of a ridiculously fresh coconut.

nick and jason duking it out. it took the locals about 7 seconds. us, about 2 mins each. afterwards one of the locals showed us how to do it with his teeth. it took him about 7 seconds as well...

the local library across from the...

University of the South Pacific. not many students graduate here on a yearly basis, about no more than 10. they take a lot of classes via satellite which is cool. most students go to nz to study because as mentioned before, they have a deal with the government that they are technically kiwis and can just pay domestic fees if they are not on scholoarship. my flatmate jon is on scholarship.