Rarotonga

Mid-semester break sneaked up on us so fast!  I cannot believe I am already halfway through my study abroad experience!  I have just returned from our IES field trip to Rarotonga.

Rarotonga ... the best way to define this trip in one word is: paradise.  Rarotonga is the capital island of the Cook Islands.  It is a volcano surrounded by a lagoon which extends several hundred yards to a reef and then slopes steeply to deep water.  "Raro" means "down" and "tonga" means "south."

 Rarotonga

Vara's Acoomodation

Flying over New Zealand mountains

We left early Saturday, August 21 and arrived Friday afternoon, August 20.  Crazy right??  We crossed the international date line and jumped back a day.  This was the first time in my life I said on the plane, "Hey look guys ... it's almost yesterday!"  When we arrived it was incredibly warm, we had dinner, and went to our accommodation called "Vara's."  We lived in two nice apartments overlooking Muri Beach.  On our balcony we watched the most incredible lightening storm ever!  A man who had lived there most of his life told us we will probably only see this once in our life times because it only happens rarely and on islands in the South Pacific.  He had never even seen it before!  The stars twinkled so brightly above us and the epic clouds loomed above the sea.  I swear Mufasa was about to emerge from them!  The sky in front of us lit up and bolts shot from the clouds.  However it was very silent, there was no thunder.  Lindsay thoughtfully said, "sometimes silence sounds like thunder."  We sat there for hours watching it in awe and a few of us walked down to the shore and continued to watch it silently contemplating how awesome our lives are under the intense spotlight of the moon. 

Drinking coconut milk at the taro farm

Saturday, August 21:  The next day was so beautiful and HOT like everyday would be.  We went to a marketplace filled with food, clothes, and jewelry including Rarotongan black pearls.  I got a pretty green tunic, a shell/black pearl necklace, and pumpkin hummus.  We then went to a house to spray paint sarongs and play rugby with the kids.  They all turned out really pretty!  Then we walked to the taro plantation where we learned about and planted taros and had a coconut husking competition.  The natives could husk coconuts with their teeth!  It was so crazy!  We also made plates and hair pieces made out of fern leaves.  The girls learned a Tahitian dance and the boys learned a Tahitian haka!  At dinner, we ate off our leave plates ads we were entertained by Tahitian music and dance.  When then  performed our dances we learned that day and had a dance competition - Mike and Jess won!  After dinner we walked to the beach where Cathy and I made grass skirts out of leaves we found and we all relaxed by the water.

Looking pretty with our homemade sarongs, grass skirts, and grass plates

Sunday, August 22:  Today we attended a Christian church service - Rarotonga style.  They talked mostly in Cook Island Maori.  It was a cool cultural experience.  Then we went snorkeling in the lagoon!!  The reef is beautiful!  There were so many fish because nobody is allowed to eat them here due to a poisonous algae they eat.  This was one of the nicest places I have ever snorkeled!  We had a delicious buffet dinner that night on the beach.

Monday, August 23:  We had an 8 am lecture today.  It was tough waking up for it but it was a really interesting talk about whales.  The woman lived an amazing life - she raised her kids on a yot and traveled the world studying whales.  When we look out past the reef in Rarotonga we almost always see a whale, or two, or three pop out of the water.  It is so cool!!  We then had a lecture about the politics and history of Rarotonga.

Amazing kids :)

Rocking my sunglasses

Then the funnest part of the trip happened - we went to a school and played with the kids!  Steph and I got to play with the 2-4 year olds.  I LOVE THEM!  We played with blocks, read books, and ran around on the playground with them.  I turned three years old again and got lost in the moment, completely disconnected from real life.  I spent hours running around away from "monsters" and "tigers" and being monkeys swinging across the jungle.  I never wanted to leave!
After I snapped back to real adult life, we had a lecture on sea voyaging.  Then we swam out to and explored a voyager boat.  Dinner was so much fun!  We took a bus to three different homes where we had three different courses.  They were all home cooked and every ingredient was from their garden/farm.  It was incredibly delicious.

Koru

Tuesday, August 24:  I completed the most intense hike of my life!!!!!  The cross-island "walk" was really a strenuous trek.  We scrambled through tropical rainforest, across streams, and up tree root and the way to the top of the island, 413 meters, to the needle called Te Rua Manga.

Te Rua Manga

It was a perfect day and we could see amazing views of the whole island.  We were the first IES group ever to scale the side of the rock.  We had to use chains and ropes and there was a sheer drop two feet away!  It was so dangerous but I felt so legit.  The climb down was just as intense and we all jumped in a Papua Waterfall at the end.

View from the top

The rest of the day we had free time so we all ended up at the shore where we walked/swam out to a little island in the lagoon.  We also visited the Matutu Brewery - a small family run brewery with beer you can only get in Rarotonga!  We had another great dinner on the beach.  I love our group we are getting so close!

Wednesday, August 25:  Today we had more lectures about Rarotongan economy and health.  Then Steph, Courtney, Cathy, Andrew, and I rented electric bikes.  We rode into town and explored.  I got some sweet Rarontongan money - they use New Zealand currency but they do have few native coins.  The bus system is funny.  Since there is only one road that makes one big circle around the island, there is one bus that says "clockwise" and one bus that says "anticlockwise."  When we returned, the whole group went out-rigger canoeing.  We took out two boats and raced.  My group - Ryan, Courtney, Cathy, Jess, Mike, and I - won!!  We then rushed off to another amazing restaurant on the water.  It was a really nice last meal.  We had to leave at midnight to catch our 2 am flight.  I can't believe how fast the time flew!  If it weren't for IES, I may have never come here or even heard of this amazing little island.  What is great is it feels like I am returning home from a vacation, but really I am returning to New Zealand (now my second home) where more amazing adventures await!