Anyway, my two week break began with a plane ride to the Cook Islands at about 4 am on Friday morning.
Needless to say, I didn't sleep. I think we all know that if I slept I would not have woken up for the plane ride. So of course, I got on the plane and watched the sunrise then immediately fell asleep. Landing in Rarotonga was amazing. We (meaning my IES group) stepped off the plane to warm weather! I cannot describe how good warm weather felt after 2 months of winter in ChristChurch. There was also all this island music playing. All in all, perfect way to start the trip.
We were then brought to our accommodation (Vara's -- which was pretty sweet, by the way)
and then we went to get some dinner. On the way there we saw another rainbow. I swear, I have seen more rainbows here in the past two months than I have seen in the past 20 years of my life combined. I feel like there is always a rainbow around -- I love it. At dinner, I ate the best burger I've ever tasted. Seriously. But by the end of it I felt like I couldn't walk because I was so full. Worth it.We all got back to the place we were staying and there was a lightning show happening outside.
So we all sat outside on the girl's porch and watched the most spectacular lightning in the sky. It was crazy because there was no rain or thunder. Just awesome lightning that lit up the entire sky. It was also really cool because all of us in the group were squished outside on this porch and, for the majority of the time, nobody was saying anything (except the occasional "wow! that one was crazy!"). It was completely mind-blowing. I think our silence was telling of that. So so cool.Later that night Lindsay, Courtney, Cathy, Shona, and I decided to check out the town. This resulted in us ending up sitting on the beach for a while just staring at the clouds and the lightning and talking about life. This was up there on my favorite moments of the trip. Once again, we were all content to be right where we were doing exactly what we were doing. As we were walking back, we passed a bar that was playing PokerFace very loudly and, I have to say, this was the perfect end to my night. Thank you Lady GaGa.
The next day (Saturday) we were woken up by the sun and the roosters. After breakfast, we headed to the market in town.
It was fun to just walk around and see what the people of the Cook Islands were like. I ended up getting a pair of sunglasses and a koru necklace. After that, Cathy and I went to find the ATM so we could get some cash out before getting lunch. Good thing the ATM was messing up big time and it took a million years to get my cash out. I ended up having to get kabob on the run before meeting the group to head to our next location.
The next place we went was pretty cool. We all got to paint our own sarongs and play some football/rugby/500 with the kids. I must say, I almost forgot how much I miss my nieces and nephews. Part of me can't wait to get home and roughhouse with them. Man, those kids are the cutest.
After a while of this, we walked to this field and got our hands and clothes dirty by Taro planting. In the middle of this field, they then began to do a coconut demonstration.
These people climbed a coconut tree in like 2 seconds. It was so crazy. Some of the people in our group attempted to climb these trees and couldn't get past halfway there -- if that. Then they had a competition to see who could open the coconut the quickest. They did it so quickly. Then it was our turn. Let me just say, I failed. Actually, to be honest, I probably could've won just because this guy was helping me and he was awesome. But I still somehow failed.
After this was arts and crafts time. As we all know, arts and crafts aren't exactly my forte. So, naturally, this was when Lindsay and I discovered that we fail at this trip. We were told to make our own baskets which we were going to eat out of that night.
Let's just say, I had one of the girls there do the entire thing for me because when I would try, the whole thing would come apart. Then we were told to make these head coverings out of leaves for our hair. I actually did this one myself, but it was quite a struggle. Then we were taught a dance which we were told we were going to perform that evening. It was some island dance, not sure what it was called. I would say it was similar to the hula but Jessica is from Hawaii and used to do hula competitions and says that it's not. Personally, I can't tell the difference.
Either way, after we learned this dance we went back to Vara's
and had some time to get ready and then went back to go to dinner. Everyone was told to wear the sarongs that we had made earlier that day and to bring their baskets because that is what we would be eating out of. We got to the place and sat down and ate a delicious meal and drank straight coconut milk straight from the coconut. There was this island-style band that was playing for us the whole time.
Then began the show. These kids came out and did these awesome island dances. Seriously, they were legit. At one point there was this little kid with dreads doing the dances -- cutest child in the world. (shout out KEEZ GORILLA - I know you'd appreciate the dreads).
After they finished, it was our turn to perform. Um... fail. After these kids, anything would be a let-down. But it was so much fun. Then they decided that it was a good idea to make the dance a competition. This is when Lindsay and I had our instincts that we suck at this trip affirmed. Because she was the first one out and I was the second. Soon after the competition began, the man came over and tapped me on the shoulder and said "you're gonna have to sit down". I was super disappointed -- how did he not see what a naturally talented dancer I am? I realized that this type dancing just must not be my element. Perhaps he should come and visit me one weekend at the row. There would be no tapping on the shoulder then, I'm sure. Okay, let's be real, yes there would be. Anyway, after our tiring day, when we got back the whole group decided to spend some time sitting on the beach and just chilling out. Definitely much needed down time.
We woke up on Sunday and got dressed in our Sunday best and headed to church. Most of the service was in Maori (the Cook Island language) so I didn't understand most of what was happening. The songs were pretty cool though because they were traditional Maori songs. All in all, more of a cultural experience than anything.
There was; however, the most adorable little girl who kept coming over and staring at Max, Tom, and I. I'm fairly certain she had a crush on Max and really didn't like Tom.
After the church service, they served us some delicious food which a couple of us brought down to the beach to eat. Let me tell you, this place was absolutely beautiful. And the water was perfectly clear. After that, we headed back to Vara's and I fell asleep in an awkward position on one of the chairs. When I woke up, I found out that everyone was napping also. Clearly we were all exhausted.
We then were brought to some place to go snorkeling! I was so excited since I had never really been before. Everyone seemed to think this was the weirdest thing because they had all been snorkeling a million times. Apparently I don't go on cool trips enough. (Parents, we should start working on that.) Anyway, it was SO COOL. I didn't think I would be that interested in it since I'm not exactly Miss I-Care-About-Fish/Animals/Any of that type stuff. But it was seriously awesome. I had this really colorful fish that I chased for a while. After we got out we got hot chocolate/coffee and laid in the sun. It was excellent.
We were brought back to Vara's to get ready for dinner. Some of the guys decided to swim in the pool.
I opted to sit and watch them belly-flop and cannonball in as I ranked them on their form. Then it was time for dinner. The place we were at was right on the beach and we got there just as the sun was setting. It was beautiful. The food was buffet style and wow, it was delicious. Once we got back to Vara's we all just sat around and talked, swapped some ghost stories (Brooke, I told the one about the midget clown), and then went to sleep.On Monday, we woke up early and were forced to attend a lecture. It ended up being less miserable than expected but only because the lady talking was super interesting. And then one of my favorite parts of the trip happened. We visited a school and got to play with the kids.
Um.. hello favorite thing to do. Shona and I immediately volunteered for the preschool age. I am so glad that we did. At first, we were just playing and stuff. And then they brought us outside and wow, I forgot how much energy kids have. They were dragging me by the hand all over the place. After an hour, we were told we had to leave. It was so sad. I literally could have stayed there all day. Clearly, I am a child at heart.
After that we were forced to go to another lecture. This one was more miserable than expected. Mainly because I was so hungry I thought I was going to pass out, which we all know actually could have happened.
Thankfully, I was staying hydrated and had taken my medication that morning... so there was no real need to worry! But maybe if I had passed out the lecture could have ended earlier.Needless to say, when I finally got our Indian food, I scarfed it down. The Indian place that we ate at was right across from the beach so we all went and saw heaps of whales in the water. Yep, whale watching for free. I didn't think I'd be that impressed by the whales, but it was actually really really cool to see.
After that, we had another lecture on boating which would have been lame if we didn't get to actually go and hang out on a boat for a while afterwards.
We waded over to the boat in the warmest water and that sat there and hung out on it. I definitely enjoyed it. As soon as that was over, we quickly left and had 15 minutes to get ready for our progressive dinner. Somehow, we all got ready in time (Max even wore his red pants) and headed to 3 different houses where we had three different courses for dinner. At the first house there was this little boy who loved me. He kept coming up to me and hugging me. I was so excited, until I realized that he did that to everyone. Breaking my heart... Anyway, all three locations were absolutely great, the hosts were wonderful, the food was great, and there was constantly island-type music playing. No complaints here.
Tuesday began with a nice breakfast and then our cross island "walk".
This "walk" was less of a walk and more of an uphill climb up a mountain. It was definitely difficult, but the views at the end made it so worth it. And honestly, the uphill stuff was much better than the downhill, which made me slip and fall quite a few times. But the best part of the whole thing was jumping into a freezing cold waterfall at the end. I'm pretty sure I was the first one in. I'm pretty sure nothing has felt as good as that waterfall pool felt.
After this we had some free time so Shona, Cathy, Courtney, and I got lunch at this cute little cafe where I had a delicious banana chocolate chip muffin.
And then we met up with everyone else and we all spent the day hanging out on the beach and in the ocean and wading to the other islands. The water there is so incredibly calm. You could literally see the waves crash in the distance. It was the craziest thing. The day was basically filled with us just making the most of the absolute paradise that we were in. Then it was dinner time so we headed to this Hawaiian style place that was also right on the beach. Once again, another delicious meal filled with hilarious conversations. Couldn't ask for a better day.
Our final day was Wednesday and it began with two lectures. The first would have been incredibly boring but the lecturer was quite attractive so I'm pretty sure he held all of the girl's attention.
The second one went quickly, but I have to say, it was so good to get out of there and just have some free time. In our free time Shona, Cathy, Courtney, Andrew, and I rented this motorized bikes and spent the day in town. It was super fun and all, but my favorite part was getting back and taking a nap on the beach. So peaceful.
Once I woke up from that we began our outrigger paddling races. My team won the first two times but the third time, after we switched boats, we lost pretty badly. Max decided to explain our loss with, "Well we had Steph on our team." Um... excuse me?! To quote my Full House character's famed expression, "How Rude!" Let's be real, I dominated at this outrigger paddling thing. I was, by far, the loudest on the team and; therefore, kept the tempo for the paddling. But then again, me and Lindsay were both on this team and, as mentioned before, we sucked at this trip.
That has to be the explanation. In the end, we realized that the boat that we lost with had much more water in it. So no one is to be blamed for this loss.
We then went back to Vara's and got ready for our final dinner. The place we went to was absolutely beautiful. It was right around sunset so we all hung out on the beach in hammocks and just enjoyed it. Dinner was also delicious. And hilarious. For so many reasons. Our half of the table was quite ridiculous, to say the least. It got less hilarious when Tom realized that he ate some pine nuts, which he happens to be deathly allergic to and had to rush back to Vara's in order to use his EpiPen. No need to worry, he was okay in the end. And after spending some time at the hospital, he ran into our room shouting, "Who wants drugs?!"
After dinner, we had like an hour to pack our bags before we headed to the airport. That's right my friends, another night without any sleep. On the way the airport Max realized that he didn't know where his passport was. So he almost didn't make it on the plane. We were literally boarding as he walked through security. What a ridiculous final night. In so many ways. Either way, we all made it back safely. Courtney, Cathy, and I stopped off in Auckland and began our North Island adventure (that post will be up soon).
I realize that this is a really long post but what can I say? The whole week was amazing, I couldn't leave out too many details. Just another day in paradise. Couldn't help but love this place.
No comments:
Post a Comment