“Oh my God, Oh my God,
Oh my God”, I kept repeating as we arrived to Rarotonga, the main
island of the Cook Islands at 7 in the morning on the 7th
of December. This green, lush island is utterly amazing with all its
flowers, palm trees and semi small mountains that look like something
from the film “crouching tiger, hidden dragon”.
When we arrived to the
little beach hut that we decided to treat ourselves to for a few
nights before going back to more simple backpack standards, we could
not believe the beauty of the place (and its contrast to Buenos
Aires.) Our beach house is located not by the beach, but ON the beach
and 5 meters from the water line when the tide is high. The crystal
clear water did not even cool our bodies as we stepped it, it was so
warm. We had to get further out to catch the cooler currents. The
lagoon that shelterers the island from the deeper rougher sea is
about 250 meters wide and out by the reef we can see the waves break
from the terrace of our beach hut.
The island Rarotonga is
very small. On our fist day we rented a scooter and by now Roy drives
around the island with me at the back just like any other local (or
tourist). Just like the rest of them we are allowed to drive without
helmets as long as we keep to 40 km/h (that would never happen in
Sweden or England, that is for sure). It takes under one hour to
drive around the island, it is about 32 km in circumference, and we
live just by the Half Way sign. It takes us about 20 minutes to drive
into the “city” Avarua, a tiny little centre of shops, banks,
restaurants etc. We only just got into town and then it was over. The
airport is in the middle of the town, but since there are only one
flight in and one flight out per day, there is no noise to bother
anyone really. It is hard to believe the size of this place. There is
one road around the island and two buses, one named “clockwise”
and the other named “anticlockwise”.
In our house we have seen
some small lizards that scared me a little at first, but then I read
in a magazine that there are no poisonous animals at all on this
island, and that made me interested in trekking up one of the
volcanic mountains that are covered with jungle some day. Maybe next
week.
Roy borrowed some
snorkelling gear and just came back after an, apparently, breath
taking experience in the lagoon. He said he saw some amazingly
colourful fish. He was like an exited boy and could not stop talking
about how great it was. Maybe I should tryit some time...
The food we have had here
so far has been soooo good! (But expensive.) They serve a lot of
fresh fish and some of the ingredients that make us both wonderfully
happy are coconut milk, chillies, lime, salsa made of papaya, a lot
of fresh vegetables and nuts. It is great! Compared to the Argentine
food experience, we are in heaven.
Tomorrow our luxurious
time in our self contained, private beach hut is over and we are
moving to a hostel and a cheaper double room with shared bathroom and
kitchen. But we are quite happy about the change. The hostel is
located by a more busy part of the lagoon where we can hire surfing
boards, canoes etc, and the hostel has more guests which means we
will be able to be social with other tourists.
Love
ania
