It's here, it's here! The long-awaited tale of the honeymoon! Okay, so maybe you haven't been anticipating it, but I have been meaning to sit down and write it for weeks, so at least I have been excited to relay to you the following thoughts: what we learned in the Cook Islands:
1. SHOES ARE ALWAYS OPTIONAL. Seriously, while driving, in restaurants, on scooters, everyone was barefoot- as a long flip flop worshipper, I was instantly enthralled.
2. IF THERE IS A MUD PUDDLE, CASEY WILL FIND IT. We spend a morning ATVing through the jungle (words cannot even describe how amazingly beautiful it was) and we came back a little sunburned and very muddy because the driver who shall not be named made it his/her special mission to plow through every mud hole on the island. Note: there is ONE paved main road on the island, hence lots of dirt roads, hence after the pouring tropical rain of the day before, LOTS of mud.
3. HONOR THY WELL-ENDOWED GODS. The first time we walk into the hotel, in the middle of the lobby, we notice something, something well odd and to our childish brains, quite funny. On either side of the big double doors are huge wooden statues that look like some sort of local legend, god...and our eyes travel from the massive size of the statue to the massive, well, ahem, ding-a-ding-ding he's a sportin'. And we saw him (who turned out to be a fertility god) everywhere, in gift shops in small form, as a decorative embellishment at the hotel, ON THE BACK OF THE $3 BILL. And every time, IT WAS HUGE. (Check out the assets in the picture).
4. HONOR THY FAMILY AND NEIGHBORS. On a more serious note but no less interesting, we learned a lot about the local Cook Island culture. There is no such thing as buying and selling land on Raro (yep, that's what locals call it, we're in the know)- every family is given a plot of land and it is always theirs. They can lease out the land for 60 years but everything is passed down generation to generation. As a result, they bury their family members on the land to keep them nearby, even in death. The cemeteries are where foreigners are buried, locals are buried on the land. They also will tell you there are no homeless people, and there doesn't seem to be, everyone takes care of their family and of each other.
5. PAW PAW (AKA PAPAYA) GIVES KATE GAS. Casey thought there was a sulfur leak in our room until I finally 'fessed up, aww the romance. Aaaaand, moving on....
6. WE ARE EITHER INSANE.... OR JUST FROM SEATTLE. On Wednesday we took this amazing mountain tour in and around the island, looking at sacred sites and getting into the mountain interior. We sat in the back of a pickup truck (no seatbelts, no helmets, no insurance waiver, some US lawyer would have had a heart attack) and climbed up a muddy narrow trail into the interior in the pouring rain- and we were loving it. When we got to the top of the summit, Casey and I were the ONLY people to climb out of the truck to enjoy the view and take pictures--the other 20 people we were with stayed inside just because it was torrentially downpouring. Bunch of pansies.
7. CROISSANTS ARE AMAZING. Apparently, I went halfway around the world to decide I love croissants. In fact, I love them so much I had one (cough, cough, "Two!" Casey says) every morning at breakfast. After about the fifth day of this, my new husband asks me as I am jamming up my little slice of buttery heaven, "You do know they have those in America don't you?"
8. IF YOU HAVE WONDERED IF JURASSIC PARK IS REAL, WONDER NO MORE. On our tour around the island, we see up ahead of us around the bend a massive hotel complex. Only, as we get a little closer, we see that there aren't any people around, and there is an old sign out front saying "Hilton Rarotongan Resort" and then underneath " Investment opportunity." There are vines overgrowing the sign, all over the buildings, over the half-completed entrance. And then we get the story. Construction was started in 1985, something went south right before they were finished with construction and the hotel has sat there for the last 20 YEARS completed vacant and unused. There have been many owners but everyone has run out of funds or the government hasn't let them finish so it has just sat there, in prime beachfront location. The locals joke about it, calling it Jurassic Park because it seriously looks just like Jurassic Park in the second movie when they come back and its all grown over. I honestly expected a T-Rex to coming pouncing out at us at any second.
9. DON'T PUT YOUR CAMERA IN YOUR BACK POCKET. Because then you sit on it and break the LCD screen on the second day of your honeymoon and don't know what you are taking pictures of the entire time. Smart.
10. RARO IS A FISH AND SNORKELING PARADISE. The entire island is surrounded by a natural reef, which means the waves break about 300 yards off the beach. You can walk out those 300 yards in about chest deep water, completely surrounded by tropical fish of all colors, shapes and sizes- absolutely amazing. The area is also home to a different type of dark oyster that produces a greenish black pearl instead of a white one, and they are everywhere for the buying- you can buy handfuls of pearls at the Saturday market.
11. THE RARO CHICKEN POPULATION MAY SOON OUTNUMBER THE HUMANS. Literally everywhere. On the road, in yards, in houses, in restaurants at your feet while you are eating. And they don't seem to belong to anyone, just a bunch of chickens making more little baby chickens all over the island. And by the way, some sort of strange strain of rooster that doesn't understand you are only supposed to crow in the MORNING.
12. NEW ZEALAND ACCENTS ARE EVEN MORE BRILLIANT ON KIDS. Little kids from Zealand, running around saying things like, "The weather has been rubbish every since we got her Mummy." Freaking adorable.
13. WE DO NOT LIKE MARAMITE. We tried, we really did, but whooo, boy that must be an acquired taste. Hand me another croissant please.
As the Aussies and Kiwis would say,
Cheers!
