Rarotonga-Aitutaki-Palmerston-Samoa-Savai-Nauitoputapu (sp?)-Tonga-Fiji
We found a great rope swing on Rarotonga during our fantastic day of hitchhiking. Congratulations Tav on some excellent form.
The bug ordeal went ridiculously well, and we have been relatively bite-free ever since. We're still doing a massive bombing though this break to get rid of everything and anything that could still be creeping somewhere deep down in the bunks.
Aitutaki was beautiful; a tiny little island a little ways off of Rarotonga.
An Aitutaki beach
Classic...hitching and smoothies
One of the tiny little crabs that were everywhere along the beach
Our days there were spend wandering the long white beaches (and collecting quite a diverse assortment of flip flops and other beach goodies), sitting at Kuku's (a tiny little cafe run by one woman, great smoothies and ice slushies), hitching, and playing massive games of soccer with the local kids near the dock.
From there we set out for Palmerston (note: we're still totally loaded down with things to bring them from Rarotonga...). Palmerston was by far the highlight of this trip, if not offshore thus far. The islanders were amazing, and completely welcomed us into their homes. Half the boat went ashore at a time (we had a great time staying on the boat as well; snorkeling, sharks, turtles, random wreck pieces, crepes...), and upon arrival on the beach we were just split up into houses and took off. I stayed with an old woman named Mary who was absolutely hilarious, we had a great time. They went over the top to make us comfortable, and welcomed us in every possible way.
My posse: (L->R) Randi, Serena, Rain, Nauma
Julia and I
Serena called me 'Daddio' the entire time after hearing Dado...I really like this girl.
My days were spent mostly wandering the (very small) island with two or three of the younger girls (Randi, Rain, Serena), just sitting and chatting with them, sea slug fights, and lots of volleyball (they actually aranged the match with us ahead of time). They absolutely schooled us in volleyball, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. They also taught us all to dance (yes, laugh...its funny). They taught the guys and girls separate dances, and at the feast (oh yeah, they had a feast for the whole boat on the last day) we had to perform for them. They were very thorough actually, we had three dance practices in two days! Very funny to watch the guys trying to move their knees, and all of us girls being reprimanded for not moving our hips enough! In the end we pulled off if not an excellent performance, at least an entertaining one.
Us girls shaking our hips to "...if you throw a solver dollar..." (L->R: Robyn, random European woman, me, Katie)
The boys in all their knee-shaking glory (Tav, Sam, Caelan)
The feast was amazing; they made us all garlands of flowers, gave us sarongs to wear, and had tons of different dishes of fish/taro/potatoes/bread..all delicious. Without a doubt though, the best part was hanging out with the kids, they were awesome. Totally just like Kenya, just chatting away, not shy at all, and totally hilarious. We were all sad to leave, and I know that a lot of us will be keeping in touch with multiple people.
Then came Apia in Samoa, a sleep little town which provided quite a lot of fun.
A few of the always colourful Samoan buses
During the day there were great little cafes, an awesome park, and a huge market right bythe water complete with an eating area. (Tav and I made the mistake of trying the bright yellow 'juice' to see what fruit it was made out of...turns out its milk mixed with watery juice...nasty.) We also made our way up to 'sliding rocks' and had a ball doing jusy that; sliding down these rock slides into the pools below.
Yup, thats Paul
At night, we danced. Although slightly violating in some of the seedier places, it was hilariously fun and we have since committed ourselves to find dancing places wherever we can.
Savai was another Samoan island that we visited, but since we were only there for the afternoon, I took the time to catch up on some much needed sleep on the boat...and to perfect the oh so lovely swan dive off the rope swing!
Niuatoputapu was another tiny island (Tongan) that we spent only a small amount of time at. We walked out to these fresh water springs for a bit in the afternoon (so very nice to swim in fresh water), picked more mangoes that we knew what to do with (this lovely woman gave us free reign of her massive tree!), and wandered back along the road home. This little girl and her brother came up to us along the way, grabbed Tav and my hands, and just stood there with us for a while. They were amazingly cute kids. Their mom came out later and loaded us up with coconuts and bananas. Its unbelievable how generous everyone we have met is, it most certainly puts us to shame back in Canada.
At the springs
When we arrived back at the docks (a supply ship had just arrived so most people were there) there was a group of men sitting drinking kava (kind of a narcotic drink made from the kava root...) and a few of our guys had joined. Traditionally only the men drink Kava and the women serve. Apparently though, since I wasnt from there it was alright if I partook so myself, Tav, Chase, Chris, Scott, and Paul all sat and drank kava for a while with these guys.
Our evening Kava ceremony
It definitely tasted a lot like dirt, and none of us really felt anything at all. It was neat to be part of how its done traditionally in all the little towns and villages, and since I was the only girl, they got me to serve as well which was neat.
Tonga it rained...but it was still sweet. Bec and I wandered around the first day and met some ladies who made mother of pearl jewlery and chatted with them for a bit. Found a great little internet cafe (though kind of expensive...) and coffee shop, and ended up waiting out a lot of the rain there. Other highlights include possibly the best night of dancing to date, Tristan being hit in the chest with a mango, and spending time at the local 'Yacht Club.'
And now we're in Fiji. We stopped for a day in Ovalau to clear in and explore the little wildwest-style town. It was really neat- all colonial building left from the turn of the century, all brightly coloured. We walked up into the valley and found this beautiful network of concrete paths winding up and around the whole valley, with little paths leading off to the very basid tin houses (also brightly coloured) on either side.
The hillside village
I ended up wandering for a bit on my own and met a man named Ratu and his two great grandchildren Amy and Joshua. So I spent my afternoon with them, just playing with the kids and chatting with Ratu. The houses are like slum houses from the outside but are clean on the inside, and though they're super basic, the people are wonderful. It was amazing to be invited into a home where Ive never met them and theyve never even seen me before, and to just be able to spent the afternoon comfortably with them. Its aspects of offshore like this that Im really going to miss.
Joshua carrying a coconut for me
And now we're in Lautoka, Fiji. Its easy to notice the Indo-Fijian aspect of the culture, and I love it. Just shops packed in everywhere, things are super cheap, and there is fruit everywhere. Tav and I found possibly the best market Ive ever seen yesterday. Its in a building at least the size of a soccer field and is just packed with fruit and veggie stalls. Every fruit you can imagine, same with veggies, and big buckets of spices lining the carts; absolutely beautiful. We brought a massive fruit feast back to everyone who was still on the boat, and for $4US we demolished 6 papayas, 8 mangoes, a bunch of bananas, and three pineapples. Lautoka is also one of the larger sugar-producing towns, so there is sugarcane everywhere. We found some just on the road yesterday and enjoyed that as well.
Anyways, this is getting ridiculously long again, so Ill wrap it up. Ill incorporate photos soon. Everyone is doing well, the family says hi. I hope all is well at home, thanks so much for the emails and notes; I love them :) Take care, keep checking in, and Ill talk to you later
