Blast from the Past: Rarotonga

Kia Orana! That's the proper Maori greeting in Rarotonga and as you notice, is a little different from that in New Zealand! Though the Maori all over the Pacific region share origin and many cultural similarities, there are differences across the Pacific. This post is a little different, this was from on Field Camp (January 16-30) when we were studying reef biology, whale migration and watershed activity in Rarotonga!

This is not my image (google) but shows where the Cook Islands are. I got a lot of questions when I said I was going to Rarotonga! It is part of the Cook Islands, which like Hawaii and Tahiti are some of the many Pacific Islands. Rarotonga is the biggest of the Cook Islands with a population of about 14,000.
Why couldn't I post this sooner? When we wanted to use internet on the island we had to walk to one of the local internet cafes. This one was about 10 minutes away, slow internet compared to what we had at home! I'll never get tired of saying "Do you want to walk to the internet?"

Getting coconuts! Paul taught us how to climb the trees, used a twisted rope to hold your feet together.
Machetes are still used. Paul is one of the most amazing guys we've met; he's a local who knows so much about the land and the disturbance human development makes. He taught us so many cool things, from climbing coconut trees to taking us sailing on some of the vakas! Further proof that academia is far from the only way of being truly brilliant.
Sparkling Rarotonga!
The island! Basically if you see any pictures of palm trees, white sand beaches....that's Rarotonga.
Some of the different candy bars they have in Raro! Most of them are made by Cadbury, a lot of the chocolate here is. These were birthday presents from the crew!
Stick-bugs!
Crazy poofy blossoms.
Rarotonga is a tropical island and has many bright and beautiful flowers!

One of the many beautiful beaches on Raro. Unfortunately this one is adjacent to a stream where there have been many pollution issues. On Rarotonga you have to drink bottled water as the tap water has an unusually high pH (>8) and unsafe concentrations of bacteria. We learned about this after a week of drinking the tap water, when half of our crew was already sick. We learned about the water in the "water quality" unit we did and from the other occupants of the dorm, football players; "You've been drinking the water? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?"

The Whale Center on Rarotonga. We had an opportunity to study humpback whales with one of the leading experts, Nan Hauser. She's opening this center in an attempt to help educate the Rarotongans about "their whales."
Old artifacts in the center. This is a carved whale tooth.
The jaw of a beaked whale.
Part of the lower jaw of a humpback whale. Huge right!
Beautiful sunsets. My camera might not have great zoom, but its panoramic is pretty useful!
Sunset in Rarotonga.

Sunset from CIFA-the football dorm where we stayed.
The reef! We spent many days learning about the reef ecosystem. Great snorkeling!
And so it began...the Cross-Island hike. It was only 5 km or so, but they don't believe in switchbacks so it was VERY uphill. Rope ladders, hands over feet, it was epic!
Cross Island Hike! The interior of the island's a little bit different than the beach! It's very tropical, like Hawaii or Fiji.
The Needle, this is where we were hiking too. This is zoomed in, it was a long way up there!
The view from the top! The Needle's right behind us.
Just before sunset at Black Rock. This is a scared place on Rarotonga (though open for swimming, it was one of our favorite spots!) It is believed that when people die their souls leave their bodies and travel out over the ocean. As they are passing from land to sea, this is the point where they cross. There are many, many stories of individuals seeing ghosts or images of the deceased here.
Right before sunset at Black Rock.
Still at Black Rock, it was so beautiful!
Of course, there are miles of beautiful beaches!
At the Saturday Punanga Nui Cultural Market. Such a cool place featuring everything from fruit stands, kebab stands, little shops with sarongs or carvings to a pavilion featuring live musicians and dancers of the traditional Maori dance. Adapted from the haka, or the warrior's dance, this routine is a demonstration of physical strength as well as a celebration of life.
A panoramic view of what the cultural market we visited looked like!

Dancing the haka!
A beautiful church we spotted.
Since almost everything has to be imported to Rarotonga, prices are super high! That even goes for things like dog-food. As a result, dogs aren't for the most part owned or well taken care of. Often you'll see dogs on the beach going fishing! They stand really still in the water just staring downwards, waiting for the fish! They've learned to be fast too, if they aren't careful, they might become a meal!

That's all for now, I will update again when I can!