Around the World #02 (03/21/03-03/27/03, Rarotonga)

Hi, all.

Thanks for the miriad responses to my last message. If I don't respond personally to each mail, don't take it personally--bandwidth is limited.

Friday, 3/21/03

I explored downtown Rarotonga, rented a scooter, and got my driver's license (which consisted of about 5 of us driving our scooters around the block while a [rather amused] policeman followed us on his motorcycle.)

I moved from Piri's place to the Aremango--a hostel on the nicest beach on the island. (In the process of moving, I left my hiking boots on the bus, but I managed to get them back on my next bus trip. I had had a good discussion with the driver the day before about George Bush's brilliant foreign policy strategy, so he remembered me.)

I went snorkelling and waded to a little island off the beach, had some really good Chinese food, and talked to my hostel mates for the evening.

Saturday, 3/23/03

I went walking on the beach with the hostel owner's 5-year-old son. We went back to deliver the coconut that we found.

A bunch of us went to the farmers market downtown. I ended up eating a bunch of stuff, even though I hadn't planned on eating. I almost got a fish steak (even though I don't like fish) because it really looked good.

The Norwegian girls gave me pointers on where to go in Norway if I make it up there this summer.

I went snorkeling again and spent the evening hanging out on the veranda with the dorm-mates again.

Sunday, 3/23/03

I got up and went snorkelling--much better than the previous days. It started raining, so most of us just hung out on the veranda--a couple of us playing scrabble.

Monday, 3/24/03

I got another coconut on the beach and had Eddie--the hostel owner--show me how to remove the husk, open it, and grate the contents. (Jam it onto a pike to open the husk, rip it off, wack the shell on the edge of the concrete porch, crack it open, then steady this metal bar while you use the end to grate out the contents of the shell.

Went snorkelling again--the best yet.

It was rainy all day, and it rained so hard that the power went out. With nothing else to do, we hung out on the veranda again.

Tuesday, 3/25/03

The owners of the hostel keep fresh local fruit around. There are papayas, star-fruits, and huge bunches of bananas. One of the English girls fried some of the bananas and served them with ice-cream. VERY tasty.

Wednesday, 3/26/03

My dorm-mate John and I took the cross-island trek. We were dripping with sweat by the time we reach The Needle--a rock outcropping clearly visible through the forests in the center of the island. From The Needle, we could see across the island and to the ocean. It was a virtual stairway of tree roots to climb up there. Going down to the other side of the island, we had to constantly hold on to trees, ferns, whatever we could to avoid slipping in the muddy brush. There were times where we couldn't see where our feet were going, and holding onto things was very helpful when we stepped onto nothing. We had to cross the stream several times, jumping from stone to stone, but finally we reached the waterfall at the end. We took a swim in the cool pool at the bottom of the falls. It was very refreshing after simmering in our own sweat for the previous few hours. We ended up hitching rides back to the hostel--spending most of the trip in the back of a pickup truck with some surveying equipment.

There was a rumor going around that the war was over.

Thursday, 3/27/03

Did laundry, surfed the net (trying to plan for upcoming destinations), and just hung around. I was disappointed to find out that the war is still going strong.

Tomorrow night I leave for Fiji.

Later,

Sid