Etu Moana

I had the most amazing day ever! It was like a dream, a really pleasant, and amazing dream. Let's back track a bit; the Air New Zealand flight departed LAX right on time. I really liked flying on Air New Zealand, the inflight dvd players and ipod docking stations on every seat were awesome, I watched Sideways and a documentary about NZ.. Even the safety instructions seemed classier when presented with a New Zealand accent while soft jazz played in the background on the video; sexy safety instructions! The overhead compartment is called an overhead locker and the safety instructions were called a "safety briefing." The total flight time from take off to landing was 9 hours 48 minutes. A hot dinner was served about an hour into the flight and water and drinks were available throughout the night and then a hot breakfast was served as the sun was rising over the south Pacific. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep on the flight and was awake for the majority of the 9+ hours. John on the other hand slept all but perhaps 2 hours! He didn't even wake up for the hot sunrise breakfast. We landed in Rarotonga around 6:40 AM. The Rarotonga "International" Airport looks more like a hot sweaty bus station except I don't think you would ever see chickens weaving in and out of check-in lanes at a hot sweaty bus station...live chickens waltzing around the terminal like ticketed passengers. We tried to get on an earlier flight to Aitutaki but the 8:00 AM flight was booked so we walked into "town" to find the phone store to get a SIM card and internet access cards. The walk was long and hot and the roads are pretty rough. They drive on the opposite side of the road here so you have to be extremely careful when crossing. We made it to the store after a hot sticky 30 minute walk with motorbikes, trucks, and more chickens passing by us all along the way. We got our phone set up and checked emails and took a taxi back to the airport for our 10:30 AM flight t Aitutaki that didn't actually depart until closer to noon. The security at the airport was something else, children in their barefeet played in the the "restricted area",chickens roamed freely between domestic and international departure gates, and we were not once asked for any type of identification or to go through any sort of screening process. We made it to Aitutaki around 1:30 where we were greeted by some of the resort staff and driven to the Etu Moana resort where we met the owners Jim Dutch)(Canadian) and Jo-anne Brittigin who built the resort seven year ago after paying just one visit to the Cook Islands and falling in love with Aitutaki. We met several of the hotel guests, two honeymooning couples one from Portland the other from Seattle. The couple from Portland, Dean and Trish were married in September and are starting out on a year long honeymoon. They quit their jobs and will travel from Jan 2010 to January 2011. Our cottage/hut is awesome! It's like having an entire apartment all to ourselves overlooking palm trees and the clear blue Pacific. What I'm finding most amazing about this place is just how peaceful, undeveloped and unspoiled it is. There are 8 cottages on the this property here and we haven't seen any larger resorts or hotels on the island. We walked down the beach a few a little ways to a cafe recommended to us by the hotel staff where we met up with Sonja, a real character who is Austrian by birth but she told us that she really believes she was black or brown in another life. Sonja has lived all over the world spending many years in Jamaica and about 15 years in Aitutaki where she owns some plantations and the cafe (organic fruits and vegetables). We had a fruit plate and lemonade at Sonja's place and talked with her for a little over an hour. Her husband passed away over the Christmas holiday while visiting his daughter in Auckland so Sonja seems to be pulled in many different directions trying to figure out how she's going to manage on her own. She invited us back for dinner on Friday so I will have lots more to write about Ms.Sonja. We got back to the hotel and went for a swim or at least I attempted to swim (haven't been in a pool since middle school). I need lots of practice to gain confidence in the water but it was fun and exhausting. I tried on the snorkeling gear in the pool just to get the feel of it because tomorrow we're going snorkeling. John went out in the kayak and I freaked out when I saw the kayak but no John floating in the ocean; turns out he was snorkeling and after I had Jim ready to go out in his kayak in search of John we spotted him back in his kayak safe and sound. I could write for at least another 20 minutes about this amazing day but I'm beat and my body clock tells me it's 2:52 AM (Minneapolis) so I'm signing off for now.