Tauono's

So sorry "followers" that I didn't get a post up yesterday. The internet wasn't working for us here at the hotel and we just figured out that we were supposed to buy minutes from the hotel rather than from an online source. So now we're connected again and while I didn't post about yesterday's activities I did take notes so I will bring you up to date. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in the Cook Islands warm (hot/humid) and sunny. We went into town to try again to get credit for the phone cards but the woman at the telecom was out sick. We will have to try from NZ because everything is closed here on Sundays and she is out sick again today. After going into town we went over to Tauono's for the lunch we'd been anticipating with Sonja since Monday and it was well worth the wait! We had two tuna dishes one yellow fin and the other albacore(sp), fresh fruits, salad, cole slaw and lemonade and passion fruit to drink! It was an awesome lunch enjoyed on picnic tables in Sonya's yard. Sonja showed us pictures of her husband Tauono who passed away on December 30, he was a very handsome man, a cross between Anthony Quinn and Bob Marley! Sonja referred to him as "her handsome dude." I think the best food here isn't found in traditional restaurants but private residences with "open" signs in the front yard. While we were having lunch we could hear beautiful island music in the distance. It turns out it was live music coming from house across the street from Sonja's. Islands musicians practicing for a couple of upcoming gigs on the island including one at our hotel, a birthday party on Monday. So John and I sat on a picnic table by the road facing the neighbors front yard and enjoyed the live music. Speaking of front yards here in the Cook Islands. Cook Islanders often bury their loved ones in the front yard so practically every home you pass will have a grave site in the front yard some are just headstones others have shelters built over the headstones, some keep artificial flowers on the grave sites others place potted plants on the graves and we even spotted a few with laundry drying over the graves. Many Cook Islanders have chickens, pigs, and goats so in addition to the graves in the front yard it's not uncommon to see farm animals in the front yards as well. Most homes have daybeds on the front porch with beautifully colored linens although I was told yesterday that some of the beds I saw outside yesterday are probably regular "night" beds put out to dry following the cyclone a couple days ago because practically every home has a leaky roof. Later in afternoon we went to the coconut show here at the hotel. We learned an awful lot about the coconut (world's largest nut) from David (the coconut guy), we learned how to make shoes from the bark of a tree to make climbing the coconut tree possible. We learned how to crack a coconut (sharp stone, sharp stick, sharp teeth) yep, David was actually able to crack the coconut using his teeth but he stated before the demonstration "don't try this at home." The coolest thing I learned about the coconut is that every coconut has a face;-) Today is cooler and rainy but John just took a bike into town to shop for dinner so I'm going to check out the news back home on the internet and read. We had planned to go back out with Teking today for another day of snorkeling but with the rain we decided to skip it. We were also supposed to leave Aitutaki today and spend a day on Rarotonga but decided to extend our stay at Etu Moana because it's so nice here. Unfortunately, we're out of the money we paid for the hotel tonight in Rarotonga. At the end of the night I helped out the orthodox Jewish couple from Toronto by turning out their lights.