As many of you know, the trip is over. In fact we’ve been back for two months! I figured that once home I’d have loads of time to reflect on the trip and get this blog up to date. Reality was far from that. I started writing this post before the trip was over but everything has been pretty hectic since I returned that I’ve not finished until now. Still, being a sucker for completeness I fully intend to get this and our brief time in the US posted. So, back to the Cook Islands, central pacific paradise, a far cry from rainy Bristol, or was it?

The plan was for a two week relaxing vacation style trip in the Cook Islands to recover from all this traveling we’ve been doing. No more running around between different places… Settle down in some paradisical resort like on Koh Wai or Cagalai and relax. Unfortunately things, for the first week at least, conspired against us.

Our knowledge of the Cook Islands before arriving was minimal. This was possibly the place we were least prepared for (reading and photographing the guide book in the airport bookshop constituted our research). We found out after arrival that by law you have to book accommodation before you arrive in the Cook Islands. Thankfully there were no police taking interest in our criminal activities of trying to find accommodation, which at midnight in the pouring rain wasn’t the greatest of prospects. Thankfully there were minibuses waiting at the airport to pick up booked in guests and we were able to find some cheap dorm beds for a couple of nights.

We arrived on Rarotonga, the biggest of the Cook islands which isn’t exactly big. The bus that chugs its way slowly around the entire island only takes 50 minutes. Take a look on my map page and compare the size of the place to, erm say, Australia. The place is beautiful with sharp mountains rising in the middle and a light blue lagoon separating the outer reed from the beaches. Check out this aerial shot to what I’m on about. Around at Muri beach the lagoon is at its widest with several small islands plonked in the middle to spice things up a bit. In the Sun the place must be wonderful, but for us, it rained nearly every day. We arrived in November which is pretty much shoulder season between the dry and wet seasons, although many locals believed that the rain had come early this year.

After a day and a half of near constant rain at our first hostel we moved on round the island to Muri beach to a guest house highly recommended to us by or friends Delia and Salva who we met in New Zealand. The place was a little over our budget but after the good things we’d heard it was well worth checking out. We weren’t disappointed and the owner, Amanda, even new us by name as we arrived (thanks once again to Delia and Salva) but unfortunately she was only able to fit us in for one night. After some quick planning we decided to spend some time on Aitutaki, claimed to have the most beautiful lagoon in the Pacific, with a plan to return to Rarotonga on the first day that Amanda had space for us at the guest house. Aitutaki was actually on the list of places to visit that I posted before the off and truly appears to be a Pacific paradise.

Unfortunately, booking accommodation was a real pain. For the previous eleven months on the road we’ve only booked accommodation twice. Normally we just turn up to recommended guest house or hostel, check out the rooms and take one if they’re available. If not we keep on looking. Unfortunately in the Cook Islands it doesn’t work like that. One has to book in advance which was made even more frustrating as inter islands calls are expensive, very few guest houses answered their phones and for the few that did, the person on the other end of the line had no real clue about rooms availability or cost.

Still we got ourselves booked into a room close to the lagoon, got a good deal on a last minute flight and set of on a trip which promised to be something special. It was… at least for the duration of the flight where we had beautiful aerial views of the lagoon and islets. From there on though, everything went downhill. It rained, a lot. The wind was ferocious causing large swells and destroying underwater visibility. This and bad timing with the tides caused our few attempts at snorkelling to be a complete waste of time. Everything was very expensive (more so than New Zealand, never mind Fiji) and we managed to get lost while trying to climb up to the islands highest viewpoint. Worst of all though was our accommodation, Josie’s Beach Lodge. This place was more expensive than Are Mango, and yet offered none of the same comforts. The beds were uncomfortable, our room had no mosquito net (others did) and the kitchen was ill equipped and dirty. There were several cats that would come and start fighting just outside at some point after midnight and the other guests were all very weird, so much so that after a while we just tried to avoid them. Worst of all though, was the water pump that was right next to our bedroom window that fired up every 23 seconds making a lot of noise (I know, I was counting while unable to sleep due to the disturbance). Excluding the cats and weird guests, these were all regular sort of complaints that in most places the management would be able to resolve for you. Not here. The owners had left for New Zealand the day we arrived, taking our money for several days in advance (something I was reluctant to pay as we didn’t know how many days we wished to stay) and leaving no one in charge with only the cleaner coming in daily.

Despite all of this, our first week in the Cook Islands wasn’t all negative, it is just that I’m better at writing about things that have annoyed me than things I’ve enjoyed. One day we wandered off to explore the island. Edging towards the end of our trip our money had all but run out (I think it was here that the parents were contacted for a loan…) so hiring a moped was out. Instead we set off walking but before long some locals had picked us up and drove us into the island’s only town. Mentioning this has reminded me of our arrival on Aitutaki. Here the guest houses do not do pick ups but there is a shuttle bus for $8 a head. This seemed to me pretty steep for a drive of less than two kilometres, so we set off walking instead much to the annoyance of the bus driver. We hadn’t even reached the end of the airport drive when one of the locals offered us a lift in the back of his pick-up. As he stopped to let us climb on board, he blocked the road and the shuttle bus had to wait and watch two potential customers get their free ride. A smug moment for me.

The town itself was little more than a collection of houses, the port and a couple of shops. Island life is very laid back and there seems very little to do for the 2000 or so population. The place seems so far away from anything else… Free from the troubles of the outside world. Possibly for this reason Aitutaki has been the location for Reality TV shows, Survivor and Shipwreck but having seen neither it meant very little to me (there are tours dedicated to visiting set locations). These shows have had a positive effect on the islands economy but has also lead to an increase in prices for tourists.

I had hoped to explore the wonders of Aitutaki lagoon on our own in a kayak or catamaran but the waves were too choppy to go out in a kayak and the only chap on the island with a catamaran wouldn’t rent it out as it was too windy!? Instead we went out on a Lagoon boat cruise which despite the bad weather was actually pretty good. We did some snorkelling although the water was very choppy due to the wind. There wasn’t a great deal to see where we stopped but the water was incredibly clear. The cruise gave us a chance to see some of the remoter islets, some stunning beaches and some very impressive sand bars. We were also treated to some good food and the spectacle of hermit crab racing. On top of that, the sun even came out in the afternoon.

Anyway, back to the horrors of Josie’s Beach Lodge. Unable to sleep and thoroughly uncomfortable there we wanted to leave on the Friday. There were even some cheap flights available for that day, but as we had already paid for the Friday night we didn’t want to loose that money. I brought this up with the cleaner’s husband who was looking after the moped hire, “nothing he could do to help” came his response. Later Espe approached the cleaner who was defensive and aggressive from the off. This soon degenerated into a shouting match with Espe with the cleaner hurling insults at her. Espe actually felt physically threatened at one point with the cleaner who was three times her size backing her into a corner. This got both of us rather wound up, more so than I even want to try an explain here. After this we decided to take the cheap Friday flights anyway and loose the money for the accommodation but by this point all the tickets had sold out. Not only did we have to spend the final night there in a very tense situation but having missed the cheap flights offer it cost us over $100 more to get off the damn island.

The only good news for the day was when I called Amanda at Are Mango. With a bit of room shuffling she was able to fit us in two days earlier than expected and invited us to join her and her dad sailing the following Saturday. The following morning at the airport we thought we were on the home run but then at check in they had no reference for the tickets I’d booked the previous day. The check in staff demanded to see my tickets but as I’d booked them over the phone I had none. Furthermore the ticket office had failed to give me a reference number. I spelt out our names, Place & Gil but she was still unable to find us. After a few tense moments she spotted some names and realised that we had been entered incorrectly. Our boarding passes were duly printed out with our new names:

     Andrew Elace
     Samantha Eranza

The Aitutaki atoll is truly a beautiful place. It was just that our experience was bad. This is a place to come to with money. It is a hugely popular honey moon destination and I can see why. With the right weather in the right resort this place would be incredible. Still, at least we had some stunning views on the flight back and typically, the Sun came out as we left.

Are Mango Guest House

Probably the best accommodation we’ve stayed in during our whole year trip. There have been others that come close, such as Riverside Guest House in Thailand, but for completeness, Amanda’s Are Mango has it. Large, cool comfortable rooms, clean modern facilities, dvd room (with a decent collection – very rare in my traveling experience), free use of bikes, free use of snorkel gear, cheap kayak hire, beautiful beach 30 seconds away, comfortable sofas in communal area, free local phone calls, 1 for 1 book exchange, hammocks hanging in the garden, complimentary tea, coffee and fruit. Better than all of that though is how welcome you are made to feel. This place truly felt like home, more so because we got on very well with many of the other guests. Just as well really, because of all the rain we spent a lot of time in the guest house rather than on the beach.

Worthy of a special mention are Willy, a Swiss guy who loved the place so much he ended up staying for over a month, an Argentinian couple who we ended up playing a lot of cards and dice games with and an older American couple. I prejudged them as I often do with Americans: very friendly but ignorant to the outside world. We were talking about traveling when they asked me about my opinions and impressions from Laos. If you remember my anti American rant after visiting Laos you will understand why I felt a little uncomfortable about this question and reluctant to share my true opinions about it. I stayed on the fence until I realised that they were of the same opinion as me… And I can say what a relief and pleasure it was to meet such people that go so against the stereotypical American. I was fascinated to learn that they were campaigners against what was going on in Laos at the time and that it was known what was going on. The alternative press published many an article on this only to be ignored by 90% of Americans. The husband even used to lecture with someone who was involved in the CIA Heroin smuggling that I’m yet to read about in Christopher Robbin’s Air America. The next two evenings I spent talking with them (this was so long ago that I can’t be sure of their names) finding all about the current political climate, the anticipation of no more Bush, some of the injustices committed by the current administration etc. All very educational for me.

Best of all though was the repour that Espe and I built up with Amanda. Guest house managers have to be nice to their guests, but Amanda is genuinely friendly and passionate about what she is doing. We got on immediately, helped of course by the indirect introduction from Delia and Salva, the interest in photography, the sailing and of course Spanish. She has a Columbian boy friend and is currently learning Spanish.

Cook Islands National Vaca Regatta

Upon discovering my interest in sailing, Amanda invited us to join her and her father for the annual national Vaca Regatta. Vacas are Polynesean style out rigger / sail boats. Naturally we jumped at the chance and on the Friday before the event went out for a quick practice sail. Despite limited wind we seemed to manage reasonably well.

Come race day we listened to the briefing, pretending to understand all the yachtie speak. Soon after, the Vaca was rigged and out we went. First up Willy and I accompanied Amanda’s Dad for the morning’s racing. Amanda’s father was under no illusions that we could win with such an inexperienced crew but was hopeful that they wouldn’t repeat last years score of three capsizes!

Out on the water was great fun flying the hull on many an occasion. We got some incredible speed and I learnt more about sailing from this experience than everything I’ve done before. We even started most of the races pretty well, although things rapidly went down hill. From memory, we finished last, last runner and second last in the mornings three races, during which we managed to capsize three times, snap a mainstay and loose a man overboard (Willy, not me). But that really didn’t matter as it was just so much fun.

After lunch the weather turned really foul and the afternoon’s racing was postponed. This didn’t stop Amanda’s dad taking Amanda and Espe out for some real white nuckle sailing in the very windy conditions. It looked incredible from the shore and Espe confirmed that it was even better out there. And they managed to show the boys up by only capsizing once, although it was quite spectacular and got a huge cheer from all at the sailing club (I also managed to catch the moment on… erm, memory card).

This was a perfect way to spend our last day on the island. It was immense fun and thanks to the generosity of Amanda, all for free. The Regatta was postponed till the Sunday due to bad weather and we were convinced that it would come good as soon as we got on the plane…

Typically, Espe received the following from Amanda shortly afterwards:

Amanda wrote
at 6:42am on December 3rd, 2007

Espe!!!! I miss you both already!!!!!!! Today was a beautiful day and we sailed WITHOUT capsizing!!!! perhaps because you were no longer here ; – ) jejejejeje….we also got the trophy for most capsized! and we did a small speech and mentioned our fantastic international crew and how unfortunately you couldn’t be here today!!!