Heading home

We had to fly from Rarotonga to LAX and then have a 5-hour layover in LAX and then go to Portland. A long night right? Glad we had all those drinks. Ugh.

Waiting at the airport, spending time in the duty-free. We didn't buy anything, but are always intrigued by smoking warnings in different countries. The ones in the Cooks are kind of grim:

On a happier note: We were serenaded again--this time with a goodbye song--by the ukulele dude as they made the announcement that our plane was boarding (I mean, come on, it's the only big flight all week, of course it's a big deal).

The good news was that our flight was pretty empty on the way home. I got to stretch out over an entire three-seat row. (Somehow this was more comfortable when I was 26.) The bad news: It was one of the most turbulent flights I'd ever been on. Having Justin across the aisle shout "Jesus Christ!" in exasperation and stress as we bobbed and rolled only made me more stressful. Boy needs a Xanax to fly next time. Not to mention there was a creepy as hell guy in front of us who was taking self-portrait photos of himself and filming every time the plane got turbulent! Uh...dude. You kind of don't want to do that in this day & age.

Back in LA, we had said layover. Luckily I had a Groupon for two passes to the Delta club. We were flying United (or, as I like to call it "Untied"), but we had plenty of time. And the Delta club had showers.

Though the food wasn't great or plentiful...it was still a good thing.

Upon arriving back to Portland, we discovered that only two out of three of our bags arrive. The third was enroute from Seattle, and would be arriving in half an hour. This was the coolest thing: They gave us food vouchers for $15 each, so we went over to Stanford's which was having happy hour and got a ton of food (Justin got a Manhattan, which the voucher did not cover but which he deemed medically necessary).

The happy hour food was plentiful, unbelievably cheap for all we got, and delicious. Stanford's at the airport: Who knew? Anyone want to go to Happy Hour there sometime?!

For some reason, chillin' out at Stanford's, drink and food in hand...well, it wrapped up the trip so nicely. This trip was one big bowl of silver lining. And that's something we needed.

Until next time...

Rarotonga: Last Day

Rarotonga has a Saturday market. And you know, living in Portland, we can't resist Saturday markets.

It is not quite the clusterfuck that any of the Portland Saturday markets are, but it was so fun to wander through the stalls and see the foods that were for sale, the items on display. I wish we could have timed our travel to coincide more with the market so we'd have more things to eat and drink that had been sold at the market, but oh well. 'Twas not meant to be.

This day was really hot and humid, and rain started about 1 p.m. This was really fun to drive through on the scooter. Except when it wasn't. Poor Justin was soaked.

Packed up our things from the bungalow and spent out last evening at an island night at the Edgewater hotel. An island night is supposedly like a luau, though I have never been to a luau (or to Hawaii, for that matter). Food, dances, song, forced participation, etc.

I was told this was supposed to be the best island night on the, well, island, but was kind of disappointed. I got more mosquito bites in five minutes here than I did for the ENTIRE trip. I rushed over to my bags to find the heavy-duty DEET shit.

Plus we were told to be there at 5:30 and the island night and the food doesn't even start till 7. This is so they can load you up with weak umbrella drinks. For which they charge a fucking fortune!

It is fun when Justin does stuff like this:

So yeah, that is fun.

So I was a little meh on this. But: This guy was an awesome dancer, though:

And supposed to be sexy dancing. Maybe?

The costumes were fun. Good colors:

We were seated with this very nice couple from New Zealand who were there to celebrate their 5th anniversary. By the time they were seated with us we'd been through some drinks and it was loud in there and I feared I was spraying when I talked.

Then it was time to go to the airport for our flight home. And that in itself was interesting...

Day ? Rarotonga

What day is it? Who cares. Look at this. It is the beach at Titakaveka, where we stayed:

We spent most of the day on the beach--Justin helped me snorkel! I may not be such a crazycase after all! I think with some xanax, a little practice, some decent-fitting gear, and I may be able to make a go of this. I got to see some brilliant parrotfish! Went kayaking a little bit and swimming and man it was just so lovely. Then we went scooting back into town. Here's a beach near Avarua:

This was just the best vacation ever. Look at this photo. We are relaxed. Vacation serves as the best cosmetic ever. We took this photo (we are getting so good at the self-portaits!) while waiting for some fish & chips at the Flying Boat, during happy hour at the bar next to it. This is quite possibly the best photo ever of us:

Look closely above. See it? My left shoulder? BEST PHOTOBOMB EVER! Justin and I were laughing harder than the Moray song!

Beautiful sunset:

Rarotonga does have some cats. They're just with the band:

Day 4: Aitutaki to Rarotonga

Sad face: It was time to leave Aitutaki--and Etu Moana--for Rarotonga. We bid farewell to the couples we'd met and the really nice staff.

At least it was sunny, so we could get some good arial Aitutaki views from the plane:

Looking at these photos, I am again sad. It's rare that I want to go back to a place after having been there. But I want to go to here. Again.

And here we are approaching Rarotonga (this is about a 40 minute flight):

See? Mountains.

We had a taxi pick us up and take us to our next place, which was a bungalow on the beach in Rarotonga. This place was on a better beach, but we liked Etu Moana a lot better. For one thing, the manager/owner forgot we were coming, so no one was there to give us a key, etc., like had been planned. We lucked out and found someone to call her--luckily she was just down the road, but still. But whatever, we got in, we were still on vacation, and we overlooked this:

This is a puppy who hung out with us on the beach sometimes. She was so sweet. And friendly! And soft! A good girl.

Here she is right before we named her "Paw Paw."

We walked around, stopped at a sandwich/smoothie place, and looked at the mountains:

We decided to rent a scooter to get around Rarotonga. We almost did not, after seeing a guy return his scooter for a car after seeing his REALLY HORRIBLE ROAD RASH. But I am so, so glad we did. It was so.much.fun. Here is the cool lady getting Justin acquainted with it:

They make you do a road test first, and then give you a temporary. Technically you are supposed to then go to the police station and get a license, but they said we could just roll with the temporary since we were there only a day or two. Here's bad-ass Justin doing his road test:

Scooter licenses are rad:

We went to the grocery store. Because food shopping in foreign countries is so fun. A surprising number of gluten-free items (though we did not purchase any):

Also: an abundance of yeast spreads. Can someone explain--again--their reason for existing? to me?

Other weird items:

I also thought this sign was funny. Who knew kitsch was hot and not just, well, kitschy?

Some of Avarua (i.e., "town").

We ended up getting dinner at The Flame Tree, which was over a lagoon, which had a really lazy eel that we could see. The photos of it didn't really turn out, so here is Justin instead:

We scooted back to the bungalow. Have I mentioned how fun scooting was?

Aitutaki - Day 3, Wednesday

I really should keep a travel journal as I'm traveling, but it has gone the way of the dodo. Like most print media. Anyway.

Besides, I'm really too busy for great big exposition. If you want words, read my novel. And really, you just want to see the pictures.

Wednesday morning: the birds were singing, the roosters were crowing, and...it was SUNNY! Bright and sunny and marvelous. THANK GOD. The perfect day for a lagoon cruise!

The island of Aitutaki is surrounded by a reef. Within that reef are several small islands, which they called motus. The snorkling and beaches are lovely within this area, and the waters are bathtub warm and calm.

But first, a good breakfast (Etu Moana gives you breakfast, simple stuff, coffee, tea, toast, tropical fruits, cereal). I fell in love with the papaya there. So, so good. It was sort of a cross in texture between a really ripe mango and the kind of papaya you can get at New Seasons (miradol, I think it's called?). Papaya in the Cooks is called "Paw Paw." Most of their paw paw comes from Rarotonga; the cyclone in Feb wiped out most of Aitutaki's fruit. I freakin' love paw paw.

Though I don't seem to here. Justin is bemused, as usual.

Breakfast is served by the pool:

There are also these kind of awesome and somewhat loud birds that come visit you and if you leave your table unattended to get some more, say, paw paw, they will treat your food like an interloper at a Vegas buffet and dive in accordingly. I can't remember the name of these birds, but should you run across one in the proverbial dark alley, they look like this:

Off to the lagoon cruise!

There are numerous lagoon cruises you can take in Aitutaki. We chose Aitutaki Adventures, as the boats were a little smaller, and they spend more time on land and less time snorkeling. This came to be a good idea, because of something I forgot: I am completely claustrophobic. I mean, I knew I was, but I'd thought it was more "in crowds, I freak out."

No. I actually freak out even more when I have a snorkel mask squeezing the crap out of my face. Snorkel FAIL.

It was bad. I hyperventilated. My pulse pounded. I started crying. I was like, that person.

God.

The story does get better though. Just wait. But in the meantime, that meant I was stuck to swimming. Which, really, in water like this isn't really that much of a punishment.

Plus: GIANT CLAMS!

Insert your own joke here.

The next stop was a place called "Honeymoon Island," where we were dropped off a ways away and told to walk to the other side, where the boat would meet us.

The palm trees, were, literally, swaying in the breeze.

And a landscape that looked like this:

Justin is not that enthused about having to walk (yellow boat in background):

The cool thing was that we got to see coconut palm trees actually, you know, growing out of a coconut. Nature at work, man!

This is how clear the water was (excuse weirdo leg shot)

It really does look like a postcard:

Or a screensaver?

Demonstrating the "gee, honey, you smell terrific pose":

I kind of love this photo of Justin, very end-of-the-world-yet-we're-in-paradise:

It will probably be another to add to the fridge.

I kind of like (!) these two self-portrait photos of us; we look very Hollywood On Vacation:

Oh, hell, here's another gratuitous shot in hopes of making it onto the family fridge:

Then it was time for lunch. Justin and I were both pretty ready to eat:

I have a photo not unlike this one taken in Brazil (10 years ago!). Honey, you still look the same. No, wait: better.

Anyway.

The food was fantastic! It was a feast! Mounds of tuna, rice, meat, salads, taro, potatoes, watermelon, and a new dish I simply must replicate: curried pawpaw. Holy crap, that was amazing. I went back for thirds. What?

Then more snorkeling. I tried, I really did. But it was not to be. I got to go swimming and feed the fish, though. Justin saw a Moray eel!

Back to Etu Moana to shower, change for dinner, watch the amazing sunset:

With a glass of wine from a bottle we picked up in town (really good wines, makes me want to try more New Zealand wines!):

That shine on my legs? Bug repellant.

We went to Tupuna's for dinner. Delicious. Best meal the whole trip. On the way back, we got a ride from a wonderful woman and her sister who taught us a new song. Sung to the tune of "When the moon hits your eye..." you know, that song from Moonstruck?

When an eel/

Bites your hand/

And you bleed in the sand/

That's a Moray...

Justin and I were laughing about this the whole rest of the trip.

It's still funny.