Round and round she goes

My plan for Sunday was to head out on the 32km. round-the-island bike trip, stopping to swim and snorkle where the spirit moved me. But the skies threatened and so I packed a rain poncho, which turned out to be a good idea. After an early breakfast, I pedalled about 45 minutes to the Cook Islands Christian Church I'd attended the Sunday before, the home church of my liaison here, the lovely Tai and her sister, June, the principal at Tae Oki Au school. I slipped into the washroom and changed into a long skirt, top and hat - very trad here. The service was hosted by kids from a neighbouring parish - it was switch church day. They did Bilblical morality plays, so charming and unitentionally funny in their seriousness, easily quoting scripture and getting the congregation filled with the Spirit.
After church, the members hosted a huge feast - bbq chicken, hot dogs, chops, a dozen salads, arrowroot, paw-paw dressed with curry, banana and mango pudding, and on and on. All visitors sat on one side, congregation and guests on the other. Each table leader stood to thank hosts in Maori and I spoke for the visitors (shy girl that I am!).
No sooner did I start out on my journey they it started to rain a bit, but it wasn't too bad. The beaches at the far end of the island are fantastic and I stopped to swim despite the clouds. I wandered into the posh Rarotongan resort and used their beach because, as my friend Peter Howell always says, if you act like you belong somewhere, nobody will question it. He's right! After I used their showers and got cleaned up a bit after my swim, I continued on. About 3km on I saw a sign " Julz - funky jewellery and art." Since all stores are closed on Sunday, I figured I'd explore and found a ramshackle house with a makeshift studio, two friendly dogs, a 3-legged cat and a porch full of great things. Julz and I talked politics and I did a bit of Christmas shopping, then hit the road again.
At the halfway point, the clouds opened and I ducked into a small store and had a flat white and a slice of magnificent pineapple cake. But when it became clear it was going to rain for a long time, I pulled on my poncho and headed out. But I wasn't the only crazy one. There were people at the end of the airport runway at the seawall, waiting for a plane to land. The stand there and get blasted with the engine wash. Crazy nutters.
I finally got home at 6 p.m. for a supper of chicken curry with my fellow volunteers and we all shared Sunday stories. An early night and we all slept well because of the rain - it was blessedly cool at last in our rooms - we have ceiling fans, but no A/C.
Now I'm back at Deli-licious - it's in Muri Beach and I've just been for a snorkle after school and now having a delicious flat white coffee as I blog. The coffee at the Kii Kii Motel is abysmal! Went to the local paper, the Cook Islands News, this morning and sat in on their news meeting and will be back for the day Fri. They want me to spend the day working with them on editing and layout stuff and also coaching their 4 reporters.
Back at Takitumu school today and had fun as we were working in the library. This evening we're off to see an art exhibit of paintings done on paddles in honour of the vaka races. I saw some of them out on the ocean today, outside the reef. It was thrilling to see them. More on that tomorrow.
I hope you are all well and happy. Back to the Kii Kii I go on by pushbike.
Linda

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