Cook Islands 2 (Not so good stuff)

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I will admit to having had some pretty low moments during my fortnight in the cooks. The first of these came on our first day there, it all looked so stunning that i felt like it would be criminal not to go swimming in the lagoon and to spend time sunbathing on the beach (incidently sunbathing really isn't my thing usually but it felt right on this occasion), anyway i ended up seriously catching the sun and getting seriously sunburnt (i had stupidly not used any suncream), that night i was burning up and felt in a lot of pain. I have to say though that i was treated really well by a number of the other residents of the hostel (several of whom were nurses) and i was given good advice on what to do (i simply don't have a clue when it comes to things like this). I had a pretty bad night that night and i was in a lot of pain (and not only that but one of the other residents of the room was the loudest snorer of all time (andf this is no exaggeration). I was in pain for a few days after this so swimming and lying on the beach were not part of what i did.

On day three of our stay on Rarotonga we moved from a hostel to a guesthopuse located on the other side of the island. This guesthouse was actually just a house with five bedrooms that the owner (who inherited the house from his late father) decided to use as a gusthouse. The first night there did not go well as i was still in a lot of pain from the sunburn and i barely slept and was hurting real bad, so i just got up and went and sat in front of the TV set. I eventually fell asleep but awoke feeling terrible. Not just from the pain but i also felt really low about the fact that i was asleep on the couch in front of the TV, i felt bad because this was like being at home (i never sleep in my bed at home, always in front of the TV) and one thing that this trip has taught me is that i really don't like my life at home. I felt like i was in some sort of crisis at this point and it wasn't helped by the fact that Elaine and i were the only people staying in this house (though others were due to arrive in the next couple of days).

I felt so bad that at that moment i felt i would only be happy if i moved back to the hostel (which actually was nowhere near as good as the house but this is how i felt), so that morning i biked to the other side of the island and booked myself back in there. However when i got back to see Elaine at the house i started to feel a bit better emotionally and other guests had arrived which further allayed how i felt, so i ended up staying at the house. This all must make me seem pretty pathetic but afterwards i started to settle at the house and things improved.

Next bit: Near the end of our fist week the left side of my face swelled up like a balloon and believe me it really swelled up very badly. I didn't know what this was a result of, it may have been the sun, a mosquito bite or both or none of those things but i really din't know and it seemed so bad i wondered if i had something serious, though i have to say that i didn't feel ill physically in anyway. I ended up going to the islands hospital and saw a doctor (who to be honest seemed like a total quack) who told me that he did not know what was wrong with me.

Anyway, a quick message to my mother, i am totally fine now so don't worry about me (or please try not to). some of the above must make you think that i have been having bad times, but theres no doubt that the good stuff has far outweighed the bad

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