May 5th, Cook Islands

May 5^th, 2006

Got up today around 10am to the sound of birds. It was awesome sleeping last night with all the windows open to the island breeze off the Pacific Ocean. I slept like a rock. Last night we discovered that we have a little friend in our villa, ‘Gary’ the gecko. He is usually on the ceiling, but who cares…he eats the bugs. Also found a baby crab in the bathroom, they are all over the place outside, guess he got in when we left the door open.

After some breakfast of fruit, cereal and coffee we went to catch the bus into the town but missed it and to our surprise this old lady driving a Kia blew her horn at us and asked if we needed a ride so we said yes and she took us right to the courthouse to get our marriage license. People are friendly like that here. I think she is the mother of the guy that runs the villas, Lawrence.

In town after we got our license application done, we walked around and grabbed a bite to eat at Trader Jacks and Marsha had the best Sashimi (raw fish, tuna in this case-blackened on the outside) I have ever tasted. It literally melted in your mouth. I had the fish and chips and we both continued our practice of ordering Cooks Lager beer on tap wherever we go. Great beer but it varies in taste depending on where you get it (very inconsistent but always good). I also bought a colorful Island shirt so I don’t look too much like a tourist (everyone here wears flowery shirts).

The groceries here are very expensive. It cost $6.50 for a big bag of chips and $7.00 for a box of cereal. Meals are not provided at the villa so you have to buy groceries and use your kitchenette as eating out all the time will quickly take a bite out of your money.

After we got home we went snorkeling up past the last island. It is really shallow and you can actually stand up (but all the coral makes it hard to do so) if you get tired but there are lots and lots of fish. They all look like the kind you find in really nice aquariums at Doctors offices, etc. Finding Nemo type of fish.

Just had some stir fry beef with garlic, onions, peppers and a Cook Island Sweet Potato. It was really good. Now we are drinking the champagne that came with the villa. Anyway, it gets dark early here (around 6:30 pm). This is because it is so close to the equator. There is not much to do at night as the place pretty much shuts down at 4pm except for restaurants and a few grocery stores. The view of the night sky is amazing though and you see all the stars you don’t see if you live anywhere near a populated area.

Tomorrow we are heading back into town to check out the Saturday markets and Sunday we are going to the church to listen to the people sing (supposed to be a must according to all the travel books).

We will keep you posted. By the way called home today and a $20 phone card gets you 6 whole minutes of talk time to Canada.