fun and frustrations

We've been trying to do a bit of touristy stuff while we're here, and not just beach lounging. Actually I haven't been to the beach at all, but generally every afternoon some group of adults heads off with all the kids by bus to have a swim. Being with two other families has the advantage of keeping the kids busy while we all take turns getting chores done. Thursday, we mostly did chores, as it is so time consuming to even do the simplest things on a boat, it can take all day to keep up on the basics. I always feel like it's a waste of time to do laundry when I'm paying to be in an exotic foreign country, but everyone insists on sleeping on sheets and wearing clothes. We've done quite a lot of internet, which should have taken minutes, but the connection is so slow, it's actually taking hours. Pete has been to every hardware type store on the island looking for a sewing machine belt and a laundry spinner, but you have to order that sort of thing from New Zealand.

Friday, we finished laundry, did more internet, had tea on Dolphins, sent the kids to the beach with Helen and had a local man out to the boat after dinner. We plan to go to Palmerston Atoll next, which is a small island 270 miles northwest of here. Five families live there who are descended from William Marsters and his three wives who settled there in the 1860's. No ships stop there and the island has no regular means of getting supplies. This time of year a number of cruising boats come to Rarotonga and families here collect things to send to Palmerston. We have met Arthur Neal, who is a first cousin to Bill Marsters (on Palmerston) and son of Tom Neale, who is famous with cruisers for being a hermit on Suvarov Island. I'm beginning to think everyone in the Cooks is related to everyone else. Arthur came by yesterday with boxes of apples, eggs, refrigerant, and misc other supplies for his cousin's family. He had with him his grand nieces, who came on the boat and played while we chatted. Arthur lives on Manihiki, which is a Northern Cook, inhabited by 350 people, most of whom are pearl farmers. He teaches dinghy sailing to the local kids and they have won nationals the last 3 years.

My biggest frustration this week is bugs. We seem to be infested with bugs everywhere I look. Each time I cook, the black flies swarm the kitchen. We're finding maggots in the garbage and on dirty dishes. They seem to appear in less than a day, so our normal wash up once a day isn't going to be enough. Also, ever since Mexico, there have been black weevils in some of the food. Luckily the Tupperware keeps them from spreading, but I am still finding a few. Now we've found some small brown beetles in with the sewing supplies. Who knows where those came from or what they want. And then to top it all off, we've discovered that all the cruising kids have thread worms. I have been assured by an American doctor that they are common enough even at home, but I'm pretty unhappy. Everyone has been dosed with medicine and I'm cleaning with bleach like a crazy lady, just to make myself feel better. I'd give anything for a washing machine and hot water to sanitize everything in the kids' bedrooms.

Saturday is market day, so we spent a few hours exploring and shopping this morning. Cabbages, tomatoes, eggplants and taro roots seemed to be the most common produce. No one was selling local fruit, which was disappointing. Five cyclones hit Rarotonga this last season and all the papaya trees were wiped out. The bananas are recovering, but slowly. I did pick up some vegies for me and another family on Palmerston and I'll get New Zealand fruit at the grocery store. Pete ended up modifying the sewing machine fit a belt that we had since he was unable to find a belt to fit the machine... necessity breeds creativity.

We hope to leave for Palmerston with the next weather system on Tuesday. Every few days the wind does a 360 degree circle as low pressure systems pass by south of us. We need to sail with good wind and also be in Palmerston when it's from the east as the anchorage is not safe in a west wind. Now that we're all loaded up with supplies we're committed to stop, if even for a short time.

It's time to entertain the kids, all for now, Kellie