Hooked on the Cooks

Last Tuesday 8th of December I time-traveled for the first time in my life. I took a plane at Auckland's Int Airport at 10pm and arrived to Rarotonga the same day at 2.40am (20 hours earlier), now, how cool is that?

Rarotonga is the main island of the group of seven islands known as the Cook Islands. Less than 15000 souls -most of them Maori- inhabit this volcanic island whose total area covers approximately 67 km2 (the size of San Marino). In spite of the relative bad weather (20-25 deg C, overcast with showers), I managed to do a bunch of interesting things in this idyllic island. You won't find many pictures though, for two main reasons:
1) I thought that the bad weather didn't make justice to the place and 2) I spent a lot of time at the beach and under the water so most days I left the camera at home. The highlights of my trip were the trek across the island (8 km north-south), the bicycle tour around the island (32 km), the long hours snorkeling in the crystal clear waters of the lagoon that surrounds the island and the breath-taking sunsets at the beach.

In conclusion, a very relaxing week that helped to recharge my worn-out batteries. Next stop: America!

Interesting things that I've learnt:

• Tiny islands in the middle of the Southern Pacific Ocean are not a myth. I must add that planes don't crash there every now and then unleashing a very intriguing sequence of events with no logical explanation.
• A coin doesn't necessarily need to be round. Check out the $2 Cook Islands coin!
• The first European to come across the Cook Island was the Spanish sailors Alvaro de Medaña in 1595.
• The first European who cooked a tortilla de patata in the Cook Island was no other than Iñaki Merino Albaina in late 2009.

---

El pasado 8 de Diciembre hice mi primer viaje en el tiempo. Al mas puro estilo Michael J. Fox en 'Regreso al futuro', me subi en mi Delorean particular a eso de las 10 de la noche hora local de Auckland (Nueva Zelanda) y aterrice en Rarotonga (Islas Cook) poco antes de las 3 de la madrugada de ese mismo dia. En otras palabras, retrocedi 19 horas en el tiempo.

Rarotonga pertenece al archipielago de las islas Cook. Con poco mas de 15000 habitantes, esta diminuta isla volcanica -del tamaño de San Marino- ofrece paz y descanso a todos aquellos que puedan permitirse un largo viaje al medio del oceano pacifico. Tal vez fue esto lo que atrajo la atencion del marino español Alvaro de Medaña al convertirse en el primer Europeo en darse un garbeo por la zona. Yo por mi parte buscaba descanso, y a pesar de que el tiempo no acompaño del todo, lo encontre. Mi visita se resume en: caminatas por la isla (especialmente bonita la que atraviesa de norte a sur en poco mas de 8 kilometros), largas horas buceando (con tubo y gafas) en el arrecife que rodea la isla y atardeceres de pelicula en la playa. En resumen, una semanita recargando las pilas para mi proximo destino: America!