Rorotonga, Cook’s Islands
This is another small Island in the Pacific and there is no pier for the ship to dock, so we have to go ashore aboard the tenders ( the lifeboats). I wanted to go ashore, but the waves are making it very difficult to get aboard the tenders so I decided to stay on the ship and try to get caught up with my blog. Now I can’t get connected to the internet, so heaven only knows when I’ll be able to send this off.
Because of all the problems we have been having with internet connections, the captain has given those of us who purchased an internet package an extra hour for free. That’s good news because I’ve already used up half of my 500 minutes and most of that was wasted time trying to log on and off.
The last time I wrote , I was off to explore Papeete, in Tahiti. I spent the morning ashore exploring and had a very nice adventure: On board ship the manicurist does not refill gel fingernails, so since this is a large city, I went in search of one who could. In the first shop I entered, the manicurist didn’t work mornings, but the owner knew of another shop that could help me. At first she was going to draw me a map on how to get there, but then she said, “It’s only a short walk, I’ll guide you there.” So off we went. I was accompanied by Jim, a young male passenger from the ship, who was looking for coins to add to his collection. Our guide didn’t know of any place that sold coins, but then she told us to wait a second. She entered one of the shops and asked the owner for coins of various denominations. She got 6 different coins and presented them to Jim. She would not accept any remuneration, saying that this was “Island Hospitality”. She then led us to the place where I got my nails done. I had to force a tip on her.
After that, Jim and I wandered through the market where local wares were for sale – the type of market one finds in every port—very colourful. I bought some post cards and Jim bought a necklace with 2 black pearls for his teen age daughter. We stumbled on an Internet Cafe and I thought I would be able to get in touch with home – I even had my memory stick with me, which contains all my pictures. Unfortunately I had left my address book on the ship and didn’t have the addresses memorized and I wasn’t savvy enough to get onto Blogspot. On top of that I wasn’t able to access my Yahoo mail. I haven’t accessed it ever since, so if you have written me and haven’t received a response that’s why. Try my Gmail address which is: lvogel21.12@gmail.com.
Jim didn’t purchase any Internet time. He asked me if he could check his E-mail on my connection. I agreed. He used up more time than I did. When I paid, he didn’t offer to share. We went back out on the street and then I found out that he was a real cheap skate. It was really hot and he bought himself a drink, never thinking of offering me one. Oh well – C’est la vie.
In the afternoon, I had a tour booked. A bus took us around the island and our beautiful guide gave us a detailed description of what we were seeing. I as able to get some lovely photos. Tahiti is really very picturesque. I had to think about the movie “South Pacific” The scenery is exquisite. Bora Bora however is even more gorgeous. I’ll write about Bora bora on another Blog, because I find that if my Blog is too long, I have difficulty sending it.
Bora Bora is on my list of places to go one day. I'd like to stay in one of those grass huts with a glass floor out on the water. I'd spend the day lying on the floor!
ReplyDeleteHere's a tip to save on internet time (if you don't already do this) I would always write my blog postings in a word file first. Then later when I was connected to the internet I could just copy and paste them into the blogspot form and click post in a matter of a couple of minutes. Maybe that helps...not hanging out with Jim too much could help also. :-)