Pacific 2012 Cruise: Rarotonga

One of the Cook Islands, Rarotonga is approximately the same distance from the Tropic of Capricorn that Hawaii is from the Tropic of Cancer.

The harbor being too small to accommodate Rotterdam, once again it was necessary to take a tender ashore.

Arriving ashore we were greeted by Pa - the island medicine man.

He took us to his home where he showed us a variety of medicinal plants.

For those of you who really know your plant material, yes, in the third picture he is holding Nightshade, assuring us that it's poisonous properties could be rendered beneficial. Surprisingly, no one seemed to have whatever ailment (presuming you do not consider 'living' an aliment) the Nightshade was suppose to cure, so there was no opportunity to witness its beneficial effect...or the need to return to the island at a later date as a material witness.

Our orientation complete, it was time to hit the trail.

The first 1.5 miles of the hike was easy going. When we forded a small stream, Pa told those who did not want to proceed that they could turn around and follow the trail back down at a leisurely pace. Everyone seemed prepared to continue, but when the trail suddenly became a steep uphill goat path, the attrition rate quickly rose to all but five people + Pa. After considerable climbing we reached an opening that gave us views back down into the valley. Did you notice that "view" was not preceded by "fabulous", "amazing", "awesome" or something similar. It was not an oversight. The view was okay, but only marginally worth the energy exerted getting to it.

Annoyingly, Pa kept up with us walking in bare feet...at age 72...with all his ceremonial reeds and other plant material around his neck and knees in place.

Gravity was a big help returning to the easy part of the trail which we followed back to his house. There he served us a variety of truly delicious fruits. He invited us into his house.

Pa said he was flying to New York in a couple of weeks for the launch of his book PA AND THE DOLPHINS. It will be available through Amazon.com. It would seem the medicine man from a remote island in the Pacific is a more complex character than one first imagines.

BTW, Pa and I are now BFFs.

You scoff? Hey, pictures don't lie. He even hugged me as I got off the bus. I hope no one is crass enough to suggest that the the purity of our bonding was in any way tarnished by my having given him a generous tip and said I would buy his book.

[NOTE: I have joked a bit about Pa, but it is intended to be in good humor. Pam & I were both impressed with him. He is firmly committed to his beliefs, a wealth of knowledge on the subject matter and has a history of successes that precludes dismissing him as a charlatan or ineffective practitioner of his craft. And his personal state of physical and mental well-being at age 72 certainly suggests he is doing a lot of things right.]

Having requested to be dropped off about 1.5 miles from the tender pier, we explored some shops and dodged a shower by popping into a restaurant for some lunch.