Hello from Rarotonga

This morning I flew from Tahiti to Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook Islands. The Cooks are directly west of French Polynesia but became a British colony instead that then was given to New Zealand, which then gave the Cooks "independence in free association with New Zealand", meaning that they have internal autonomy, but their people hold New Zealand passports and the currency is the New Zealand dollar. I arrived around noon in the smallest international airport I've ever passed through in my life (only about 8 people were on my flight), and spent the afternoon taking care of business in the main town, Avarua: picking up my research permit from the Office of the Prime Minister, converting money, getting a Cook Islands drivers' license at the police station, buying topographic maps, calling a collaborator who will take me out in the field tomorrow, buying groceries, and most importantly--eating the first Indian food I have had in almost ten months. It was great.

Rarotonga looks like a small version of Mo'orea with less rugged topography, and where people speak English instead of French. Avarua is full of internet cafes and bars (even, reputedly, nightclubs). The place is crawling with NZ and Australian tourists. Everything costs half what it does in French Polynesia. A bunch of shiny new government buildings are being constructed courtesy of the People's Republic of China. Cars drive on the left. I'm staying in a honest-to-goodness hostel. But it looks like Mo'orea. It's pretty surreal.