Road to Rotorua

I came back from Bali in time to go on the Loyola-sponsored trip to Rotorua. We left Friday, April 22 at 8:30am to head up to the main road, Symond Street, to get on the bus with the Parnell kids and Kenny, our study abroad Loyola adviser.
For those of you who have only recently joined my blog or have forgotten, Kenny irks me. Like he gets on my last nerve. But for some reason, the entire Rotorua trip he didn't bother me once. He was nice and friendly and social and not bothersome, so maybe he's just bad at his job but is actually a good person. But also after getting to know him this weekend, I've realized it's not that he's bad at his job, he's just not super invested in it because he hates Baltimore. Either way, that means that although he sucks at being the Auckland coordinator/adviser/whatever, he's a decent guy who can manage to not get on my nerves for an entire weekend which is more than I can say about a lot of people, so nice going, Kenny. Well done.
Anyways, the drive to Rotorua was long. I should have been writing my blogs from Bali, but my notebook was stored in my bag under the bus. I had no data so I couldn't pass the time on Facebook or Insta, so the I was mostly just sitting there for forever, and I was glad when Kenny and Neelam and Dani talked to me.
Eventually we made it to Waimangu Thermal Valley, where we had a super nice lunch. Well, at the time I thought it was super nice. Little did I know that the rest of the meals would just keep getting better and better.
After everyone had sufficiently stuffed their faces, we went on a guided tour of the valley which took us past (literally) boiling lakes that would seriously kill you if you feel in, and colorful water. Rotorua is filled with geothermal areas such as this one.

Steamy Selfies with Neelam! 

Currently the lake is very low and a "Fiji Water" blue,
but the color can change due to the thermal activity
under the earth! 

Extreme heat + natural chemicals =
colorful picture

Instead of lava, the cracks in the earth here exert steam, boiling water, and mud, creating a very interesting situation. Because of how hot it is though, I would reckon it's just as harmful as the lava to people! 

After all the hotness of the thermal grounds, we were taken to a regularly temperatured lake lookout, where we threw up the LOYOLA because I had only been in a LOYOLA picture at Cape Reigna and I wanted another. To see us silhouetted or to see our faces, change the brightness on your screen!

After our guide returned us to our bus, we headed back on the road to our hotel, the Sudima Hotel, where we had about an hour of free time. I headed for the pool, of course. 

I'm not sure if I've blogged about it but I've certainly complained about it - I was seriously in need of a pool. Like I was craving the pool very, very badly for like months. So I was very happy that there was a swimming pool at our hotel and it was lovely! 

Following free time, we headed over to the Mitai Maori Village for our evening activities. First, we all gathered into the dining hall and listened to all 29 countries present tell us where they're from. Then we went out and saw our dinner being prepared. We were to have a traditional hangi, or Maori dinner cooked underground. 

We then saw a waka, or war canoe. First we saw the one used in a movie (I forget the name of the movie, but they carried a piano in the canoe), then we went down to the river and saw the Maori men paddling in a real one.
They were preforming like they were going to war, with chants and drums and paddle movement and everything. They went up and down the river twice to make sure we could capture a decent photo, and yet none of mine still came out very well. Ah, oh well. It was nighttime, give me a break.
Despues de the waka, we headed into a theatre-type area for a cultural lesson/show/entertainment.
Our (the visitor's) chief, Gary from Minnesota, accepted the silver fern, communicating we came in peace. Then we learned about the different war tools and play toys of the Maori people. We also learned about their face tattoos and watched dances done by both the men and women. We also heard about the love story of one of the past rulers and his love. After the haka, we returned to the dining hall to finally eat our feast.
Following the amazing dinner, we headed back out for a bush walk. We learned more about the plants of the area, including the flax plant and the silver fern, and saw a replica Maori village and learned about their living situations and their secret hideaways for in case of war. Then we got to see glowworms! The guide said that they were not nearly as good as the ones at Waitomo, so I'm glad I saw these first, but I still can't wait to go to Waitomo next week. The glowworms were quite cool, but they weren't plentiful enough in one area for me to get a picture.
After the walk, we headed back to our nice fancy hotel rooms and went to bed.

Until next time,

xoxo,

Tasha