For our second stay in Rarotonga we moved into the backpacker style Aramengo Guesthouse in Muri on the east side of the island. Since the hostel itself was rather basic it was a good thing that bananas and passionfruit were growing right outside the door and it was conveniently located just a short walk from the beach with lots of cute doggies, a French bakery and the “Matutu” micro brewery.
Every bottle is hand-bottled and labelled by some poor island guy shivering in the freezing cold cool room while it’s 30 degrees outside. But the result is definitely worth it and the pale ale is very yummy, especially after the 3 hour Rarotonga Cross-Island Track. “Just go straight after the big rock and turn left under the trees with the flute-like trunks” was about all the description we got from our host at the guesthouse! Yeah right!
Oh and just next door to our hostel we found a cute little cafe with a pool and two funny ladies on staff. One afternoon I was comfortably finishing my John Grisham book while Bea was splashing around in the pool when the next thing I saw was some photographer taking pictures of her in the pool for the new hotel brochure WITH ANOTHER GUY! Unbelievable! At least we got the drinks and fruit decoration and could spend the rest of the evening in their pool 😉
Gone walkabout 