July 9th: Cultrual Experience Journal

During the second day we went on the duck tour and went to the whaka Maori village.  Both brought separate, however still important cultural experiences.  During the duck tour we got a more nature oriented experience and at the village we learned more about the actual Maori culture.  At the duck tour we drove to the lake and all the while we learned about various aspects of the birds and objects in rotorua.  We learned about the pookeycoos, saw the govt. gardens, among various other things.  Once we actually got to the lake it was mostly foggy and could barley see anything but we learned about how the lake was named after a necklace that was dropped and lost in it.  The Maoris don't believe that the necklace should be taken out.  We then learned about the green lake which the Maori use to bathe their dead.  It is for forbidden to go into the lake and there has been times where people that go on it have strange things happen to them.  Later we went to the Maori village and got to see how the Maori have lived for years before.  We say how they utilized the natural hot springs for their daily lives.  They use it to cook their food, bathe, and even use the mud to use as healing lotion for rheumatoid arthritis.  We also saw how the architecture of their main buildings  correspond with their culture and some history of their people.