Culture:

Visitors to the Cooks often get only a superficial impression of the place and are disappointed about the little sign of the Polynesian culture. Yet right underneath this thin Western veneer, layer upon layer of the old Cook Islands culture survives.

It's in the land system--how it's inherited, how it's managed, how it's leased but never sold. It's in the way people transact business. It's in the concept of time. Tradition survives intact in hospitality, in how to dance and make music and celebrate, in the wearing of flowers and in many other day to day ways of doing things.