Using parallels, you can run Word for Windows just fine. I do so in 'coherence' mode. It's costly, but, if you already own a copy of Office for Windows, it really doesn't end up costing you much of anything. (vs buying Office for Mac) It will also let you run lots of other Windows applications. Using coherence mode, applications open up as if they were Mac apps.
I love pages, personally. It's simple, quick, less bloated. It's more powerful than a basic text editor, but not as insane as word. It's also more friendly when adding graphics and such like that. Using Microsoft Word feels like driving a tractor trailer. It can do a lot, and it has a lot of power. But it's also big, slow, fairly unwieldy, requires a bit of knowledge and skill to truly use it, AND, you are pretty locked in to what you can do (formatting is very difficult if you want to do anything 'different'). Pages it a bit more like a sedan. It won't do the load the tractor trailer can do, but it'll handle your commute. It'll do so more cheaply, more easily, quicker, and more comfortably. Just decide which one you need.
To compound what others have said, if you need compatibility with other Office users, don't rely on Pages export to .doc/.docx functions. It may fail to transfer formatting when you need it most.
Also, consider OpenOffice (OpenOffice.org). It's a free, open source alternative, and it's very good. Again, same caveats. Less features than Word, and perhaps less user friendly than pages, but it IS free, and if you don't need compatibility with other users it's fantastic. Lots of schools and universities are adopting it actually, it's free, the students no longer have to purchase expensive software on top of expensive books, and it can save a TON of money for the school (each and every computer in a school needs to purchase a license! Though Microsoft does do some volume discounts for educational institutions)