Bula

I’m finally getting a chance to write about Fiji! It was definitely an amazing 6 days of my life.

So it began Saturday night. I slept over at Charlene’s apartment—which is awesome and has a HUGE deck that overlooks the whole city—and we woke up at 5am on Sunday so we could catch the early train to the airport. The train station is about 50 meters from the front door of her apartment complex which was obviously very convenient. We got to the airport and, of course, since we were so early there was no one in line yet to check in. We got first choice with the seats since we were so early, and so we were offered row 1—the one with about 5 feet of leg room! We were at our gate probably within 15 minutes of arriving at the airport. We got some coffee and I got out the 6 pieces of fruit I had taken from the dining hall for our breakfast—I know, I am the master at stealing of food from dining halls J. We just talked and before we knew it, it was time to board. Our flight was great because the crew was really friendly, we had tons of leg room, and char and I talked the whole time making the flight go by so fast. We also used her Fiji guidebook to help plan out what we were going to do. As we were descending, we got to see the gorgeous coral and many of the other islands from above which was amazing. When we got off our flight we got our baggage, did the whole customs thing, got some Fijian money from the ATM—there is only one ATM in the Nadi airport!—and went straight to duty free to get a bottle of rum for the both of us. All the liquor was so cheap!!! Anyway, we got some food—pizza, haha—while waiting for the bus and also looked at some brochures for some day trips we could do. We got on the 4:20 public bus and, well, it was an interesting experience. It hadn’t occurred to us that the bus would not really be a tourist bus, but an actual bus that Fijians use to get around. We laughed afterwards about how we were the only white people and how we put our bags underneath the bus in storage while everyone else used that storage for things like roots and leaves that they had collected. It was a very hot and crowded bus so we were happy when the 2 and a half hour bus ride to the hostel was over.

We checked in and I met Charlene’s 3 roommates and one of their boyfriends who had come from New Jersey to visit for 2 weeks. It was perfect because the rooms were 6 bed dorms and there were 6 of us. They were just going to eat dinner so we went out to sit with them and then char and I swam in the pool for a bit. We just hung out and talked for a while and then showered. We went to the office and had them book the 2 day trips we wanted to do for Tuesday and Wednesday. That left us with Monday (the next day) free to do the waterfall trek our hostel offered. We went to bed pretty early.

On Monday we got up early and had breakfast which was yummy and free from the hostel. Seeing the beach and everything in the daylight was phenomenal. At 10am we met our guide, one of the older men from the nearby village of Navola. It was the six of us, 4 people from Japan, and 2 from England. We basically hiked through the rainforest, barefoot, in lots of mud, though streams, over rocks etc. to get to Korolevu waterfall. During the hike we were taught about many different plants and their many functions/usages. The best part about it is that it is a waterfall that has a special meaning for the people of the village and only they really know about it/visit it. We swam in the pools there and took some pictures after we climbed up the waterfall. We headed back and we were all so exhausted—we didn’t get back until 3:00! We all ate lunch and took showers. While everyone else took naps, Char and I chilled at the beach and read/played on the swings that hang from the palm trees. We had dinner after which we met 3 really fun guys from England who had just arrived and who we hung out with for the rest of our time in Fiji. They are on a 6 month trip travelling around the world as they graduated from uni together at the end of last year and are beginning their respective jobs in July. We played mafia—yea, I know, it felt like camp or something!—for hours and also some other card games and had so much fun. We were all exhausted so we got to bed relatively early again.

On Tuesday, Char and I got picked up at 9am by our tour van that took us to Pacific Harbour, about 30km away from the hostel to the east, where we boarded a canoe and boated up the Navua River. We went to a village where they welcomed us elaborately. We took part in our first Kava ceremony and were told the history of the village. We were taken around the village and got to watch the women doing some really cool handiwork and were able to see the pre-school. The children sang for us and told us their names and ages—it was SO cute. We were served a lunch cooked the traditional way—underground. There were curries and fish and coconut and other salads and things. It was the some of the best food I’ve ever had! After we ate, the young men of the village danced for us and the women sang afterwards. When the women finished the men—all of whom were about our age-- came back and grabbed Charlene and me off the floor to dance with them! It was so much fun and everyone in the group ended up dancing too. The young men really loved Charlene and me and even told one of the elders about how thrilled they were to have “2 such beautiful young ladies” come to the village. Not going to lie—we both loved the attention and got a big kick out of it all. Anyway, after buying some crafts from the women, they sang a traditional farewell song and we got back on the canoe for the next part of our trip. We went to the Magic waterfalls which are huge. We swam in the pools there and got to jump off a rock that was about 15 meters above the pool. After that we got to bamboo raft down the river for a bit which is the original Fijian mode of water transportation. We got back to Pacific Harbour and then got dropped off by bus at our hostel at about 5pm. Char and I decided not to waste any time and to go snorkeling since the tide was high. The snorkeling was amazing at the beach where our hostel was! When the sun began to set, we got out and showered and had dinner with everyone where we were able to catch up on what everyone had done all day. In the evening we went to the village because we had been invited to drink some kava and just chill I guess. We stayed for hours in the village meeting room, drinking kava with the older men of the village and asking them all sorts of questions about their culture. After we walked back to the hostel we played scrabble and more mafia with the boys from England (aka Team GB…for Great Britain—we were known as team USA) Again, so much fun, and being able to hang out in the village seems so surreal.

I’ll continue in another post.