Fiji

Hula Loop-Day 1 ( 34 degrees)

I arrived in Fiji at 5:30am local time. I stepped off the plane and was blasted in the face with hot air-it was fantastic. I was greeted by a Fijian who gave me a shell necklace and then set me up with tour group information. Unfortunately my bus would not arrive until 8am so I had a few hours to chill at the little airport of Fiji. The first thing I did was change into shorts and brush my teeth. It was a long flight although I did manage to sleep for 6 hours.

I met a girl named Rebecca from Wisconsin who was on the same tour group as me-the FeeJee Experience Group. She's going to school in Sydney for 4 months and decided to stop in Fiji first. By the time our bus arrived we were good friends. We were the first ones on the bus and we met our tour guide-Anna and our bus driver Airport. His name isnt actually Airport but that's what everyone calls him. He looked like Jamie Fox.

We stopped by 2 other resorts and picked up a total of 10 people (including myself). The bus was air conditioned (thankfully) and played American music. Airport did turn the channel and played some Fijian music, one song was my favourite (all in English) because it made me giggle over the line, "In the Fiji islands the women are easy and the men are hard...to get, that is how it is on the Fiji Islands." Hilarious.

I got to know everyone on the bus really well as everyone was so friendly. Our first stop was a local market where we bartered over fruit and bought sulus (sarongs) in town. Next we went to Natadola beach (see pic on right) where we went body surfing and our guides cooked us a bbq. There were horse rides we could go on but I wasnt interested. I was so focused on the gorgeous beach. Unfortunately it poured rain on us and we had to retreat to the bus to finish our lunch. We had chicken, sausages (I actually ate one I was so hungry, Warren would be proud) and fruit and salad. It was delicious.

After our lunch we headed off to the sand dunes to go sand boarding. It was terrifying. We climbed up this sand dune and the sand was so hot my feet burned and I didn't think I'd make it but I did. Our boards are actually very small and light, similar to a floatation device you find in pools. I was scared but I went down anyway, making sure to keep my elbows in like Anna instructed. I flew down so fast but at the very bottom I finally started to enjoy it. Nevertheless, I didnt do it again. The boys were much more entertaining to watch, as some tried tricks and ended up bailing at the bottom (see picture of Martinez from Sweden). It was hilarious to watch them and near the end it began to rain again and we ran to the bus with the boards over our heads. I couldnt help but think, "isnt this fantastic?" The rain melts almost as soon as it hits your skin, its so warm there, but it really, really pours. I've never seen rain like in Fiji and I live in Victoria!

I liked that we travelled by bus because I got to see a lot of the countryside, which is green and lush and breathtaking. Sugar cane is everywhere and so care cows, that are randomly tied to the side of the road. They are so skinny I could see their ribs, who has ever seen a cow's ribs? It was odd. Their horses are like that too.

Our last stop of the day was our hostel at Mango Bay Resort. My jaw literally hit the ground when I saw where we were staying. It was gorgeous. Palm trees, a pool on the beach...grass huts-it was like out of a movie. I immediately went and layed in the sun on the beach but a game of volleyball started in the pool so I joined in. Afterward there was a traditional Kava ceremony out on the beach so I joined that. A Kava ceremony is held to welcome new guests into a village. The locals mix kava root with water and then we are required to drink it with a BULA (Welcome/Hi) and then "MOTHAR" which is mother/thanks when we have chugged it. Kava root has been described as their local alcoholic drink but really it has a sedative effect and my tongue and lips went numb after drinking it. What does it taste like you ask? It tastes like dirty water. It looks like dirty water. In fact I made a joke stating that who were we to know? We are just stupid tourists-it could be dirty water and they might be laughing at us. Except that they mix it in a bowl in front of us. It was a neat experience and I looked up in the middle of the ceremony to see a huge bat fly over us. I just smiled.

After dinner there was a crab race in the club (yes, there was a night club). We got to bid on hermit crabs representing countries around the world. I bid on Maple the crab representing Canada but I lost. my friends at my table and I all went in and we bid on and won Kava Power, the crab representing Fiji. It was hilarious to watch the crabs race to be the first outside the circle. We are all screaming yet we have no idea which crab is ours! It was hilraious. Our Kava Power Crab came in second and we won $33, which was immediately spent at the bar on vodka, mango and passionfruit drinks. I was so tired after that (remember all this activity after being up since 5:30) and I was ready for bed. Heading back to our hut, little frogs were everywhere on the path and I had to be careful not to step on any like my friend Alex did. He squished one poor little frog because he made the decision to 'short cut it through the grass.'

All in all it was a great first day in Fiji.

*Fijian word of the day: BULA-welcome, hi, greetings

Hula Loop-Day 2 (32 degrees)

I slept really well and we were up early for breakfast before getting on the bust at 8am. We were supposed to go on a rainforest hike but a cyclone hit Fiji the week before I arrived and so it wiped out the trails (and many people's homes). Instead we took a boat trip up the rive that Anaconda was filmed on and at the top of the river we had a picnic lunch. This was the day it poured rain off and on continuously. I remember sitting on the sandbar with my friends by the river with a waterfall on the otherside and I was eating pizza in the pouring rain and I thought, "this is so cool." It really was. I was drenched but warm and I was sharing this experience with people from all over the world-who else can say they've done that?

When lunch was over (it was still raining) we all got our own inner tube and started tubing down the river. Fortunately the rain stopped soon after we started and the water was so warm. We had a blast but the best part was when we reached the rapids. Have you ever done white water rafting in an inner tube? I had my back to them and when I picked up speed I was like, "what the heck is going on," looked over my shoulder just in time to see that I was headed towards a huge rock! I managed to padde out of the way just in time. I laughed at my friend Alex (from London) as he got caught up in the rocks and scraped his po-po quite bad. We were all laughing at each other and the boys were trying (unsuccessfully) to stand up on their tubes. I unfortunately do not have any pictures of this event as I took my waterproof camera and its undeveloped. Near the end of the trip down the river, our guide warned us not to head towards the waterfall at the end and what did we all do? We really couldnt control it as it started to rain again the water rises really, really fast there because of the amount of rain. We got caught up in the current and we were laughin so hard we couldnt swim to shore. We made it eventually and at no point of our journey were we ever in any danger. It was fantastic.

Of course we were soaked at the end of the journey and we were happy to get to our second hostel in Suva (capital of Fiji) for a hot shower. Unfortunately this was the worst hostel we stayed at. It was out in the middle of nowhere and the pool was green. It was called the Rainforest Tree Lodge. We had dinner where my friend Elena found a huge spider in her meal (they still tried to make her pay for it) and we were entertained by local dancers. I headed up with the Brits (Brianna, Brad, Nick and Alex) plus Martina from Switzerland to Brad and Bri's private room for chats on their patio. There were no lights but the mosquitos are mad there! We also found large millipede's, very cool.

*Fijian word of the day: Vinaka (thank you)

Hula Loop-Day 3 (32 degrees)

Because the cyclones wiped out the bridges between Suva and Rakiraki, we had to backtrack the way we came to reach the other side of the island. It was a torturous day on the bus. I think we spent a total of 6 hours on the bus. At least it started off really well, we went to a local school to see the children (we brought them school supplies as they are too poor to buy their own). The school was very tiny and the children all wear uniforms and were very excited to see us. They sang us songs in english and Fijian. We learned that English is taking priority over their traditional language of Fijian now, although they still learn both. They kids were great and I enjoyed seeing how they were taught. God it was hot that day-no air conditioning in their classrooms and no glass windows-just plastic vents.

Next we hit up a local village where we joined in an actual Kava ceremony (more traditional than at Mango Bay). They made us flower necklaces and although I declined the kava (I was skeptical of the water source) I enjoyed watching them sing, dance and make pottery. After they bake the pottery they cover it in tree sap to make it shiny. They made us all dance with them afterward and a large Fijian woman had her hand on my po-po the entire time. It was a bit unnerving.

On the bus I was in the back with the Brits and I played travel monopoly with the boys. I was winning for most of the game but Brad had a good comeback and cleaned house. It took us 4 hours to play that game! All the little money and tiny houses, it was fun. Brianna was our banker.

Our hostel that night was another gorgeous resort. The bugs there were mad, a giant moth, millipede's, cockroaches, ants and something that looked like a large stick...except that it was crawling across the sidewalk. I let it cross before I booked past it. Geckos are everywhere in Fiji and a little gecko with no tail stayed on the window beside my bed all night. We slept under big fans with no sheets. We had trivia at our table during dinner and my team didnt win but in the entertainment section I got every answer correct.

It was the first day it didnt rain on us and Alex and I talked British vs Canadian history for most of the night. I should note that the food in Fiji is very expensive ($16/ plate) and its mostly American food of burgers and chips. I ended up eating salad and garlic bread or soup as I was so tired of the crappy food. I believe I lost weight in Fiji.

*Fijian word of the day: Sega na leqa (no worries)

Hula Loop-Day 4 (last day of tour, 35 degrees)

The last day of our trip was a sad one, as I had to say goodbye to Brad, Brianna, Nick, Alex, Elena and Martina. They were staying behind. We woke up to gorgeous sunshine like always (it normally only rained in the afternoon) and Brianna and I headed down to the beach early to go snorkelling. I've never been before so she walked me through it. Amazing. That's all I can say. Fish dont mind you and they are bright colours and its just so awesome how clear the water is. At one point I reached the drop off (like in Nemo) and I was pretty freaked out and I swam back into the coral. It wasn't until after I got out of the water that my friend Gareth (British hottie surfer boy) told me how his friend did the same but said it was the first time she considered that a shark could come out of nowhere and eat her. I was horrified as that thought NEVER occurred to me. Luckily there were no sharks or jellyfish and I only got stung by the sea lice.

We dropped my friends off in town and those remaining on the bus (you can choose whether to stay or continue on) headed on the road again. It took us an hour and a half to reach town for lunch, where I found a hilarious sign for the men's washroom. Then another 2 hours on the bus until we reached the mud baths. We were out in the middle of nowhere in a village with cows everywhere. Let me tell you how disgusting it all was. We had to trek through a forest of cow shit (no kidding) to reach this mud hole in the middle of it. I was dubious about going in this little swamp but everyone went in and so did I. It was so disgusting, it was like being in cow-ka-ka up to your knees and the rest of it muddy water up to your shoulders. It was very warm though and apparently the mud is good for you. Mark spread the mud all over his face and then said, "I'm not so sure I should have put this stuff on my face." Someone spotted a floating object and asked, "What is that?" Mark replied, "A floater," to which we all shrieked and started to head out. I was in long enough for a picture (proof) and then I wanted out as fast as possible. I cannot describe how sick it felt to have that gross stuff ooze between my toes-nasty I say! Anna told us there was a hot spring back the way we came to which Gareth said, "that pool with the dodgey looking pipes sticking out of it?" We all laughed again, you could tell everyone was totally unimpressed. I refused to go in the so-called hot springs as it looked like a drinking hole for cows with rusted piped pouring suspicious looking water into it. Apparently it was very, very hot. Rebecca said her skin was burning. I opted out and went straight to the showers. It was the worst experience of our trip, all I wanted was a real shower with disinfected soap. It didnt help that Gareth and Mark were suggesting all the nasty things you can contract from animal feces. Boys.

We ended back in Nadi-where the trip began and everyone got dropped at a different hostel except Julie (Aussie) and Maren (German) were at my hostel. Thank god it was a paradise resort with two pools, a movie theatre, 6 buildings of dorms and a game room. I took a shower and went to bed.

*Fijian word of the day: Uro (sexy, foxy)

Hula Loop-day 5 (34 degrees)

My last day in Fiji I stayed at my hostel and just chilled by the pool. It hadnt rained in two days and I was couting my blessings. Of course I fried myself in the sun and spent the afternoon camped out in my room with my roomates who were also tired of the sun. You have no idea how hot and thick (humid) the air is here. We had an air conditioned room but a thunder storm arose and we lost power with the first clap of thunder, which was so loud and close that our building shook and it sounded like cannons were right above us. It was terrifying actually. One more clap of that and we sweated for 4 hours until the power came back on. Thankfully I had an iPod Touch for which I could watch my fashion shows to keep me entertained. I charged all my stuff up and organized my bag, which was rank from the desperate need to laundry. Towards the end of the evening 3 girls entered the dorm and as soon as they spoke I was like, "Yay, where in Canada are you from?" It was nice to see Canadians. From Ottawa and Toronto they were on the same flight as me the next day so we packed together and caught a cab in the morning. My last experience of Fiji was in the lobby of our hotel checking out and something was tickling my arm. It appeared a gecko had decided to crawl up my arm but being a girl and in a place like Fiji...my first reaction was to fling whatever foreign species that was on my arm-OFF. poor little fella hit the floor quite hard but he's got to give a girl some notice.

Fiji is a gorgeous country and the people are very friends but damn its expensive and the washrooms are the nastiest washrooms I have every experienced in my life. The mosquitos are quite bad too, I was happy to leave and super excited that my next stop was....SYDNEY! Wahoo.

*Fijian word of the day: bili bili (Bamboo raft)