Fiji

Mom and I flew out of Auckland, NZ to Nadi, Fiji. My other row seating buddy was a Fijian lawyer who offered me a place to stay at her home in NZ. She was my first introduction into "Fiji time," the idea that Fijians take it easy, but work hard when they need to. We got to Fiji and were completely swept away by a warm and humid heat that rolled over us as we stepped off the plane. After walking through the airport, I realized that we had missed out on the silly shell necklaces that they hand out to tourists. Then we got picked up by a shuttle that took us to our nearby hotel. With nothing else to do, we kicked back and relaxed by the pool. I watched an episode of a Korean drama about a lady doctor, from back in the day, who was being promoted by the Emperor to the displeasure of his council. It was amusing and had terrible acting. I also ended up watching Bolt which was a cute movie. The pool was right outside of our room and was nice, but a little too warm. 

The next morning our van from the hotel to the boat was 2 hours late. We got to the boat and clambered on for a 1 hour and 45 minute boat ride. It was pretty bumpy trip and my  stomach would fall every time the boat hopped over a giant wave. It was a really fun ride and made me want to spend more time on boats. I did manage to fall asleep for like 10 minutes. The only annoying thing was having my head hit the metal bar with every bounce. I'm quite proud of my ability to sleep almost anywhere. As the boat pulled up to the island, Waya of the Yasawa Group, we were greeting by a beautiful beach and a group singing the welcome song with guitars and ukes. As an added adventure, we had to time our jumps just right to exit the boat or we'd get run over by the boat and the incoming wave. All the guests who had arrived on the island that day had a little pow-wow with the guy who was the equivalent of a cruise director. Then mom and I wandered off to Bure 14, our little bungalow. Every day was filled with delicious food, warm sandy beaches, a hot sun and cool clear water. At night we'd climb under our misquito netting and try not to move. Every night was incredibly hot and humid. Open windows would bring in a slight breeze and the overhead fan was basically useless. Our bathroom was pretty interesting. In the room that adjoined the Bure was a sink, a toilet and a shower. The shower didn't have a roof and opened up directly to the sky. It was very cool to shower at night and just look up at the stars. 

We also got to try an assortment of fruity resort drinks from the bar. This was basically a cashless resort and you charged everything to your bure, room or bunk. There was a welcoming ceremony the first night where we drank Kava, a local drink derived from roots. Kava has been known to cause hallucinations with large and strong enough mixtures. I didn't hallucinate, but my tongue went numb. On the 2nd day, mom walked to the local village over the hill with a group from the resort. Most of the people who worked at the resort were from the local village, but there were a few from the main island. While she was gone I took my first steps to getting PADI scuba certified with my instructor, Cookie. I watched a video that took 1.5 hours. It was almost mind numbing and it was incredibly cheesy. After I watched the first 3 lessons, I decided that I would rather spend time with my mom while we were in Fiji because the PADI course was going to eat up about 6 hours every day for most of the trip. I also realized that it would probably be more fun if I took the course with a friend. No one else at the resort was interested in taking the Open Water course. Then when I tried to take the 1 day discover scuba course, they wouldn't let me because of my asthma. Go figure.

Mom and I took an incredible snorkel trip. We got on a boat and were dropped off at some gorgeous reefs filled with brightly colored plant and animal life. One of our guides was the village chief. At one point he gave me a perfect shell which I gave to mom because she's a shell collector. We snorkeled around for about 45 minutes and once we found a cave and our guide demonstrated his amazing lung capacity and dove through the cave and then back to the  surface. He offered to let us try, but it was out of our depth. Then we took the boat to a place called Mafia Island, It was so named because a local crime syndicate tried to build a Casino on the island. The remnants of the buildings are still there, but it was never completed. Our guides started a fire and cooked fish and potatoes. We also had soda, salad, fruit and a noodle dish. It was a wonderful lunch followed by an even cooler nap time. I snorkeled off the shore of Mafia Island before we all went on a walk to see the casino ruins. Then we moved onto another dive site and jumped in for a second round of swimming. Unfortunately, I forgot to put on more sunscreen and got a wicked sunburn on my back. When you snorkel, your back is always facing the sun so it's really the perfect way to get a massive burn. Later that night I tried to put on a wool t-shirt and it really hurt. 

One night they slaughtered one of the local pigs and cooked it over a spit on the beach. That night they had a show of local song and dance. We danced, ate the pig and had a plethora of other dishes. There was also a bonfire night where I ended up drinking beer and kava with the locals. While drinking kava, I made friends with the executive chef named Anna and she was really nice and very informative about the resort and the island. Mom claims that I was tipsy when I got back and hungover the next morning, but this is not so. There was another game night called shots for shots volleyball, Fiji vs the world. It was a volleyball game where the Fijians got 6 players and the other team was comprised of any resort guest that wanted to participate. One young girl played and when she got a shot, it was a shot of coke. You earned shots by scoring, hitting the ball well, assisting, being funny or just going all out hardcore. If you were an adult and you earned a shot, it was a mix of tequila and lemonade. It was a really fun game and as I have no skill playing volleyball, I won my shots by going for crazy shots and hitting the sand. At the end of the match Fiji won and they said they have only been beaten twice. You could tell that they were all holding back and could have ended the game at anytime. I walked up to the bar and was rewarded with 3 shots. No one was drinking them so the shot maker and the bartender said "Go for it, now one else is drinking them." So 1, 2, 3 and they were gone. After that I went off to bed. Luckily for me, they were more lemonade than tequila. On another day I went on an intense hike with one other resort guest and a local guide. We walked up a series of rocky hills and ended up resting on a pile of rocks overlooking one of the bays. The walk was physically intense and we all sweated heaps, but had a long running conversation that spanned from books to Australia.

Most days mom and I sat in lounge chairs by the beach under thatched umbrellas. We'd read and snorkel around the reef that bordered the shore. Conde Nas rated this one of the Top 10 beaches. Some people spent most of their time at the pool. I didn't really understand why, but it must have been a social thing. We met a bunch of people from around the world from NZ, Australia, America, Canada and Germany. Lying on the beach, on my back, for two 10 minute periods during one day gave me a burn on my front to match the back. I hadn't put any sunscreen on and the sun felt so nice and warm that I just sat out for those two short periods of time. I chalked it up to sun fail numero dos. By the time I left Fiji I had experienced my first full on sunburn. When you leave the island there's a leaving song sung by another group of resort people. It was nice, but sad to leave the resort. It felt like we had just arrived and were already leaving. I really soaked in the boat ride on the way back and tried to keep out of the sun. In the van on the way to the airport the radio was playing really quietly. I ended up freaking out a little bit because I thought a Glee song was on the radio. Turns out I was right. At first I convinced myself that I was wrong and it was probably the original version. After straining my ears a bit I realized it was a girl singing Somebody To Love. Since Queen usually sings it, I dismissed my earlier assumption that it was the original and listened for the different Glee Cast parts. By the end of the trip I was convinced that I had heard Glee on the radio and I had made friends with another Gleek in the van. A new Zealander lady near me asked if I was talking about Glee and that just pushed us into a whole glee conversation. I love talking about things like that. I'm sure I've forgotten tons of Fiji events and happenings, but there main thing I want to get across is that the water is clear, warm and full of life, the sand is hot and the people are fantastic. Oh and the food is great too.