04.02.11

Words have escaped me! How do I explain properly, all the incredible things here in Fiji! It has certainly met all our wildest expectations and more!
Our first two nights we couch surfed with a local family… Paul and Diane and their three Dobermans… Findley, Cleopatra and Molly. They have a wonderful home, which is equally comfy and inviting. They immediately made us feel at home, and started to give us all the tips and advice of the things to do in the area and the most popular tourist things to do around the islands. We had gone into Nadi town and were pleasantly surprised at how welcoming and friendly everyone was. The town is small, but it is clean and not nearly as commercialized as Bali. The homes are situated on decent sized lots of land, and for the most part, look like normal homes. The roads are potty, but like everything else, it is basic and there for its bare necessity. There are far less cars on the road and no motorbikes, which mean that it is significantly more quite then Bali was. However, there are tons of dogs running around, which gives it that same feral feeling as Bali did.
That night, Paul and his friend Noah, gave John and I a traditional Kava ceremony. Kava, is a drink they make out of the root from the pepper plant. They pound it into a powder and then mix it with water in a special bowl, which is then served after a special prayer and ritual of clapping hands, in a coconut shell cup that is shared between all people circled around the master bowl. Once mixed with water, Kava looks like muddy water, and has a very distinct earthy smell. It all starts when one of the Fijian runs its hand around the rim of the bowl and says a quick prayer. Then they mix the water by diluting the powder into with which is inside a bag that it will be filtered through. They pull the Kava in a coconut cup and pour it out to help stir it up, and then pass it on to the first recipient… usually the chief, or a man. Males go first and then females. The taste, at first, is exactly what you think dirt would taste like. Before you can decipher what else it tastes like, your entire mouth goes numb. It feels exactly like antiseptic spray that you use in your mouth when you have strep throat. It only stays numb for a few minutes, but by the time you have feeling again, its time for another round. I am not going to lie, I was nervous at first, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had imagined, and in fact, was enjoying myself!
The next day we had ventured up towards Lautoka to see the garden of the sleeping giant and the mud pools and hot springs. It was maybe 30 minutes away from where we are staying. The bus ride was just delightful too! There are no windows… structures from where windows should have been, which made for a nice breeze. It was full of smiling locals, and the music was full blast reggae mixes. It was bumpy, and felt like at any minute the floor may have rust from underneath us. In fact, near the gear shifter by the driver, there was a rusted hole where you could see the racing roadway. The road up to the sleeping giant is very quiet. Mostly farm land with houses set too far back to even see. There was nothing but gravel and it was quite primitive and rough, but it got us to where we needed to be.
The sleeping giant is actually a range of mountains. The story is believed that a young woman had fallen in love with a young boy and they wanted to marry but because he was of higher wealth then her, their villages would never approve. Heartbroken, they ran off, and laid down together until they turned into stone…. which is now the sleeping giant. When you look at the mountain range at a particular point, you can see a very clear face of a giant, that looks as if he is sleeping. We got some great pictures of it too!
The garden itself is just an orchid garden within its hills. It was very beautiful to see all the different kinds of orchids, but to be honest, I wouldn’t spend 15 dollars to go inside again (15 per person!), nor would I recommend it to other travelers. The hot springs and mud pools were a different story though!
They were just a little bit further up the road past the garden and since there weren’t too many other people around, John and I walked. It took about 20 minutes, and we were hot and tired by the time we got there. There were only 5 other tourists there at the time, which made for a relaxing experience. First, we get into this tiny pond that literally is in the front of some little farm house. You first soak in the water, which was normal temperature, but the mud went up to your knees and really gave you the creeps. Then you get out and slather some mud on you from a bucket they provided. You cover yourself from head to toe, and stand in the sun until the mud dries on your skin. Then you get back in to wash off. It was surprising how clean we felt once we got the mud out from behind our ears. Then the lady walked us into a canopy of trees where there was the hot spring. Again, it just looked like a pond, but was nicely lined with lipstick palms. The water looked muddy and not very welcoming, but it was super warm and relaxing. We sat in the water for as long as our hot bodies would allow, and then made our way to a tarp where a few local ladies sat. They proceeded to give us a 15 minute massage, with the help of a little 3 year old boy, Pieie (Pie-Eee). It was so cute to feel his tiny hands on our calves, and the ladies told us that it was about time one of the men did a little bit of work around here! (In Fiji, traditionally, the females are left to work, though you will see men as police officers, taxi drivers, and such.) We played with Pieie a little once we were done, and hitched a ride with some of the tourists back into town.
The next day we left for Pacific Harbor. Len was generous enough to give John and I another week from his timeshare, so we were eager to get into a comfy bed and to hit the beach! Pacific Harbor is two hours north of Nadi up the coral coast. The ride was pleasant and quick, and Pacific Harbor itself was very small and quite. It’s known for being a tourist town, so other than resorts, there is not much else there. Our resort, the Fiji Palms, was self-accommodating apartment and less of a resort, though the rooms were just as lovely, if not nicer, then a resort. It had two bedrooms, a living and dining room and a full kitchen with washer and dryer. There were maybe only 50 units in total, and the grounds were small and private, with only a small bar and lounge area, a small pool and hot tub and a small garden before touching the beach. The beach is GORGOUS! It must have stretched in total, 4 miles long, and aside from maybe 3 or 4 other people at the time, John and I were the only other people on it. The water was crystal clear and calm, and stretched out was Beqa Island. We couldn’t contain our excitement!
The rest of the week was easy. Every day we would wake up to a stunning blue sky, a white sandy beach, and an ocean that seemed to be calling our name. We would carry out lounge chairs and lay on the beach. I, with a book in my hand, John with his Ipod, and every once in a while we would jump in the water and play with the fish or collect sand dollars.
On Tuesday we took a bus up to Suva which was an hour north and is the capital city of Fiji. It was an industrial town, where there were the main factories and where all importing and exporting were conducting. We weren’t really impressed, and didn’t like the built up feel. Was more like Bali but with less people. We got some fruit, and walked around, but it had started the rain and the gloom of the city mixed with the gray clouds was enough to get us back on the bus to the resort.
Prior to leaving Nadi, we had booked a shark dive that was at Beqa Island, but departed from Pacific Harbor. The dive itself guarantees you to see 7 or more species of sharks, including tiger sharks and bull sharks. Being the shark-fanatics that we are, you can only imagine how excited we were to do this dive. The only apprehension was that it was not clear if we had to be certified divers or not. Seeing as how we did several other dive without being certified, we figured that this would be no different. The person we booked the dive with told us that he had called and they said that we did NOT have to be certified. GREAT!
That Thursday was our scheduled dive, but when we got to the part where we check in, the lady was rather confused as to how we thought we didn’t need to be certified, when in fact, there was no way we could dive without being so. They also pointed out that the prices that we were charged were wrong, and they felt as if we had been scammed. Of course, at the time of the booking we had to put down half of what we owed as a deposit and a 15% commission rate. Of course, we were heartbroken, just heartbroken, but we were also irate that we had been taken advantage of. We went back to the resort and like little children, sulked around and pouted for the rest of the day. There was nothing we could do, at least not until we got back to Nadi. (We did get our money back… all except for the 15% commission which we figured went straight into the booking agents pocket, never to be seen again.)
The rest of our time there had been amazing though, and we were quite sad to have to leave. On our way back we had made a stop in the middle of the road where there was a long pier that had stretched out into the coral coast. I had seen it on the way to Pacific Harbor, and told John that it looked like a picture for your computer desktop and that we had to stop on the way back. Man, am I glad we did!!! We left our stuff at the end of the pier and made our way. Coral coast is a fitting name because that is exactly what it was. The first half mile of the ocean, from the coast out, was nothing but turquoise and powder blue Ocean with a rainbow of fish and plant life in its interior. It took our breath away! From the pier, you can see right through the water, just as clear as looking through a pair of glasses. We gawked at the brightly colored fish and even spotted an orange octopus, crawling his way through the coral forest. While John was taking pictures, I decided I was going to go in the water and see what else I could see. At this point, I have never witnessed such clear water, or a coral reef that was just right there under your feet.
I had to tread carefully because it was mostly coral. When there was sand, the sand was rough and sharp with broken pieces of coral and rocks. There were bright blue starfish, these strange looking sea slugs, sea cucumbers, and fish that were more colorful then a pantone color chart. At one point, I had noticed a large fish coming towards me, and it took me a second to register that it was a baby black tip reef shark, maybe only 3 feet long. I was so excited, but at the same time in shock, and as it neared me, I couldn’t help but scream “SHARK!!!!!” John had seen him from the pier, and my loudness had caused him to turn around and swim off. I couldn’t believe my eyes!!! A real shark, in its natural environment. How cool is that? John came into the water shortly after, and we just wadded around trying to find other neat creatures. It didn’t take long for our feet to because sore from the rought sand so we made our way back to the shore and with excitement, continued our way back to Nadi.
Our next stop was in Sigatoka. It is known for it’s massive sand dunes, one in which is designated for tourists to sand surf on. The taxi took us to some small road that dead ended just before the dunes at some homestay. The owners of the hostel were kind enough to let us keep our luggage there while we went and ventured off to see the dunes. It was already a blistering hot day, but the sand seemed to make everything else even hotter! Poor John’s sandals had broken back at the pier, so he was shoeless, and even though we were told that the sand would be hot, he went on without shoes anyways. I could barely stand it and I had flip flops on. John had to quickly run across the patches of sand until he found a patch of cooling grass. His knees were up to his chest and his arms were flailing about. We were greeted by horses who grazed the hot dunes with such grace and beauty. At one point, John’s feet burned so bad that he nearly stuck them in a pile of horse poop in desperation to cool them off. The only reason why he didn’t was because right over the dune was the ocean, so he made one last trek through the fiery sand and into the nice ocean.
This part of the ocean was nothing special. Just looked like a regular ocean, but the waves were enormous, and was a popular surfing spot. From here, we got an exceptional view of the other sand dunes, and took a few minutes to play in the rough water and cool off. John had lugged a body board with him in hopes to use it for sand surfing, but after realizing how hot the sand was, we began to doubt that it was going to happen. On our way back, John decided to test out the board on a small dune, just to make sure that we weren’t missing out on something amazing. I don’t think I need to go into too much detail about how it went! Lol… he made the attempt to slide down the dune, but maybe only moved a few inches before lodging. His chest, arms and thighs were covered in stinging sand and the only good thing that came from this experiment is the video I got of it!
We left for Nadi right after and went back to Diane and Pauls. It was a splendid week away in luxury but we were eager to figure out our plans for the upcoming weeks.