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Our third destination, Fiji! What a time we had! It was by far our favorite of the South Pacific islands. For those who don't know anything about Fiji, it is actually made up of 300 islands; some big, most small, some inhabited, many not. The main (and largest) island is Viti Levu, followed by the only other island of significant size, Vanua Levu. While we all picture Fiji as beautiful beaches and palm trees, it is actually much more diverse than that. Viti Levu is broken up into three parts - the wet, rainforest east with the capitol of Suva, the mountainous center, and the sunny, beach and palm tree-filled west. The remaining 298 islands are small, many only large enough to house one simple resort. Most of the islands are broken up into groupings. Two of the most popular groups, since they're relatively close to the main island, are the Mamanucas to the West and the Yasawas to the Northwest.
Fiji has a unique history - one of the more interesting tidbits for tourists being its cannibalization history. Tribes from neighboring villages used to fight and celebrate their victories by literally eating the defeated and displaying dismembered heads to show their strength. The islanders usually felt animosity toward each other because they all spoke their own tribal languages, so the lack of ability to communicate discouraged them from getting along. The British eventually settled there and encouraged learning of the English language along with education (and convincing them that cannibalism wasn't exactly a good thing). The Fijians kept most of their culture alive (which you can still see today) but did grasp the use of the English language to bridge the gap between tribes.
So today, most Fijians speak English, along with their native tribal language. Many people still live in villages and enjoy the traditions and simplicity of that lifestyle. Others live in larger cities such as Nadi (pronounced "Non-dee", the main city on the West coast of Viti Levu) and Suva (the capitol) and have adopted (or are currently adopting) the Western lifestyles… business, movies, cappuccinos, etc. But Fiji is still light-years away from common modernization and therefore gives most foreign travelers an extremely affordable vacation (and more importantly it retains its traditional charms). The American dollar was 2.3 to 1 while we were there, so essentially the cost of everything was just under half for us (i.e. our $60 hotel room in Nadi cost us under US$30).
We were a little stressed when we arrived in Fiji because, unlike our first two stops, Fiji presented a plethora of options. And until the day before our arrival, we really had not done much reading or research about Fiji. On top of that, we were told over and over again by fellow travelers that one week in Fiji (our planned duration of stay) would not be enough. They were right. We ended up extending our stay to 12 days. We would have honestly stayed for three or four weeks if not for our Australian work visas which had a static effective start date of December 28, 2001.
THE FIRST HOUR IN FIJI: We arrived in Nadi, where all of the international flights land. Immediately upon exiting customs, we were "greeted" by numerous "travel agents" (read "pounced on by locals who could smell our dollars coming through the door"). Luckily we knew where we wanted to start. A few people had mentioned a great place in the Yasawa Islands called David's Place - when Stephanie bought her new trip shoes at REI in Seattle last fall, the guy who helped her had spent months in Fiji and had specifically told her to go to David's Place. And, since that's the best research available (advice from fellow travelers), we asked the first "pouncer" how to get to David's Place, and we were directed to a wonderful woman named Maopa. She led us upstairs to her office and took care of everything. And we mean everything, it was great! She represents David's Place, but also took care of booking our seaplane (you could take a 30-minute seaplane flight or a dreadful 5-6 hour ride on a tiny boat, with only a US$4 savings on the boat - so bring on the plane!). Maopa also made our reservation at the second resort we had decided on, Robinson Crusoe Island, plus our hotel reservations on the mainland for our first and last nights in Fiji. She even let us check our e-mail in her office (for a small fee) and walked us to the baggage check (where we left our small backpacks full of stuff we wouldn't need on the islands) and then to our appropriate bus. We felt like we were on an organized tour!
OFF TO LAUTOKA: There weren't any seaplanes available to go to David's Place until the next day, so we needed to find accommodation for our first night. We had read about Lautoka, a town near Nadi that supposedly was a little more interesting and a little less touristy (Nadi is packed with tourist junket shops since it's the spot where all of the international travelers arrive and depart). Our guidebook, Lonely Planet, described Lautoka as being a waterfront town with a few good cafes and a big movie theatre. Maopa also said that Lautoka was a good place to stay if we wanted to get out of Nadi, so we decided to head there. Picture it - an old rickety bus with chipped blue paint and raggedy seats, just chugging along, and we were the only non-locals on it. The bus was full, with at least one person in each seat. We lugged our huge "hi, can you tell we're tourists?!" backpacks on and each found a seat (taking up a second space for our bags). It only took a few turns to get out of the city and feel like we were in the middle of "nowhere island". From the windows we could see green rugged and lush mountains, palm trees, a few houses and occasional glimpses of the ocean in the near distance. We were surprised how mountainous this area was - the peaks certainly weren't high, but the landscape was much more rugged than the Fiji we had pictured in our heads.
POP MUSIC INVASION: We felt a million miles from civilization, but then were given a reality check: Stephanie caught what was playing on the overhead radio on the bus - the new Bon Jovi song! And right after that, Britney Spears. Stephanie had a little chuckle to herself… it's not that easy to REALLY escape civilization, is it? We rode for about an hour on the poor little bus (with an occasional thrill of riding the back of some local's tiny car or a truck hauling sugar cane, then the bus driver zooming past as fast as the bus would take us, with no regard for the upcoming corners and hills in the road). After the landscape flattened out and we passed several sugar cane fields (and waited at a train crossing for a little sugar cane chug train to go by at the slowest speed known to machinery), we arrived in Lautoka. It didn't take long to decide that Lonely Planet had overstated this town's features - Lautoka kind of sucked. It was small but very crowded, with unbearable heat. We got off the bus and hopped into a taxi for a ride to our hotel (it wasn't that far away, but with that heat, we couldn't bear to carry those bags. The $2 taxi ride felt like the best couple of dollars we ever spent). The hotel was fine - a little old but very decent, especially for US$20 per night. It took us about 1.6 seconds to decide to spend an extra $5 and upgrade to an air-conditioned room, which was another couple of dollars very well spent. Stephanie spent half of her time in the hotel room standing directly in front of it just trying to cool off!
WELCOME TO LAUTOKA, NON-WORKING CAPITOL OF FIJI: We had read that there was a good movie theatre in town, so after quick cold showers to clean up, we headed out into the heat blast. First we had lunch at a little deli-counter type place which served an odd assortment - mainly Asian foods, omelets and French fries (called chips here, as Americans are probably the only people who call them "French fries"). Stephanie wasn't so keen on trying out the meat at a place like this, so she had an omelet with chips (they serve them together here for some reason) and Ken had a stir-fry of some sort. We also downed the cold bottled water. The food was fine, and we were again the only non-locals anywhere near the place. That was beginning to become a theme - in fact, during our entire 20 hours or so in Lautoka, we only saw 4 other white people. The population in Lautoka is very heavily Indian (from India, not Native American) along with native Fijians. So we stood out like sore thumbs, which normally wouldn't phase us except that there was a sort of strange feeling in this town. People were just milling around and it almost felt like everyone there had a secret. We later heard that there was a workers strike going on, that the main hotel had shut down, and several restaurants had closed (all of the ones recommended by Lonely Planet), which explained why the town was busting at the seams with wandering locals and the feeling of potential chaos.
JAY AND SILENT BOB INVADE POOR FIJI: The movie idea was looking better and better. We found two theatres, and to our absolute heartbreak, the couple of American movies showing were not very appealing - "The One" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". And to make matters worse, we had already seen them (when we took Ken's youngest brother, Matt, just before we left the States)! But, as we stood in the scorching heat in this weird town, we decided that it was worth a repeat of Jay and Bob just to be able to sit in the very-well air-conditioned theatre! It was actually fun to hear what parts the locals laughed (or didn't laugh) at. Some of the best lines of the movie were references to American entertainment so they all sat unknowingly silent while Ken and I laughed. They found other parts of the movie funny. Afterwards we wandered around town a little more, then headed back for a decent dinner at our hotel (Stephanie avoided meat once again with another omelet and chips, along with the best iced drink in the world, a concoction of a banana smoothie with iced coffee thrown in). Ken still wasn't feeling great after being sick in Rarotonga, so he went back to the room and Stephanie sat in the TV lounge for a few minutes to try and catch a snippet of the news. Within a minute of sitting down she had a random local hitting on her (he coincidentally had lived in Seattle for a few years, or if he was lying, he sure knew a lot about it) so she soon followed Ken back to the room.
ANYONE FOR ANOTHER OMELET?: We had breakfast the following morning at our hotel (yes, another omelet for Stephanie), then chugged our way back to Nadi on the rickety bus, followed by a quick cab ride down a bumpy dirt road to the seaplane dock. We hadn't been terribly enthralled with Fiji yet, although we were glad we'd taken the little trek to Lautoka so we could experience somewhere off the beaten path (plus, it made us appreciate the wonderful beaches we'd complacently been enjoying). We were now just glad to be heading out to the islands so the real fun could begin! We had no idea what magic awaited us…
HAVE WE MENTIONED THAT WE ADORED FIJI?: We absolutely loved it. It's a place that we know we will go back to - we must! We completely absorbed the Fijian way of life, which was to take life EASY! The Fijians are some of the happiest, nicest and most spirited people in the world. Their lifestyle is very simple and we loved that. Our regular daily attire was a swimsuit for Ken (with a t-shirt during meals), and a swimsuit with a sarong thrown on for Stephanie (and lots of sun block!). And we didn't even wear shoes for four days straight! We just walked around barefoot and content like a couple of natives. Following are some of the highlights of our wonderful time at David's Place.
SEAPLANE FLIGHT: Let's start with the seaplane flight out to David's Place in the Yasawa Islands. It was breathtaking! Stephanie was a little nervous about getting on a little six-seater Fijian seaplane (what kind of maintenance rules do they have in small-town Fiji?) but we were both excited for our first seaplane ride and put aside any fears. After donning big headphones to shield our ears from the loud noise of the plane, the pilot started the engines, gained speed on the slightly-choppy ocean water and we took off, slowly rising above the water's surface. The views from the plane were incredible! All around we saw sunken reefs, some barely breaking the surface; small islands, large islands, some inhabited, some not. It was truly spectacular. The water was so blue and clear and the islands dotted the ocean with turquoise lagoons and little sandy beaches. After a half hour ride, we headed toward a larger, slightly mountainous island and descended to a quite soft water landing. The pilot guided the plane about 30 feet from the beach, then stopped. It was at that time that we realized why he was barefoot - he hopped out of the plane, into the thigh-deep water, and started unloading our bags to the beach. We took our shoes off and followed him to the sand.
DAVID'S PLACE: We waited for a few minutes, watched the seaplane take off again with another six people, then a man showed up and guided us to David's Place. A short walk down the beach and there it was, beachside, full of coconut trees, green grass and about 10 bures (pronounced "boo-rays", these are huts made of wood, with a thatched roof, bamboo timbers inside, plain concrete floor and mosquito nets over the beds). We stayed in Bure #1, literally on the beach, with the ocean hitting just in front during high tide (another arrangement of Maopa's). It was the greatest place, exactly how you would picture a little tropical bungalow. Our nights were filled with the sounds of palm trees blowing in the wind, the small waves lapping back and forth, and a sky full of stars. Quite romantic! Our meals were included (accommodation and three meals per day for about US$20 per person - not bad!). The food was very good, but rarely enough, so we always hoped for seconds but never got any. They always had good tea and coffee, along with many stir-fry type dishes and fresh fruit. Our bathrooms were shared, complete with the standard cold showers, and the electricity went off everywhere (including our bures) after 11pm. It was an incredibly simplified way of life, but we really didn't miss most of our usual amenities because the location was so amazing! On a serious note, the biggest stress of our day was managing when David's Place didn't have the regularly-scheduled afternoon tea and cake because they ran out of eggs. Our dilemma was quickly resolved when we heard that we could go to the little resort next door and have banana cake, ice cream and tea for US 50 cents each! Ken of course skipped the ice cream (he doesn't like it much, if you can believe it) and elected to have two banana cakes instead.
ISLAND LIFE: Life was pretty darn good at David's Place. We alternated lying on the beach in the hot sun with sitting in the grass under the cool shade of the palm trees. One day, Ken joined the locals when they gathered to play volleyball on a make-shift sand and palm tree court. Any last traces of stress melted away as we relaxed each day on the peaceful grounds. It was truly a "getaway". The only daily obligation was heading to the dining area (basically a large shack with long wooden picnic tables, a bar and open space for a dance floor) when the meal bells rang. They rang the bell for meals at 7am, 12- noon and 6pm. Yes, it was like being at camp, but who cares when you're in island paradise and someone is there cooking meals for you! After dinner, the new people would introduce themselves and tell where they were from, and then a few members of the staff would play island music while the rest of us would do local dances. There would be drinking and chatting with an occasional bowl of Kava. The evening would top off with the "Bula Bula" dance, which was a similar but better version of the Macarena.
SOCIAL BUTTERFLIES:
A highlight of David's Place was the awesome people. We met some really great
locals and travelers from all over the world, including England, Holland,
Israel, Canada and Australia.
* The staff at David's Place - all locals of course, and they were amazing.
They were so friendly and welcoming to all of us, and were the reason that
our experience was so fantastic. They always had smiles on their faces and
danced with us every night.
* Roger and Marjolein - a really fun couple from Holland. We laughed a lot
with them. We enjoyed talking about the differences between Europe and America,
such as the foods and the lifestyles. Roger had lived in Cincinnati and when
we talked about Americans sometimes being ignorant to the rest of the world,
he said that you can't really blame us because we're only fed domestic news
and teachings, so we don't really know any differently. Stephanie thought
that was a very gracious way of looking at it. Regardless, since September
11th, Americans have gotten a big insight into foreign affairs and will probably
never feel a sense of isolation from the rest of the world ever again.
* Noa and Assaf - a really nice couple from Israel. She had grown up in the
States but he had just taken his first trip there and liked it a lot. He fell
asleep in the sun at David's Place and got a terrible sunburn, so bad that
he was stuck in bed the next day.
* Jenny - she was from Montreal and was traveling alone. She and Stephanie
drank Kava together on the first night and giggled about a lot of things.
She had the best laugh - the kind that is contagious! She was funny on the
dance floor, always with a cigarette hanging out of one side of her mouth.
* Ruba and Jacob - fellow Americans, she from New Jersey and he from Chicago.
They had become friends while studying in Australia for a semester, and were
stopping in Fiji for one last bout of fun before heading home. They were so
nice and it was fun to finally run into fellow Americans (only the second
we'd met since leaving LA). They were abroad since before September 11th and
had watched the entire thing from Australia. We had an interesting talk about
how America had changed - they didn't know what to expect. We told them that
the positive side was that the horror of September 11th brought out an amazing
level of unity and patriotism that our generation has never seen before. But
we're sure that things were very different for them once they got home, particularly
for her being in New Jersey, so close to the World Trade Center.
* Jillian - beautiful girl from Scotland, traveling alone for a few months.
We went on the cave tour together and chatted a lot. She had just learned
to dive and loved it so much, she was thinking about making it a career for
awhile. She told us we definitely need to go to Edinburgh for New Year's Eve
someday. As she said, "The Scots do it better than anyone"!
* Kelly, Heather and Rachael - these girls were wicked fun! They were from
England and had just met while traveling but seemed like best friends. They
were constantly laughing and cracking jokes and were definitely the life of
the party!
* Matt and Melanie - a nice, cute couple from Melbourne, traveling for a few
weeks. It was her first trip abroad. Fiji… what a place to start!
INTERNATIONAL CRAB RACE: On our first night, everyone gathered after dinner for some crustacean fun. We each chose a hermit crab, identified with numbers drawn on their shells like little jerseys. The crabs were then released into the center of a circle on the floor, with the winner being the first to walk to the outside ring. We chose crab #12 and named it Quin, after our friend in LA. He got last place. Typical!
KAVA, BETTER THAN MUDDY WATER: We had our first bowl during our stay in Fiji - of Kava, that is. A Kava Ceremony is a very important custom among the native Fijians. The villagers sit in a circle on the ground, with the village Chief near the center. Kava is ground yaquona root, and is mixed with water in a large wooden bowl, usually with beautiful carvings. A small half coconut shell is then dipped in and passed around. The Chief is the first to drink, followed by the rest of the group. You can request "low tide" (half a cup full) or "high tide" (a full cup). Following tradition, the receiver claps once, takes the coconut bowl, drinks the entire lot "down the hatch" as they say here, then hands the cup back and claps three times saying "bula" (meaning "thanks" in this case). When finished, the locals yell "matha!" meaning "done!", to announce that you finished your cup. The cup is then refilled and passed to the next person. The trick is to not make a sour face, as the kava looks and tastes like muddy water. So why do they drink it, you ask? It has a slightly narcotic effect, making your lips and tongue a bit numb. It's one of those things you either like or really hate, and it's definitely an acquired taste. Ken was already back in the bure with a slight tummy ache when the Kava was brought out late the first night, and Stephanie had to practically beg him to come out and try it. But he ended up loving it even more than she did, and even better, it cured his upset stomach!
SWIMMING IN THE CAVES: One day we took a trip out to an island called Sawa-I-Lau to visit some beautiful caves. Five of us from David's Place went, along with two staff members to guide us. We took a half hour ride on a small boat and stopped by a tiny local village on the way (unfortunately we weren't allowed to get out of the boat as they ask tourists not to come into their village). We then landed on a narrow rock shore and walked up a set of concrete steps, then down into the first cave. It was beautiful! In the first cave, we jumped into the dark black (and cold!) water and swam under the tall stone walls of the cave. It looked like naturally-sculpted Roman columns, with a small opening at the top letting in sunlight. (Movie note: for those of you who have seen The Blue Lagoon, this was the cave that Brooke Shields swam in.) To access the second cave, you had to swim about five feet underwater into a pitch-black cave. Unfortunately, our guide forgot to bring a flashlight, so the group wasn't able to explore the second cave as much as they would have liked. The last cave required a bit of climbing up the rocks, squeezing through a very narrow entrance - dubbed the "pregnant cave" because a pregnant woman trying to conceal her pregnancy wouldn't fit - then climbing down about 15 feet in complete darkness and jumping into the water, and finally swimming underwater to get out. At one point, Stephanie was the only one in the first cave (everyone else was in the second) so she got to swim in it alone. It was spooky but thrilling! We girls skipped the last cave (because it was scary, not because of the pregnancy reference!) and opted instead to float and chat in the first cave. After the boys were done exploring, Ken found a spot, scaled the wall about 10 feet up, and dove into the water. Stephanie was chatting and didn't even notice until a Dutch traveler got her attention, pointed to Ken scaling the wall and said, "Isn't that your man?" Apparently Ken isn't the only insane male out there, because a Swedish traveler from another resort eagerly followed Ken's footsteps and climbed up right after him.
KAYAKING TO THE BLUE LAGOON: Just across the way was a nearly-deserted island, called Blue Lagoon Place by the locals. This is where part of the movie "The Blue Lagoon" was filmed. A speedboat went over each day because it was a great place to snorkel, but we decided to earn our way over there. We rented kayaks one morning and braved the 40 minute trek across the large lagoon. There were occasional small swells from boats, along with a fairly strong current, but we did well. The scary part was just looking down and wondering how deep it was. We were rewarded with spectacular tropical beaches, nearly deserted and totally unspoiled, lined with old coconut trees and lush greenery. We loved it so much we kayaked to the far end of the beach to look around a bend, then were greeted by a group of fellow travelers who were brought across by a staff member in a speedboat. It felt strangely satisfying to see them as we kayaked our way across the lagoon on our own, not by motorized transportation! At home we tend to want things done quickly and with little effort, but we're discovering that there are often much more rewarding ways of doing things. We stopped for awhile on a wide beach that we had to ourselves, swam for awhile, then jumped back into the kayaks and made our way back to our island (with the drifting current this time, fortunately).
SUNDAY CHURCH SERVICE ON
THE FLOOR: The staff at David's Place invited
all of us to attend a local church service on Sunday morning. We figured we'd
walk to a local village or something, but the village actually came to us.
The service was held in a one-room small building with a tiny altar and podium
at the front, along with bunches of fresh flowers. Everyone took their shoes
off before coming inside, and sat cross-legged on woven mats on the floor.
The service was partly in English and partly in the local tribal language,
with several songs by the small congregation. Stephanie attended the service,
but Ken decided to go scuba diving instead, so he's going to hell.
SNORKELING, DIVING & THE GIANT
CLAM SHELL: Fiji is considered one of the best
places in the world for scuba diving. A dive company near David's Place, West
Side Diving, was a really friendly and well-run shop. They offered a 2-hour
intro dive in the shallow waters of the lagoon, so Stephanie decided to try
that. Unfortunately, if you have any type of asthma, dive operators will not
let you go without a doctor's note. Stephanie is mildly asthmatic and didn't
have a note, so she was denied the intro dive. She was really disappointed
but understood and will try again; perhaps in Australia (she has since gotten
her doctor's note). Ken, already certified in diving, went twice with the
dive shop.
Ken: "It was awesome! As great as the snorkeling was, the diving was even more amazing with soft vibrant corals and sea fans, colorful Angel Fish, Butterfly Fish, Bat Fish (my personal favorite on the dives), Groupers, Trumpet Fish, Long-Fin Banner Fish, Giant Clam and a Blue-Spotted Stingray."
On the bright side for Stephanie, we were able to do some fantastic snorkeling at a nearly-deserted beach across the lagoon from David's Place. The conditions there were astounding. Stephanie had only snorkeled once before (in Hawaii, age 18), so she needed a little prodding. Ken borrowed some snorkels, fins and masks and took Stephanie out. The beginning of the reef was quite shallow. Looking through the mask, we felt it was just deep enough to allow us to swim over the coral without brushing anything. We made our way to the drop off, where the reef dropped straight down about 30 feet. From the drop off, we were able to swim along more comfortably - not worrying about brushing the reef - and we saw many vibrant hard and soft corals, beautifully colored fish and bright blue starfish. Some fish were crayon-bright yellows and blues. It was quite stunning! Stephanie was amazed at how wonderful and easy it was to snorkel. After about 15 minutes gliding along, Ken spotted a vacated giant clam shell. He dove down - about 10 feet - checked it out and decided to do the only thing a red-blooded (stupid) male would do: take it for a souvenir (we had checked and the locals said it was okay since there was such an abundance). After five attempts, he had it! But he also had two deep cuts on the fore and middle fingers of his right hand. Apparently, the edge of a giant clam shell is quite sharp and as he made his second attempt to grab it, he sliced his fingers on the edge. You'll notice that this happened on his second of FIVE attempts - he didn't stop once he saw blood. His logic: you can't come back with two wounds and no prize!
After he finally managed to bring up the shell, Stephanie asked about the wound, "Is it bad?"
Ken's response, "There's blood!"
We decided to head in just to be safe (wouldn't want to attract a stray shark - unlikely, but not worth finding out!). A few minutes later, there sat Ken, his fingers wrapped up in Stephanie's bandana, admiring his prize. Fortunately, Stephanie was almost done snorkeling when Ken so bravely (stupidly) retrieved the giant clam shell, so her experience wasn't cut short. We were also fortunate not to have spotted any sea snakes (they do have them in those waters, and we know several travelers who had seen them!). Despite the war wound, we loved the snorkeling and peaceful solitude of this island.
"MAD HATTER": Our last night, we had a "Mad Hatter" competition. The rules: create a hat made completely from nature. Ken found two empty half coconut shells, so we used those to make beanie-type hats. Our advantage came from the fact that Ken had brought a small tube of Krazy Glue, so we were able to glue things onto the coconuts. Ken glued small sea shells, a flower and a piece of coral, while Stephanie went with a nice little motif of fresh flowers and small green leaves. There were three winners, one with a dunce hat made of dried palm leaves (really cool), one made from many fresh flowers tied around the head (gorgeous), and Ken's! Never thought we'd be sitting in the middle of the South Pacific gluing things to coconuts to win a contest. We went from long corporate days back home to this! What a difference a few months make. By the way, the Brits had never heard of Krazy Glue and got a real kick out of the name.
We certainly didn't have any disappointments on the Fijian islands, but we did have a few challenges that go with living the remote island life.
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR:
There were only four bad things about David's Place, most of which we really
can't even complain about.
(1) As mentioned above, the meals were tasty, but the portions were usually
too small! There was no other food available other than the cakes at tea time,
so many travelers walked around a little hungry. (Maybe it was enough food
for the mere mortal, but we're talking about Ken here, who can eat frighteningly
large amounts of food in one sitting.)
(2) They didn't have enough clothespins so when you'd hang your wet clothes
and towels on the lines, they'd blow off 20 feet away into the dirt or grass.
As you can see, we figure these first two are just part of island life, so
we dealt with it. But the third and fourth were a little worse.
(3) The third challenge was that they ran out of bottled water each day. You
can't drink the tap water there, so once the bottled water was out, tough
luck until the next load came on the seaplane the next day. As Ken put it,
"Apparently water in Fiji has a quick shelf life so we'd better not stock
up or anything!" More likely, they just weren't willing to pay for one
boat or seaplane to be filled with bottles to stock up. Interestingly enough,
they never ran out of beer. One morning, Stephanie had to brush her teeth
with Sprite because we had no water. In case you're wondering, the toothpaste
gets extremely fizzy and frothy when rinsed with a carbonated beverage.
(4) Our fourth challenge was the bathrooms. They were outside and about a
100-foot walk from our bure. During the day the only issue was, as always,
cold-water showers (but we were used to it by then), and the fact that big
metal barrels of water provide the shower water, and if you're unlucky, it
can run out of water on you. This happened to Stephanie in the middle of a
shower, so after a few obscenities, she wrapped herself in her towel and ran,
hair and body completely soaped up, 200 feet across the grounds to the other
set of showers. There was also no toilet paper or soap, so you had to remember
those each time. The worst part of the bathrooms, however, was having to go
to them at night. That 100-foot walk feels a little freaky when you're dashing
across the grounds in the moonlight and the rain or wind that seemed to accompany
each night. We both had some stomach issues during our time there, so we each
had one or two sprints across that grass in the middle of the night. And don't
forget the TP!
NOT EXACTLY A BED TURN-DOWN AND A CHOCOLATE ON YOUR PILLOW: No one reading this will feel sorry for us, but here you go. Our host at David's Place specifically told us to close our beachside window every afternoon because at high tide, the water is just a few feet away from our bure and the water sprays at our window. For some reason we both forgot to close the window on our second night. After hours having fun, eating dinner and dancing with everyone, we returned to our bure to see sea water sprayed all over the floor and even worse, on half of the bed and the mosquito net. Oh, the troubles of island paradise. So we kind of rearranged the sheets, did the best that we could and tried to ignore the dampness of the room that night!
COMPLETE ISOLATION: We didn't know if we should put this one under "highlights" or "challenges", since it was kind of both. We were literally completely cut off from the world while at David's Place. No news, no television, no radio, no phone other than one office phone, and definitely no computers - completely detached from the world, other than the walkie-talkies one of the locals used to radio when something was needed. We can't emphasize how nice it was to let our minds rest - you don't realize how tiring the constant images of news and war and murders are. But at the same time, it was a little scary, particularly since this was less than three months after September 11th. Anything could have happened and we would have had no idea for days.
SERIOUS TIME CHANGE: We left Rarotonga, our prior destination, on Thursday morning. It was about a 3-hour flight, but we arrived in Fiji on Friday morning. How? We crossed the International Date Line. So we literally lost all of Thursday, November 28. Felt weird! Because Fiji is so close to the line, they were technically among the very first ones to celebrate the new millennium (and they milked it for all it was worth with souvenirs everywhere stating they were the "first to celebrate!").
CLOSE CALL LIKE YOU'VE NEVER HEARD: We met a really nice British couple, Scott and Hanna, at David's Place. They told us an incredible story about their recent trip in the U.S. They traveled for thirteen weeks to all the major cities - an amazing trip that sadly, most of us Americans haven't even taken - and they had some incredible timing in September. They were in New York City, staying blocks from the World Trade Center, until September 10th. On the 10th they went to Washington DC and planned to go on a tour of the Pentagon on September 11th. They went out for drinks that night and ended up not getting up for the tour, although someone from their hostel did go. They soon saw the events of September 11th unfold on television and couldn't believe they were so close to both tragedies. The person on the tour was in a different part of the Pentagon so he was okay, and they soon talked to their frantic parents to let them know they were safe. Their first time in America, and two close calls. What a story!
LITTLE CRITTERS: When we first arrived to our bure, we were told not to keep any food inside because it could attract mice, rats and land crabs - yikes! - but we didn't have any food, so fortunately we didn't see any. Our only critter contact was with several large land crabs, like the ones we saw at the Tahiti airport, who wandered into the main dining room at David's Place. They are huge - about 10 inches long with icky protruding eyeballs and huge front pinchers, just waiting for someone's toe. The Fijians didn't mind at all - they called them "dinner"! Stephanie happened to be in the dining room once during off-hours and got to try a bite of one. It was similar to the crabs we eat but a little saltier and more pungent. And it was weird for her to know that she was eating the little guy we had seen the night before.
HITTIN' THE NOGGINS: Fiji seemed to be our "whack the hell out of your head as often as you can" destination. And we didn't disappoint. The door frame in our bure at David's Place was very low, and Ken must have bumped his noggin on it ten times! He just couldn't get the hang of that short door frame. After awhile we just had to laugh (and cry) that he couldn't get it right (no comments from the peanut gallery!).
Stephanie: "Yes, what comes around goes around. After I had made fun of Ken for constantly knocking himself around, I suffered the same fate at the Sawa-I-Lau caves. As we climbed out of the water and walked up the natural rock steps up to the entrance, I whacked my head so hard on the ceiling rock. It was one of the worst pains I've ever felt. I truly thought my head had been cracked open, but there was just a tiny bit of blood and some soreness for about an hour, along with an accidental obscenity echoing in the cave when I first hit it (oops). I figured Ken would laugh at me but he was very concerned as I stood there with tears in my eyes. Fortunately, one of the only things that could have made me feel better was shopping, and there it was waiting for us when we got out of the caves! Local village women bring their handmade crafts there and sit on blankets selling them, knowing tourists like us will be there. So I consoled myself by buying some delicate shell necklaces for about $1 each. All better!"
LOCKED IN WITH SOMEWHERE TO GO:
The bure doors locked from both the inside and outside, with little hook locks.
Essentially we were safe when we locked ourselves inside but anyone could
have unlocked the outdoor latch when we were away (fortunately there's little
theft in the middle of nowhere). But we got in the habit of latching it when
we left to keep the wind from blowing it open. One afternoon while Ken was
taking a long nap, Stephanie decided to lie on the beach for awhile. Without
thinking, she locked the door behind her. An hour later, she returned and
opened the door to find Ken sitting on the bed looking quite agitated. She
soon realized what she had done. He couldn't leave to go to the bathroom,
and even worse, it was almost 4:00 - time for cake and tea next door! He almost
missed it on account of being randomly locked in the bure. Oops. Don't even
ask how livid he was! But again, what comes around goes around. Look for the
conclusion to this story in the next installment (it will be under the Robinson
Crusoe Island stories).