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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Tropics of Fiji

February 21. I awoke several times in the middle of the night covered in sweat. It's too hot for human life here. The fourth time this happened I c zosxx hecked my watch, hoping it was a time to wake up. It happened to be 5:30am. That was late enough for me. I did everything I could in that time. I showered, unpacked and repacked, and I took pictures of the landscape. At long last it was 6:30. Time to eat breakfast. It was a basic meal, but much better than the ones we had in New Zealand. Afterwards, we got onto the bus to start our day at the beach.

We arrived an hour later and dragged our feet out to meet the sand (most of us had slept during the ride). Until that time I hadn't noticed that the day was marred by grey clouds. However, it didn't rain once when we were there. We put our belongings down on the sand, but not before brian had ran straight into the water, tossing his towel and shirt carelessly on the sand. Not 10 seconds later did most of our group race after him. The water was bath temperature, with a stench of sulfur palpable throughout the shoreline. We jumped over the waves and played frisbee with Erik and Oni.

30 minutes later, muddy brown horses and foals came striding across the beach, ridden by local Fijians. They stopped directly in front us. "You can ride them if you wish." Ori, in answer to our questioning looks. Excited, we all jumped out of the water. The riders dismounted and handed us the reigns. With help from the owners, we mounted them and were instructed on how to ride. I have ridden before, but it was good to have a refresher course. They started us at a walk, but 5 minutes later we had all broken into a gallop. They horses weren't magnificent, they were obviously bred for labor, not speed. The foals ran alongside us as well. We only had about 20 minutes on the horses until we were back on the bus off to the sand dunes.

I was slightly perplexed as to what the wonders of the sand dunes of Fiji were, but I was excited to hike them either way. We arrived at the tourist center, where there was plenty of history information about Fiji as well as many artifacts pertaining to the dunes. Our guide, Tommy, was a nice enough guy with built legs and a prominent face. While he led us through the wilderness towards the dune, he explained to us the history of the Fijian people. His expression turned from grave to proud and back again during his explanation. When we came to our first dune, after 20 minutes of hiking, we were allowed to race up it and spring back down with enormous leaps. It was good fun, but tiring. Before long many of us were drenched in sweat from the heat and the running. We came to the beach soon after. It was beautiful spot, with white sand and pale blue water (even though it was still overcast). We cooled off with a quick swim, but we couldn't linger because they had warned us of shark attacks in this area. We set off on our hike again, going through the forest and back to the base. We arrived covered in sand and mud, moaning with hunger. We said our farewells to the guide, then pressed on into the town of Nadi.

We only had about 2 hours in town, most of which was spent looking for a place to eat. The group spent the rest of the time exploring the town and buying various souvenirs, while I had to go to the Internet Cafe to post February 20 on the blog.

At 3pm we left the town and went back to base to freshen up. We all showered and were delighted to see that the water pressure had finally been turned up to a usable level. We had no plans for the rest of the day. So we spent our time in the pool, playing billiards and petting the base's dog Boe. There are several kids on the base as well, who are the sons and daughters of the staff. Some are Fijian and some are of Indian decent. Native Fijians and Indians make up about half of the population each, in Nadi. We played with them for a while until we were told that we must prepare for another Fijian ceremony, which wouldn't be complete without cava. I have already put on my sarong and am writing at this moment because I doubt if I'll be able to write after some more cava. I'm starting to really enjoy the experiences that I'm having here, most of which involve the culture of Fiji. I do miss the developed country of New Zealand, but this is a different realm of fun and learning that I could get used to.

3 comments:

  1. Nice post Jimmy. Somehow i missed this one yesterday. Thanks for the extra efforts to post. I'm excited to hear that Christen will be joining you. Look forward to seeing your pics too down the road. Have fun. Uncle tommy

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  2. Oh Jimmy, I was so thrilled to turn my computer on and find TWO post that brought me right back into your world. Thank you so much for your blogging efforts, Frosty and I hang on your every entry. Won't you have fun in the years to come to take yourself back to these amazing parts of our world through your blogs.
    143 dearly, Mimi

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  3. I'm with your Mimi and Uncle Tommy~ I too appreciate the lengths you've gone to keep us all along with you on your journey. I missed when you didn't post and was equally excited to come on here and find two as well. Your writings are like reading an amazing novel... you can't wait to read what the next chapter is going to unfold!
    Much love, Aunt Carole (and Uncle Scotty too !)

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