FIJI TRIP – January 2 – 17
January 2—I left Erin’s home in Portland at 5:45 pm to fly to Los Angeles where I met my traveling buddy, Nancy Cobb from Chicago, at the airport. I arrived in LA at Terminal 7 and had to walk all the way to Terminal 3 and then go through security again, but amazingly, Nancy was in the same security line, so from then on, we were together. Our flight on Fiji Airlines left at 9:30 pm and arrived in Nadi, the capital of Fiji, at 5:30 am, losing a day as we crossed the international dateline. The seats were not very comfortable, but the flight was uneventful. I watched two Polynesian movies with subtitles, finished my Danielle Steel “escape” novel, then took an ambien and got several hours sleep before we landed.
(A side note—I had been so worried about the weight limits of only one bag at 50 #s and one carry-on at 15#s and HOW to do that with being gone for nearly a month, that I lost a lot of time in sleep and worry. Thankfully, it was for naught as even though my bag was 5#s over the limit, not a word was said, and even though my carry-on was WAY over 15#s, it was never even weighed, so I started the trip with that blessing!)
January 4 –We arrived in Nadi, went through customs, got Fijian money, and then waited and waited to be picked up by our hotel, Aquarius on the Beach. The hotel is OK, but when you book something on the internet, you never know what you will really get, so it was a bit disappointing. It is very stark and plain and old, and although the landscape is lovely, the beach is not great, dogs are roaming, and the bugs are rampant (even had a little lizard in our BR yesterday! 😉 The good news is that even though we don’t have the expected amenities like hair dryer, shampoo, extra towels (only one bath towel each), we DO have a room with AC, which since it is so hot and humid, is a lifesaver. I must say that we are REALLY looking forward to the lovely resorts on the other islands!
The town of Nadi is pretty dirty and a typical third world village. Roads and sidewalks are pretty treacherous, and everything is VERY expensive. (Suntan lotion here is $26 Fijian dollars!) The exchange rate, however, is 1.8 so that does help. The best part of this visit so far is the lovely people. Everyone you meet tells you “Bula,” the word for greeting, asks your name, tells you their name, and shakes your hand. They are extremely gracious and very focused on service.
After arriving at the hotel, we had to wait for our room to be ready, so we changed, had some breakfast, and walked a bit on the beach and swam in the pool. Then we got into our room, took showers and a short nap, and then took a cab into the town. We had dinner at Famers Market, ordered a local fish that was excellent, and enjoyed music from a quite good local group. After we left, we got ice cream, water at the market, and took a cab back to watch the first edition of “Downton Abbey” which I downloaded on my new iPad.
January 5 – This was our day for ADVENTURE! We booked an all-day Fiji Eco Tour which started at 9:00 am. We traveled with a darling couple from Australia and a driver, first to the local outdoor Namaka Fresh Fruit market. We were intrigued with all the unusual fruits and veggies we had not seen before and especially the Kava roots which they use for a special ceremony in Fiji.
The driver then took us to the beautiful Garden of the Sleeping Giants to walk through the Orchid Gardens which were originally owned and built by the famous actor, Raymond Burr. The grounds were just lovely, framed by the Sleeping Giant Mountain, huge palm trees, lily ponds, and bright-colored flower bushes. We saw many beautiful varieties of flowers which only grow in island settings. The walk ended with cold mango juice in the outdoor garden.
Our next stop was the Therapeutic Mud Pool. What a fun experience it was! The area has a very hot spring as well as a mud pool that supposedly has many healing qualities. After changing into swimsuits, our guide instructed us to cover ourselves with the mud from head to toe and then let it dry in the sun. Afterwards, he led us to the mud pool where we swam a bit and enjoyed the feeling of the mud in the bottom of the pond. We were even joined by frogs! 😉 Then he led us to another cleaner “pool” where we washed off the rest of the mud. Finally, it ended with a 15 minute WONDERFUL massage outside.
The young man who was our guide was the grandson of the owner and a darling person. (I asked to meet his mother to tell her what a good job she had done! 😉 He told us when we dressed again NOT to take a shower until the next day so that the full effects of the mud could be felt. We were pretty sure we could not stand to do that and you will see from the “rest of the story” that we were right! Everyone there was so caring and friendly and focused on making it a happy experience—we truly enjoyed this part of our day.
After that, we drove to a Fijian family’s Bure in the Nalesutale Village for a typical Fijian lunch of local fish, sausage, a dish of spinach and tuna, fresh pineapple and bananas. Unfortunately, they had nothing we could drink since everything they had was made with water. The chief of the village was our driver and even prayed before the meal. He told us he was Methodist. Most of the island is either Catholic or Muslim with a huge Indian influence as well.
While we ate, he told us a bit about the early history of the island. Originally, the Fijian people were cannibals who came from Tanzania and lived in the mountains. However, when the missionaries came, they instructed them to cover themselves and not to eat human beings. (He laughingly told us that they liked white people the best! 😉 So, the culture changed completely at that time. Today each rural village is made up of one family, and when they marry, they must go to another village for a mate. He said all the villages gather in one village for church on Sunday, alternating places. We were also told that there are strict “rules” in the villages, especially for the women. They must wear their hair short, they cannot wear pants, and their shoulders must always be covered. In the ceremonies the men are always served first, so women still seem every much secondary in the rural culture.
After lunch, we drove through twisty, winding dirt roads to the bottom of the mountain where met met another young guide. There we were given walking sticks to begin our trek up the mountain to the waterfall. We were not at all prepared for the tough climb it was, however – I had even worn a sundress and Fit flops! We followed a tiny winding, muddy, rutted path through the forest and had to cross several streams with slippery boulders for about a one hour trek to the top. Without our guide’s help across the rough spots, I am not sure Nancy and I would have made it, but we finally did get to the top—hot, sweaty, dirty, and covered with bug bites—to swim in the beautiful, cold mountain stream below the waterfall. IT was the first time I have ever swum in a DRESS! 😉 Nan, our guide, helped each of us to climb the boulders to stand below the waterfall and get a massage as well.
Unfortunately, Nancy had a fall and got two bad bumps on her head and some severe scratches on her face. We were amazed with such a rough trip up the mountain that the company had no insurance disclaimers to sign and the guide did not even carry any kind of first aid kit–I guess that is the lesson of a third world country!
The way down was much easier than the way up, thank goodness! We ended this part of the adventure back the the bure with the chief and our guide for a Kava ceremony. There is a lot of ritual with it – clapping, saying “Bula,” the word for greeting, and prayer. The root is mixed with water and then each person individually drinks from a coconut shell. The kava is supposed to make your tongue feel numb and helps with relaxation, so the natives love it, but I only took a sip since we are not supposed to drink their water.
Finally, the driver took us to the town centre to see the Hindu temple there. There was supposed to be time for shopping, but it was already 6:00 pm and we were exhausted, so we just had him bring us back to the hotel. I had had problems connecting to wifi, so I spent the next hour and a half with the young IT person here helping me to download some things on my new ipad. After a much-needed and APPRECIATED shower, we had a quick dinner here and then watched “The Notebook” which I had rented on my Ipad. We both slept VERY well last night after our Fijian adventure!
To watch for each day’s adventure, go to www.barbaraglanz.com/blog
