2-8-10

2-8-10

The Coral Coast was just what the Dr. ordered. On Tuesday afternoon I boarded a small boat from Mana to NadI. About 20 minutes outside of NadI the engine sputtered and died, and I joked with the other passengers about the fact that my Fiji guidebook warned that these small vessels often run out of gas, (because all fuel is imported to Fiji and very expensive). None of us thought this was the actual problem though… until the driver finished tinkering with the engine, fished out a small gas can from below, disconnected the fuel line and stuck it in the can and sealed it with a towel. Engine started right up.

When I got to NadI it had been a week or so without any phone or internet access. I broke down and bought a cell phone that will actually work in Fiji, Australia, and NZ as I had discovered that the one I had bought for the trip was running on the wrong frequency for these countries. It was so good to talk to mom and dad and especially Jas.

I caught a cab to the NadI bus station just in time to catch the last one leaving for Coral Coast. The bus station was an outdoor mob of people standing under pavilions, and hundreds of uniformed school children. They must use the public busses as school busses also. The children just stare and smile shy as if they don’t often see folks that look like me.

The ride took a few hours but the bus was interesting. Plywood floor and missing windows. The vehicles of Fiji are in pretty bad shape! There are a lot of vans that are falling apart and riding around with about 5 people more than they fit. The busses aren’t much better. American pop music blasting. They really like Akon in Fiji. And Beyonce. It was really cool to get to see the landscape and all the dwellings and markets that are away from the touristy parts. The living structures are very humble and are usually built in groups of 15 or so, except for those that are farming.

Anywhere there are people, the air smells strongly in Fiji. Mostly of burning leaves, but in a good way. Everywhere I’ve been so far the residents rake up all the sticks, leaves, flowers, and little and burn them daily (sometimes trash too). Its strange to be smelling that fall smell in such hot weather though. When it doesn’t smell of burning, the air smells of spices cooking, exhaust, or trash. There are also a lot of plots on the farms that are burned flat as well as the sports fields.

Fijians are INCREDIBLY good at volleyball, and every village I saw has a setup. They are also into soccer and rugby. In general they seem to have very active lifestyles and are outdoors playing sports. Fijians are also almost all in amazing shape, with 0 body fat and ripped muscles, even the little kids. It really makes you think how much television impacts a culture when you see people living without them, and the obvious differences that exist.

This particular route seemed to be home to a lot of enormous bulls, which lounge around on the sides (and sometimes middle) of the road. I saw a little boy of about 10 years old leading 2 giant ones across a field and I got to imagining what his life must be like, and how different it is from kids at home. I also got a kick out of the billboards that you see which are mostly for powdered milk and prepaid cell service.

Fiji isn’t big on dairy and the milk is all boxed and treated in some way that makes it unnecessary to refrigerate (unacceptable!). I drink my milk with ice at home, and couldn’t think of choking it down warm. There’s also no yogurt in the grocery stores and very little cheese is served. I’ve actually learned to like bananas, which I usually hate. Seeing that I normally survive off of cereal, cheese, and yogurt I have had to make some exceptions!

I got dropped off at a hostel called The Beach House. Turns out it was my lucky day and I had the option of a 6 bed dorm to myself. And they had internet, hot water, and a pool… I unpacked my bags here for the first time since I‘ve been traveling.

The weather is cooler here and tends to be a bit overcast. I don’t mind at all, after 10 days of the sun blazing on you its really not a disappointment. I spent the whole first day alone in my room reading, making arrangements online for Australia, and Skyping with my long lost boyfriend while it rained buckets. It was really good for recharging the batteries. That night I partied with a group of Australian girls and a few Americans and learned a really interesting drinking game called “Ring of Fire”.

I put my name on the board for a mountain horseback ride on Friday morning. I walked down to the beach and there were 2 stallions saddled up and waiting. Littttle nervous about that. Stallions are not your ideal trail riding horse, particularly in pairs. I met my lovely guide at breakfast shortly after. He was a middle aged Fijian guy named Eddie. Eddie goes a little overboard with the machismo. I knew right away this was going to be an hour of tolerance on my part as he walked around with his chest puffed out, calling himself a “cowboy” and just being rude and ignorant in general. When I got on the horse he proceeded to inform me that this horse, being a stallion, does not tolerate a rider using any leg. I knew this sounded like trouble but I was just dying to get into those mountains on horseback, and I figured if worse came to worse there’s a reason I learned the emergency dismount. So as it turns out, he rode behind on his own stallion, threatening my horse with growling noises to keep it going forward. Every time he made the noise that horse got RIGHT back to business doing what it was supposed to, terrified of his boss! I didn’t touch it with my leg, but the thing was surprisingly good for being a stallion trail horse. Eddie bragged a lot about his expertise in horse training and schooling me on the Fijian equestrian culture. Turns out they feed the horses nothing, and they survive off of grass strictly. They look ok considering, but you can tell that’s all they get. The horse I was on was missing half an ear and I asked Eddie what happened, he told me it was bitten off by the other stallion and that he roasted it over a fire and ate it. I don’t believe him but what an ass.

On the other hand, I got to see the most amazing views of the island from the top and I was really impressed that the horse could make it up and down such steep hills without blinking an eyelash, I was nervous! They know the trails so well that if you just give them their head they know exactly where to put their feet even if its rocky or through brush. Eddie decided we were going to gallop them back to the Beach House once we got back down on the beach, Surprise! I have to admit though, for how unsafe it probably was to even take that ride, I felt the same exhilaration that I remember having as a kid galloping on a horse somewhere I probably wasn’t supposed to. There’s just a certain feeling you get in your belly when your going that fast on a horse and the wind is rushing by your ears. Altogether it was worth the 15 bucks even in the company of Eddie.

In the afternoon I as relaxing with some other backpackers around the pool and went to take a sip from my huge bottle of Fiji Water (usually all they sell in Fiji) and stopped in my tracks when I realized I could see little creatures SWIMMING around in it. There were 3 little tadpole looking things about the size of an eyelash cruising around. I said “what the #$%^&&to&!!!!”. And everyone crowded around for a look. I had cracked it open earlier in the day and left the cap off for a few moments here and there… but REALLY!? I had made the acquaintance of the resident surfer dude, Godfrey, when I arrived at the hostel and he walked over and informed me that what had happened is that someone had filled a water bottle with rainwater from the outdoor tap, (this is the condition of the water from this tank) and I had accidentally switched bottles with someone. I;m not sure how much of it I drank, or when the switch happened but I was so grossed out that I immediately had psychosomatic symptoms haha. Godfrey told me that locals (himself included) drink from that tap all the time but your gut has to be used to it, and that I wouldn’t die. As it turned out I was fine and never even had any symptoms thank God!!!

I arranged to be taken by Godfrey to the beginners surf spot for an all day lesson on Saturday. I was really excited about this, and even more so when 2 really sweet girls from Cairns, Emma and Emily- arrived on Friday night to share my dorm and agreed to join me.

On Saturday morning Godfrey showed up in a van loaded with surf boards strapped to the roof and a van full of people including a few of the local village kids which were adorable. Godfrey is half Fijian and half Australian and looks like your quintessential surfer dude with a huge afro of blond curls. We drove about an hour east to a really beautiful spot called Natadola which Godfrey explained would have perfect beginner waves. The surf in front of the Beach House is on a really dangerous reef- no good for beginners. He said he normally takes groups of beginners to the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park for lessons, but explained that he was taking us to Natadola because Sigatoka would be “too sharky” after all the rain that week!!!!

It ended up being a blast and I did stand up and surf about 4-5 times, about 5% of the times I tried haha! It is so much harder than it looks and the waves were not quite as powerful as they would be ideally- making it harder to get the momentum going to stand. I wiped out a lot and got a little banged up and sunburnt, but it was so much fun and I can’t wait to try again. We were in the water about 5 hours or so, then we went into Sigatoka and wandered around the market and got some groceries and things.

I was sad to say goodbye to the Aussie girls, they were really sweet and we had so much fun together. Emily helped me walk my bags out to the end of the road where the bus comes and waited almost an hour with me for it to arrive! So nice. I’m starting to get used to making new friends every few days and then saying goodbye and starting all over again. The backpacking culture is very easy come easy go obviously, but I hope I stay connected to at least some of the special people I have met. There have been quite a few that I have exchanged info with.

One really nice British couple that I met in Coral Coast were Jen and John. We got to talking about WWOOFing, which I will be doing in Australia (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). It’s an organization that allows you to stay on certain farms and work in exchange for room and board. I am staying with a woman that runs a small horse farm in a town called Webbs Creek, about an hour NW of Sydney in the Hunter Valley. Jen and John are going to Australia next too, and wanted to look at my WWOOF book. While they were looking it over they mentioned a big festival that they have tickets to on the 18th-21st called “Playground Weekender” and were talking about some of the bands that will be there etc. and we ended up determining that the festival is happening right next store to where I will be staying! So, I will be meeting up with them and going to it the last few days I am in Australia J.

I am also really thrilled that I was able to get some info from the woman that is hosting me through WWOOF, and she told me that she doesn’t have a daily work requirement of me, and is just really hoping that together we can get her young horse started working and hacking on the trails and some gardening. She said she has no problem with me taking off and seeing Sydney etc after we ride and whatnot, so hopefully I will be getting the best of both worlds!

Missing everyone but loving life and wishing this would never have to end….

Xoxoxoxo -K

2-3-10

Supermarket was mind blowing. Its like an underwater city of beautiful coral structures shaped like trees, and clouds, and flowers and mushrooms in every color. I wish I knew the names of all the fish so I could describe what I saw- I know there were angel fish the size of dinner plates, fish with long tubular snouts, and spikes, and suckers, and giant eyeballs. And every color you could imagine. It made yesterdays snorkel seem like a total joke. As you swim along there are banks and valleys and caves, and drop offs that look like they have no bottom. It was a little scary to come up and look around at the open water and realize how far I had gone from the boat, but when you go back under its so peaceful with the underwater creatures looking like they’re going about their daily business. I didn’t see any sharks.

When I was leaving this morning I caught 2 little girls going through a trash can behind the lodge. They couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 years old. I said, “girls, what are you doing??” and they looked like they were being caught doing something naughty. One of them had a few coins she tried to give me and I told her no thank you, then a parent (?) came along and whisked them off. I’m hoping they just saw money in the trash and weren’t scrounging for food.


Later in the day I happened to make the acquaintance of the village elder, Brother Moses. It turns out the litter of puppies belongs to his household. Moses is a large man with an enormous afro, with flowers behind his ears. He wears a sarong around his waist and dark sunglasses. I have seen him hanging around a lot, and heading out fishing, but never chatted before. He asked me to sit down after discovering I was from the US. Brother Moses speaks English well and explained to me that he is a history buff. I sat quietly and listened to what he had to say. Moses said, “Katie, in the book of Revelations, there are 3 beasts that are spoken of. Each one comes before the next. These beasts that are spoken of are not beasts at all, but nations. The first beast is Babylonia. The second is Rome. And the third and last beast, is America”. He continued, “after the third beast has risen, it will fall and there will be a second coming of Christ… even the dead will rise” etc. etc. It seemed that Moses was expecting this theory to be new material for me. I informed him that I am familiar with the bible and this interpretation. He began to talk about his understanding of American history, stating that “America was a land of nothing and no one, and then the Christians arrived on 2 boats, the Mayflower and the Mayfair… turning the land into a great Christian nation!” I really didn’t know how to handle this one people. I said, “Moses, America was not a land of nothing and no one, because it was filled with indigenous peoples. Their lands were stolen by the Christian Europeans, and they were almost wiped out by the diseases brought over by the pilgrimage”. Moses said, “…Oh… the redskin Indians?”. “Yes Moses”. Moses said, “Well… it was their time. It was meant to be”. I nearly FELL off of the stump I was sitting on. I decided to zip my lip and said, “Moses, I have to go now”. He asked me to come back again because he likes to talk about history.

On any given day in my life this would have been an argument, but I am a foreigner here, and who am I to challenge the elder of the village I am staying in regarding his religious beliefs, views and values? It just seems ironic that here this community of indigenous folks live, on lands they have lived on since the beginning of time, and it does not occur to this man that only luck and timing and a thousand other circumstantial factors separate their fate from that of their Native American brothers and sisters. And with Fiji itself having experienced occupation!

This morning, after telling my Canadian friend Euon this story- he had one for me that is worth sharing. He told me he went to a church service on the main Island last Sunday. He’s not a regular church-goer, but wanted the cultural experience. So he explained that the service was mostly in the Fijian language, but that at one point the preacher spoke some in English. He told me that the preacher said… “Brothers and sisters, sometimes we good Christians have troubles. Sometimes we act like the Jews, sometimes we are greedy like the Jews.” Euon said it had been a long church service and that he had been fading, but halfway through that statement he had snapped to attention, and after it was finished being said he just about choked!

Incredible.

It has come as a surprise to me, being a person that finds awareness and tolerance important, that while practicing these ideals in the company of what seems to be a rather vulnerable culture- I find intolerance and ignorance perpetuated. That being said I do realize I more than likely carry a package of cultural baggage that blinds me in ways I can’t perceive, as we all do, and I have no right to judge.

On another note, I sucked it up and paid the $70 to join my friends on the camping trip to the sandbank island last night and it was fantastic. We arrived around 5pm on literally, a 50ft x 30ft bump of sand rising out of the South Pacific. Euon called it “the perfect Farside cartoon island, minus the one tilting palm tree”. We snorkeled around the island and were swarmed with tropical fish. There was one disk shaped colorful fish that was about half the size of me with giant bulging eyes. There were so many different types and colors and shapes, and at times the zebra type would surround you so thoroughly it was like being in a cloud of them.

I got out when I saw the barracuda fish go by. Yikes! But, still no sharks.

There was about 20 of us in all and there was a barbeque set up. We had dinner and beers and a big bonfire and slept under the stars. The sky was really, really clear and it made me think of home, seeing the same sky and constellations from the other side of the world.

Xoxoxoxo -K

2-2-10

Yesterday a lovely couple from the UK arrived here, Claire and James. We hit it off right away and my bunkmate Marion, the French girl and I joined them for dinner. The food here is included in the nightly fee (and is just absolute dogfood might I add). I barely choked down a few bites of some sort of fish that wasn’t very fresh (which doesn’t make sense as the fish are practically throwing themselves onto the boats…). Everyone was in a very festive mood as it was “international night”, which to my dismay, translates into the requirement each nationality must stand before the group and sing their national anthem at the top of their lungs. There is only one other American here and he is actually from Brazil originally, so it was not very melodious between the two of us- but we got a fantastic encore.

A kava ceremony was held by one of the locals. I am still a bit apprehensive about kava, although I had tried it in NadI. This concoction turned out to be much stronger than the other one I had tried, and immediately made the mouth go numb and sort of burned going down. Some local guys entertained us, playing the guitar as Marion and I cracked a wee bottle of local rum that I had stashed in my bag from NadI to avoid a accumulating a bar tab. Around 11 I was feeling a bit woozy after only a few drinks so I left the partiers with the bottle and headed back to the dorm to lay down (I haven’t made it past 11 yet since I’ve been here! I‘m such an old fart.) Something definitely didn’t agree with me and I’m pretty sure it was the fish since I hadn’t felt quite right since dinner. I curled in a ball feeling really crampy, and woke around 4:30 to find everyone else in the dorm where they belonged except for Marion, who was missing. I got really worried for her as its not safe to be wandering around the village or beach alone after dark, and I know she has a guy she loves so I had ruled out the possibility of her making out somewhere. I really considered going to look for her but no one would join me and I was still feeling really sick. It was also down pouring for the first time since I’ve been here and so I sat awake, waiting and having anxiety trying to decide what to do.

Thank God she appeared shortly after in the early morning hours and I hugged her and was so relieved as I was feeling a bit guilty about the whole bottle of rum ordeal and worrying that she may have finished it or something and passed out on the beach. She hasn’t offered information about what she was up to and everyone else that noticed her disappearance is gossiping, but its her business as far as I‘m concerned. I’m just glad she’s ok!

Today Claire and James and a few other folks are going diving down in a spot they call “Supermarket” due to the abundance of reef sharks, turtles, and tropical fish. Myself, Marion and a young British couple Hannah and Daniel are going along for the trip to snorkel above while the divers go down. The dive guide keeps cracking jokes about snorkelers being good chum to bring the sharks in for divers which I don’t find too funny as it is taking every bit of bravery I have to even go in the water knowing there will be sharks there. Hopefully this experience will decrease rather than increase my shark phobia, but we’ll see. Supposedly they are more afraid of us than we are of them.

There is a little herd of wild pigs running around the village today and they are very cute. They look like piglets. They cant be bigger than 25 lbs or so and some are spotted white and black, some white and brown. They are pretty timid and clumsy. They run away as you approach them, crashing and plowing through whatever is in their path, tripping and scrambling around squealing. I caught one of the puppies chasing after the pigs this morning and got a bit nervous that the pigs might hurt it so I snatched it and brought it back to its mother.

My friends are all going camping on a little deserted island tonight where they bonfire and barbeque and drink and then return at sunrise, but I opted out because I am leaving in the morning for the Coral Coast and also can’t bear to part with the $70 it costs to go when I know I’ll be yawning at 10pm. I think getting up early every day combined with getting so much sun is making me tired earlier than usual. There are also boats going out to “Castaway Island” where the movie Castaway was filmed, but I have heard that its really similar to this beach setting, deserted and they haven’t even got Wilson there for shits and giggles. I might be a party pooper but really all the islands nearby seem to be very similar and I’m on a serious budget.
Well, hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post these entries into my blog along with some photos, Maybe some of you are still following!

Xoxoxoxox -K

2-1-10

Mana Island, Fiji

On Saturday I was picked up by boat from Nadi and delivered to Mana. I am staying at a backpacker’s lodge called Ratu Kini’s, which is situated amongst Mana Village. There are several lodges here and the accommodations are mixed in with the villager’s- the dorms are actually somewhat indistinguishable, its hard to tell what belongs to the lodges and what belongs to the residents of the island. It has been quite nice to have the opportunity to observe the villagers going about day to day business. Most live in corrugated iron or tin structures or buildings made of something similar to stucco. They have a school and a church building and pathways of sand winding around the houses and other buildings. They are very friendly although no one seems to speak much English but they always greet you, “Bula”! as you pass by. During the day they are often doing laundry the old fashioned way with washboards or fetching large jugs of water for their homes. The yards have rows of clothesline with lots of colorful things hanging out to dry. The village is mostly shaded by trees that look like weeping willows, palms, and another type of tree that’s just dripping with bright orange and red blossoms. The pathways are covered in a layer of red petals. Many of the homes have small gardens growing food. The children are very curious and like to have their picture taken. They have a lot of fun pushing each other around in wheelbarrows and playing with the dogs, which seem to be well fed but not really belong to anyone. There are about 3 that hang around on the porch of the lodge and are actually very picky about the table scraps they will accept! One of them has a litter of puppies which I discovered under a little shed and visit every time I pass by. All of them look beagle-ish but also sort mixed with Australian shepherd if you can imagine that.

Yesterday I was swimming around out front of the lodge and a little Fijian girl was playing in the shallow water. She couldn’t speak any English but she knew the word “come” and shouted to me “Come! Come!” over and over until I got the point and joined her in the shallow water. She was laughing and splashing me and climbing on me, and then she latched on to my back and was clearly looking for a little ride around swimmingJ so I swam around a few times with her attached to my back. I then noticed she kept blowing on her hand and I took her hand and looked and she had white blistery sores on the side of her hand. I tried to sign with her to ask her what happened, but she only lifted her shirt to expose more of them, poor thing. I was a little nervous about what she might have gotten that from so I didn’t do any more piggy backing but we exchanged names and she was shrieking “Kay-beeee!” and cracking up.

The dorm has 8 bunk beds and I am on top. There is a very sweet French girl bunking below me and a crew on British boys across the room. On Saturday night they got quite drunk and I had gone to sleep early… I woke up on Sunday and turned over to see one of them stark naked on the bunk opposite me. This whole dorm arrangement is just constant shenanigans as you would expect, but REALLY!? They have cold running water (which is all you need, trust me) and some sort of water saving toilets that hardly work.

The last few days I’ve been laying around on the beach reading a really good (and disturbing) book called The Poisonwood Bible. Today I decided I needed to get some exercise and hiked across the island to another beach with a few girls. It is really hard to hike in this heat as the sweat just pours off of you and gets in your eyes and everything. It was worth it though, the other side had cold water to swim in. The ocean on the lodge side of the island is like bathwater unless you go out really deep. When we got to the spot the cutest dog came running out of the bushes and joined us. It came out swimming with me and kept trying to touch noses with me. I really fell for it and was playing with it. I decided to leave the beach and hike back alone before the rest of the group and the dog came with! He followed me all the way back to the other side of the island which was at least a mile or so and was walking about 20 feet ahead of me. He kept stopping and looking back to check on me, then waiting up. I found it so charming that I had an escort back as I was a little nervous to be walking alone. When we got back to my beach he said goodbye then ran off back where he came from.

The locals that work here are really nice but aggressively flirtatious, despite my repeated assertions that I have a boyfriend and NO THANKS! Anyhow, I have been ignoring one in particular and while I was swimming today he came swimming up and offered me some snorkeling gear to borrow. I hesitated, but you have to rent it here so I took it, and to my amazement there were hundreds of beautiful colorful fish swimming around with me that I didn’t even know were there! They don’t seem to swim near shore where the water is see-to-the-bottom, they like to hang around in the plants that are out a little deeper and the water is cooler. There were schools of zebra striped, blue with yellow (like Dory from Nemo), puffers, and some flesh colored fish that are about the size of your hand and have fluorescent green and pink stripes. They were even better than the ones in the tank at Peking Palace J I don’t think I’ve ever snorkeled before so this was really thrilling and I broke down and paid for a snorkeling trip around the reef tomorrow.

On Wednesday (Tuesday at home) I will be leaving here and heading for the Coral Coast in hopes of being able to start learning surfing at the only beach break in Fiji. The rest of the breaks are all reef breaks but this one exists because of something to do with it being at a river mouth. I’ll be staying at a backpacker’s lodge called the beach house and HOPEFULLY will have some internet access. I haven’t had any contact with the outside world at all in what seems like forever. There are payphones here, but they require a Fiji phone card to use… I thought I had come prepared with a regular international card but no luck.

I miss my guy like crazy and can’t stop daydreaming about seeing him in NZ. My French roommate and I have been commiserating about missing our boyfriends, as she is separated from hers at the moment as well. So that’s the word from Fiji, its beautiful and hot as hell, and there’s not much to do except sunbathe, read and write, socialize, and take 3 cold showers a day. I have taken a zillion pictures and last time I was on the internet I tried to upload some onto the blog, but it wasn’t working- I thin k one actually uploaded out of about 20.

When I arrive in Australia I have been promised internet, so I will catch up on everything then.

Xoxoxox -K