Sooooo, we have discovered that we are not quite the journal keepers!! so sorry to everyone that has been keeping up with us. We will try to update you as much as possible about what we've been up to so far....
Fiji- we arrived in fiji in the early morning hours of 5am..after checking into our room, we promptly had a long nap after which we were fully rested and rid of jet lag. A little tour into Nadi where we got our bearings, exchanged money and shopped around a bit. not an exciting town so back to the bounty bar for a few drinks and dinnner..extremely nice people. early the following morning we were picked up by our shuttle and driven approx 45 min south where we met the likuri vessel to likuri island known to tourists as robinson crusoe island..quite beautiful!!
5 days of doing nothing!!! how can you beat that? What a great welcoming!! we were met on the beach by the locals singing a traditional greeting and ushered to our beach bure. just in time for lunch!!
we spent the next week on this tiny little island, doing just as we planned.. absolutely nothing!! it was fabulous. days spent relaxing in our beach hammock chairs, evenings watching daring knife and fire dances and some fun island games with the other visitors. all meals were buffet style and quite good. can't forget the kava ceremonies! tastes like dirt as the root of the kava is ground and sifted thru a thin cloth to make a dirty water-like concoction. numbing to the tongue and apparently the whole body if you drink enough..takes a loonng time to 'drink enough'.
there were few activities we joined in but the ones we did were an experience. kayaking around nearly the entire island with schools of fishing flying ahead of us and nearly getting stuck in the mangrove mud flats as the tide was receding. a short hike thru the bush and finding our way back on what turned out to NOT be a trail at all but likely a crab path ;) oh, and the fish drive! where half of us came out injured in one manner or another. camille had sliced open the bottom of her feet another stepped on a sea urchin and i lost a chunk from my shin. ahhh, but the resulting bbq fish was about the best experience we had. the fish that were caught from the drive were cleaned (hands on) right on the beach, a fire was built and the fish tossed right on the coals. when they were cooked they were placed in a marinade of water, sea salt, tomatoes, onions and chili and served up on mini plates pulled from a nearby bush..absolutely perfect!!
the remainder of our time was spent leisurely til our return to Nadi where we met an interesting fellow by the name of Jerry. we could go on and on about Jerry but let's just say he was a kind man. he happily showed us some of the sites including the decorated homes of the duwali merrymakers, complete with lights candles and fireworks. he was kind enough to share kava with us and give us a lift to the airport the following day as well as many tips on our travels. Thank you jerry and thanks to the local crew. sooo very friendly and helpful. ziggy, lex, vili, nani, jp, joe, shobna, among many others! more to come, standby.
