around the world in 180 days

            We have started getting friendly with public transportation. Today we took buses ½ way around the island (3 hour round trip). It was a lot of time on a bus, but what the hell else were we going to do?

            We rode down to the south side of the island, to an area called the “coral coast” that has lots of nice beaches (like everywhere else) and lots of fancy, expensive resorts. We went down to take a look at an “eco-park,” which is a fancy name for a zoo. It was a nice zoo, though, with many large enclosures and focusing on preserving the indigenous wildlife of Fiji. It was fun, but probably not worth the time we spent in the bus, but again, what else were we going to do?

            When we were leaving, we were walking down the road back to the bus stop, wondering what we were going to do for the hour and a half until our bus came to take us back home. A golf cart pulled up with a Brit, a Kiwi and two Fijians. They’d come from the Outrigger, a super fancy and expensive resort along the Coral Coast, and they offered us a ride back to the bus stop. Before we got there, the resort employees asked if we’d be interested in taking a look around the resort. We said sure, and they dropped us off at the pool.

            There were signs all around the pool that told us that we weren’t allowed to use the pool or the lounge chairs or the towels, because we were dirty backpackers, but since they were only signs, we knew we could safely ignore them without hurting their feelings or having them raise a fuss; it’s the people you’ve got to worry about. Lucky for us, the people (like most of the people in Fiji) were friendly and helpful and offered us drinks as we swam in the resort’s pool, dried off with their towels and sat on their lounge chairs. It was just the ticket, cooling us off during the hottest part of the day and giving us something to do until our bus came. The only downside was that I had to ride on a bus for an hour and a half with a wet swimsuit (Anna brought a change of clothes). It was worth it.

Tomorrow is our last day in Fiji. We’re planning on doing nothing. The buses don’t run, so we can’t go into town without taking a cab, and even if we did, everything is closed. These people take their Sabbath seriously. I finished both my book and Anna’s book, so I’m going to need to find something to read or it may be a long day.

Oh well. I can handle long days like these, I suppose.

            We made a good decision yesterday when we left Mana Island. The mainland is much larger and consequently much more diverse, so we were able to find something to do, which for us means we found somewhere to go on a hike.

            We knew there was a national park nearby, but the Lonely Planet said that there were no buses that ran up there and only on guy that you could call to take you there, without going with a large tour group. We tried to call the visitor center but didn’t get an answer.

            Mama, the owner of the hostel we’re staying at, was kind enough to make a few calls to a travel agency, and they suggested that take a bus to Lautoka, the nearest city, and then hire a carrier, which is a pickup truck with a tarp covering the back, to take us up to the main village in the park, Abaca (which, for whatever reason is pronounced ambartha).

            By some strange miracle, this was no more difficult than it sounded. We wandered around in Lautoka for a few minutes, wondering if these gentlemen with pickup trucks were legit or not, and then spoke to one, who agreed to take us immediately. He waited at the visitor center while we did our hike and then took us back down.

            The roads up to the place were terrible. They were rutted and washed out, due to a huge flood Fiji had about a month ago. I think even in the best of times the roads would have been rough passage, though.

            The hike was unbelievable. We walked through thick jungle on the hillside above the river that went over the falls we were going to see. It was wet and slippery and muddy and hard to follow at times, but it was great fun. It felt good to be wandering through the woods again, getting lost, finding our way and looking out over huge valleys that widened until they reached the ocean. The falls themselves were great too. They fell 80m (sorry, I don’t know what that works out to) in 3 stages. Up close, we only saw the bottom third, which we thought was the whole thing, it was so spectacular. It was a wonderful hike and a wonderful day.

            I can’t believe I’ve forgotten about this unti just now, but when we were on Mana Island, one of the girls staying in the same hostel as us was wading in the ocean out front of the place and was bitten on the finger by an eel. The village doctor, who used mostly traditional methods, told her that she was lucky, because usually the eels take the whole finger, instead of just a nibble. We asked her how bad the injury was and she said, “Well, in England, they probably would have given me stitches but here they just put some leaves on it.”

Priceless.

            We left Mana Island today, getting a full refund for the three nights we’d already paid for. We’re staying in at the Tropic of Capricorn, a backpacker in New Town Beach, just outside of Nadi. This place ... [Continue reading this entry]

            A man named Moses took us fishing today. It cost us $30 each and we went with 5 other people, but it was great. Anna caught a blue-finned Travoli (??) and I didn’t catch anything. One of ... [Continue reading this entry]

So, it probably sounds retarded, but we’re not too keen on Fiji so far. I know how this sounds, but all it is (at least where we are) is beaches and sun. I’m cool with beaches and I’m ... [Continue reading this entry]