fancy resorts are best when you don’t have to pay
Saturday, February 24th, 2007We 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.
awrichner