I'm writing from a rather classy air-conditioned cafe called "Enjoy Cafe" in Suva right now. It is run by a Chinese family and has cheesy elevator music, good bubble tea, and brand new computers at rather low prices.

 

My body made the unfortunate decision to get sick right before I left, so I arrived in Fiji a sniffling, congested, and sore throated mess, especially after the 11 hour plane flight. The flight was interesting in itself because the average age of the passengers had to be about 22. Spring break in the air, baby.

 

Immediately after disembarking from the plane, we were hustled into a travel agent's office in the upper level of the airport before we mustered up the good sense to say no. Jim, our agent and suddenly our new best friend, suggested that we head straight for the islands since there wasn't much to do on the mainland. We ended up booking 4 nights on a small island named Naviti at a place called Korovou Eco-Resort followed by 5 nights at David's Place on Tavewa island which is also part of the Yasawa island chain northwest of the main island of Viti Levu.

 

Korovou Eco-Resort sits right on the beach on the western side of Naviti island. The tide changes so much that over 100 feet of coral and sand are under less than 1 foot of water for half the day which results in some seriously hot water for swimming. I've never snorkeled in what felt like bathwater before, but once Bernt and I were about 200 feet out the water cooled down to normal. I was a bit disappointed at how damaged the coral seemed to be. The tidal changes and frequent motor boat stops must have really done a number on the coral reef just offshore.  The island had a few short hiking trails that were hot and steep but afforded spectacular views of the beach, ocean, and islands beyond. I don't think I've ever seen such blue ocean water. It really is like in the postcards.

 

I think they named this place and "eco-resort" as an excuse for the lack of electricity and facilities. The generator went on at strange times and never seemed to be on when I wanted it to be. What really got me was not the heat or the bugs, but rather the food. Or lack of it. Our fee included 3 meals a day. At every meal we were left wondering if that was the appetizer or the whole meal. And they weren't even good. One dinner consisted of a tiny pile of coleslaw topped by some cabbage-tomato-carrot-greenbean stew. We all seriously thought it was the salad and sat for about an hour before realizing that that was it. The worst was the lunch before I left where the resort served everyone "fried-rice" which really should have been called "undercooked rice" because it was actually crunchy. The saddest part is that everyone was so hungry that we ate every last morsel. So much for Korovou. I wasn't about to learn any cooking on that island. Because I was also pretty sick and not getting better, Bernt and I decided to head back to the mainland after 1 night and cancel our previous plans.

 

Despite my lack in confidence about Mr. Jim the travel agent, we ended up getting our money totally refunded by him in cash in person at our hotel where he came especially to see us.

 

Nadi is a nice little city that is very accessible for tourists. We hired a taxi driver to take us to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant yesterday which is a 20 minute drive north of Nadi Town. Our driver, an Indo-Fijian, took it upon himself to be our tour guide and told us all about the political situation and the 2000 coup and the inequities between native Fijians and Indo-Fijians and the history of the area. He also constantly warned us not to trust ANYONE. But did that mean that we shouldn't trust him as well? I found out lots of facts, like taxi drivers get 70 fijian dollars a week and that cattle live better on the east coast and that the Fijian government is trying to raise sheep but it has been rather unsuccessful so far because of the heat. We passed sugar cane plantations and fields full of tavioca which I thought meant tapioca plant but I think it is actually cassava since that is something that they eat a lot of here. The farmers live well of the land- coconuts, sugar cane, cassava, breadfruit and rice. I learned the story of kava from him, which I'll recount later. I also learned that Fijians tend to prefer gifts of alcohol these days rather than kava, but that it is probably a better idea just to give them the kava since it has a sedative effect rather than causing fights and drunken rowdiness.

 

Right now the plan is to stay in Suva one night, then to return to Nadi, then fly out on Turtle Airways the morning of the 12th to Tavewa Island to stay at Otto and Fanny's which apparently is better than David's Place. After 3 nights there where we will do some diving, Bernt and I will spend one night sleeping aboard the Wana Taki cruise ship which has "the only air-conditioned dorm in the Yasawas" and apparently good food and then will return to Nadi by the 16th in order to catch our flight to New Zealand by the morning of the 17th.

 

Until then...