Fiji!

Getting onto Fiji Time

11:30pm on October 31st we flew out of Los Angeles for the last time as residents.  Dropped off the apartment keys, gave lots of hugs and shed a few tears and we were off on our adventure.  Everything seemed to run smoothly, our flight was a little late leaving but no big deal.  Cut to landing in Nadi, Fiji- we had 15 minutes to clear customs, collect our bags, get back through security and get on our 15 seater plane to Taveuni Fiji.  Sooo- we cleared custom pretty fast and thought perhaps we would make it after all.  The universe however had other plans.  None of our baggage showed up.  3 checked bags and not one of them made it to baggage claim.  I had a moment of panic and then couldn't do anything but laugh.  I mean really, we are on the other side of the world and our only possessions are the items in our carry on backpacks?  It was so absurd it was funny, and it only got better.

Once we realized our bags weren't coming we had missed our flight by about twenty minutes so we ventured to the Air Pacific desk to get on the next flight out.  If you've ever done any island travel you may know that once you get out onto the island you move into 'island time'-  things rarely happen when they say they will and everyone just seems to go with it because really, what's the rush?  The scenery is beautiful, the people are nice so you may as well just go with the flow.  'Fiji time' is 'island time' to the power of ten- there may as well not even be a schedule because it will be wrong.  We were rerouted to Suva on a 30 person airplane and were told we would have a short wait there before getting on a flight out to Taveuni.  Suva is the capital of Fiji but the airport is nowhere near town and is more or less just a landing strip in the middle of some fields.  Our flight kept being delayed and we were given food vouchers for the cafe at the airport.  'Pizza King'- the only option for food at the airport did not actually serve pizza.  The woman behind the desk was so cute, she completely understood the absurdity and giggled as she said in a lovely Indian accent:  "Yes, we are called Pizza King. No, we do not have pizza."  Eventually we got on our flight.  There were  6 people on the plane including the pilot, who was about 19 years old, and the copilot.  We were all staggered with our luggage so that the flight was weighted correctly and then we took off.  The pilot was great and took us around the outside of the island where the huge waterfalls fall into the ocean.  Our flight was only an hour but it was enough to make up for all the craziness we had encountered up until that point- the beauty was nothing like anything I had ever seen.  Turquoise waters, so clear you could see the coral reefs from the airplane and wisps of cloud to accent each mountain peak.  We landed at the Matei airport and were picked up and taken to our resort.  The rest of the day we relaxed by the pool and watched the sun set on a bluff over the ocean with tropical breezes reminding us everything would be alright.  We had officially entered 'fiji time.'  

The next morning we woke with the Sun and took the bikes into the town of Soma Soma.  Everyone here is friendly and everywhere we went we heard "Bula!!" the Fijian greeting.  The culture here is so warm and open - in the words of one of the women here- everyone takes care of everyone else.  There is very little money but hey live off the sea and the land and there is very little violence or crime compared to most developing countries.  The language sounds like a mix of Indian and French Polynesian and has a rhythm that seems to flow with waves of the ocean.  It would be easy to stay here for months on end without having any worries at all.

Scuba Diving

On Thursday morning we woke up and went Scuba diving in the Rainbow Reef.  One of only 5 places in the world that soft coral can grow.  It was beautiful.  We had an amazing guide and went down to about 90 feet.  We saw clown fish living sea anemones, a lion fish, grey reef sharks, flower coral, barracuda, the endangered humped rass, steelhead tuna and a reef dropoff that must have gone down 1000 feet.  Peeking over the edge was like jumping off a building, it went straight down into infinity.  Compared to the California diving we got certified with this was like swimming in a huge aquarium. Colorful fish wherever you looked and water so clear you could see forever.  

Diwali Celebration

On Friday we moved to another resort closer to the airport for our last two nights.  It is right on the beach with snorkeling, kayaks and amazing food.  When we arrived we were told it was Diwali, a huge Indian holiday and we were invited to go to the house of one of the kitchen staff for a celebration.

The evening was amazing, we visited 4 homes of some of of the staff of the place we were staying in.  They shared their homes and their food.  Indian sweets of all shapes and sizes.  Their generosity and beautiful smiles will always be remembered.

Sadly, our Fiji trip was only 1 week but we will be back for more, the owner of the place we stayed the last few nights invited me back to teach a yoga retreat :)  Tomorrow we head to Auckland for more adventures!!

Peace and Light,

Kaitlyn