Final Days in Fiji

I don't know if it was the dead mouse under the bookcase this morning, or the live cockroach in my suitcase this afternoon...(for Justin, it's the constant assault by the flies that stalk our food and the mosquitos that stalk us), but we are ready to move on to our next destination. We are looking forward to getting to New Zealand tomorrow evening.

Fiji is not Hawaii. It's fantastically beautiful, but it is a third world country. And 3 weeks is a long time here. That said, we have had an amazing time and met some wonderful people and learned a lot.

We did another snorkeling trip two days ago, to Qamea. (there are 322 islands that make up Fiji) Apparently, it's regularly voted a top dive and snorkel site. It was amazing. We snorkeled right out to reefs edge to see the drop off deep into the ocean, it was beautiful and slightly spooky. If there's a shark lurking nearby, that's where he's going to be.

Yesterday I was slightly ill all day, it came on almost immediately after I commented that it was amazing none of us had been sick in any way since we arrived. We spent the day doing nothing, which is great at first... but after 3 weeks I have discovered that you can actually get anxiety from having nothing to do, even in "paradise"!

Today was spent packing and saying goodbye, and it is sad. We've come to adore Maureen and Sonia, especially.

Sonia's parents invited us for dinner tonight. It was all delicious, but the meal was very strange for us. The father sat outside with his brother and another man and drank kava, he didn't want to eat until he had his fill of kava. We were asked to come sit inside, where it was sweltering hot, and very small. We were all uncomfortable, but especially Liam. Sonia's mother laid a cloth down on the floor and brought out about 8 different dishes. She clearly went through a lot of trouble to cook for us (and she's 8 months pregnant). Unfortunately, as soon as the food was presented, so were the flies. They were awful, crawling all over the food. We really did our best to eat what we could, to be polite, but it was tough. She did not eat with us either, she sat on her bed and watched us mostly. It was all a little odd for us. But, they were really sweet and easy to talk with and clearly had gone through trouble to have us and we made the best of it.

There are many things I will not miss about Fiji, several of them named above... but there are many things I will miss. We will miss Maureen, and her care and her guidance, she has taken good care of us all. I will miss the emphatic BULA we are greeted with by everyone. Bula means hello and they say it with gusto. I will miss how much Fijians love babies, I'm getting pretty used to having someone hold and entertain my baby while I enjoy my meal:) I will miss the glorious sunrise and sunset, and the vastness of the night stars overhead. I'll miss Shorty, he's a really good dog! Justin will miss kayaking out in front of our house and catching a fish, at 5PM, when we realize we've made no other plans for dinner. Elle will miss Sonia, she's been great for the whole family, a bridge for Elle between leaving all her friends behind and this journey that she is on. I'll miss how just as the sun sets each night our yard comes alive with frogs, they come straight up out of the grass like magic. I'll miss the simpleness of life.