I hope this post finds you all doing well - I hear it's quite snowy in the NE at the moment. So I hope all of you take a snowday or at least call in sick!
To backtrack a bit, since my blog posts are almost quarterly now instead of weekly... It was hard to leave my family in North Carolina as I began my second phase of the trip. I was excited to continue my travels, but I realize more and more how much I enjoy being with family. I was experiencing some strange feelings as I sat in the airport - on one hand, I felt super prepared for this next trip. After being in Europe and realizing what items were worth their weight to a backpacker and what items were not, I had revised my packing list and had an even lighter backpack heading into a longer travel period. I also felt a bit apprehensive and I couldn't put my finger on why. I figured maybe it was because this part of the trip I would do all on my own with no friends joining me for the next six months. Even us independent travelers can feel the difference when we gear up and the weight of your next obstacle is fully upon you with no one to share the load.
After a short flight to Charlotte and a longer one to Los Angeles, I stepped off the plane deeply breathing in the exhaust and sunshine, happy to be in California again. I took a confusing cab ride in a large handicap van to Kevin's house and was greeted by Kevin and Sarah as the stars began to peak out in the sky.
The next few days we had a great time catching up, exchanging stories, and doing some fun little trips with Mr. Arlo. I hadn't seen Arlo in quite awhile and little people change very quickly. The last time I saw Arlo he was standing but holding on to the table, whereas this time he was certainly mobile, and FAST. Also quite talkative which was fun to hear.
Kev, Arlo and I took a trip to the Santa Monica Promenade so I could restock on some supplies for my trip and took a nice walk around enjoying the weather. It was truly California Christmas season - fully dressed Christmas trees, Santa outposts, and Christmas lights dominated the palm trees and shopping malls. We stopped for some Mediterranean food at the mall and found a wonderful little pirate ship playground for Arlo to explore.
That night the enigmatic and delightful Julia Suarez drove an hour to come pick me up and take me out to dinner in Manhattan Beach. It was such a treat to see one of my ole college roommates. Julia and her husband had recently moved to Los Angeles to be closer to family and for a new job opportunity. We stuffed ourselves with pizza, brussel sprouts, wine, and good conversation.
The next day K, A, and I took a longer trip out to the South Coast Botanical Garden in Palos Verdes. I had no idea this place even existed although it was super close to where I used to work. We wandered around the gardens, top spots included the redwood forest and the succulents (of course).
On the way home after A began to snooze, Kev took me on the drive around Palos Verdes, another activity I'd always wanted to do but never did when I lived here. We drove out to Pelican Bluff and admired the birds and the waves crashing below.
And finally the day came for me to leave, heading to Fiji on an evening flight. I would leave December 11 and arrive in Fiji on December 13, losing December 12 completely. The day passed quickly with a coffee stop and Kevin inviting me to participate in his portrait series. It was so cool to let my inner diva fly!
I always have such a great time in LA, visiting the Etheridge/Older Aguilar family. Thank you all for such a wonderful relaxing trip! Kevin dropped me at the airport and we hugged goodbye.
Honestly, I was nervous, anxious, what was I doing? I wasn't nervous to get on the plane, airplanes have never bothered me. It was an anxious feeling that could only be squashed by... french fries. Okay right, where do I find those guys? I now had a purpose. The international terminal at LAX was completely foreign to me, and quite possibly the biggest terminal I have ever been in.
I wandered up and down dozens of air carrier check-ins before finally finding Fiji Airways. I checked in my bag after being drilled about my work visa for New Zealand. After a security check that went rather smoothly, I stepped into the departure area and my jaw dropped. It was crazy big and full of high end restaurants and shops (no surprise there), but where were the french fries? I found them, don't you worry. I found them tucked away in a tiny little Japanese burger place, and yes they eased whatever tension was surrounding me like a foul aura.
I boarded the airplane a few hours later and quite enjoyed the flight. We had our own monitors to watch movies and the hours seemed to melt away. Unfortunately the flight attendants didn't seem to like anyone who didn't speak Fijian... which included most of the passengers. I did like that they served tea and coffee about every thirty minutes (at least it seemed like that to me in between naps).
Once our plane arrived in Fiji my nerves began to act up again. The man next to me continued to talk to me and ask very personal questions, something I would have to get used to in Fiji. "Why are you in Fiji? Where you stay in Fiji? Are you traveling alone? Where is your man? How long are you here? How old are you?" Tui turned out to be a really nice guy actually. He is a lawyer for the Fijian military and had been training at the Defense Acquisition University in Virginia. Tui told me to stick with him and he'd help me find my bus, so after downing half a Clonapin, I said, "Sure!"
As we exited the airplane we walked through open air gateways, very similar to arriving in Hawaii. There was a man standing on the walkway that immediately walked up to Tui and grabbed his hand bag - apparently this was his "man." I assume that means he also works in the military or is a man servant. Either way he was super nice and immediately demanded my passport. Um, what? He said that he needed it to help me get through customs, so I timidly handed it over to Joe, the man servant.
Joe quickly walked away with me in quick pursuit and sure enough, Tui and I were jumped to the front of the line and whisked through customs without a blink. We then rode a short escalator down to the two carousals in the Nadi arrivals terminal. Tui walked briskly away and Joe stood with me for almost 45 minutes waiting for my bag to arrive. I guess Tui had ordered him to make sure I found my bus. Joe and I made some small talk and finally my little purple backpack peaked its head out from the flap. Joe gallantly helped me with my luggage and we walked outside the airport to the beginnings of a sunrise breaking through the clouds. Dozens of trees with poofy red flowers pouring out of them (called Christmas trees because the flowers only bloom in December) lined the parking lot and hordes of barefoot Fijians grouped together stared at everyone exiting the building.
The bus ride was just fine and let me see a lot of the local areas most tourists probably don't see. The main island of Fiji is called Viti Levu, the one that I had flown into and was now traveling around. Fiji is made up of over 300 islands, but 75% of the population lived on this island. The southern highway circling the island is known as the Queen's Road (the King's Road is the northern highway around the island). I was taking the bus to Suva, which also happens to be the capital with a grand population of about 175,000 people (thank you Wikipedia).
On the drive to Suva I saw many villages with brightly painted houses in coral, baby blue, purple, and yellow. Cemeteries peppered the countryside with tombstones that covered the length of the grave with a slight raised end, like a stone pillow for someone to lie on to be closer to their loved one if they wanted to come visit... and have a nap. Some of the gravestones also had canopies erected with colorful sarongs shading the departed. Many churches also dotted the landscape - they were all open air (windows and doors thrown open, curtains billowing in the breeze) with wooden floors and benches crammed inside. I was told later on how influential the Methodist missionaries were when they arrived in Fiji, and there were examples of this everywhere.
The middle of the island is all mountains and as the sun rose and crawled higher in the sky, I began to see more cows and goats piled on top of one another under mighty trees providing much needed shade. The sun was hot, but the air from the open windows on the bus cooled us down to a mildly pleasant temperature. I struggled to stay awake and finally succumbed to a short nap.
Once we arrived in Suva I started to feel a bit apprehensive. The bus stops are all outdoors, no terminal to ask about travel information. Most of the shops I could see were closed due to it being Sunday. People were everywhere, milling around looking at people exiting the buses, possibly waiting to board a bus themselves, or marketing a few items to people walking by. I had hours to kill before my boat arrived at Bau Landing which was a 45 minute taxi ride away. I was still jet lagged and hoping to find a nice cafe or something to sit and read in while I waited, no such luck.
A small boy and his grandfather were selling freshly squeezed juices to passerbyers. I asked them if there was a bathroom nearby and the young boy jumped up and showed me the way asking me all sorts of questions and trying to grab my bag so he could carry it. I knew this was in the hopes that he could earn a dollar or two, but I had to be pretty firm with him to not grab. He led me between a row of shacks and through some interesting alleyways until we arrived at a public toilet. The little boy waited for me outside and escorted me back, a few of his friends joined in and were running behind me asking all sorts of questions and again trying to grab my bags to carry them. I found the boys quite endearing but they didn't understand English well at all and kept responding with the same answers that all involved me buying something from them. I pretended I needed to take a bus to try to get rid of my new gang which slightly worked except for one persistent little guy who kept hissing at me from a good distance away (to let me know I was taking the wrong bus, not to scare me... at least that is what I told myself).
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Tui pulls up in a car. Where did he come from? He had taken a flight from Nadi to Nasouri, arriving in 45 min, instead of my 4 hour bus ride, and had just dropped a friend at the bus station. He asked if I wanted a ride and I said yes and jumped into the car. Under normal circumstances I would never do this, but I just wanted to get out of Suva. As soon as I got inside the car, I berated myself. Why in God's name was I in a car with a random strange man in the middle of Fiji? This is how these stories start...
But I was lucky, because Tui did take me to Bau Landing and I did get on the boat to Leleuvia Island. There were some hiccups and some strange circumstances in the four hours between the pickup and dropoff, but I will just say it was a successful venture and was happy to be on that speedboat, jettisoning away to my new home for the week. We turned the motors down to a reasonable hum as we passed Bau Island which is a "chiefly island."
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| Tui (on right), his nephew and son |
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| Bau Island |
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| My first up-close look at Leleuvia Island |
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A few exciting things did happen, the first being my first full day on the island when I decided to explore... that is never a good idea apparently. In hindsight I should have waited until low tide to walk around the island, but my thinking cap was not yet on and so I ventured out during the highest possible tide. As I walked down the beach I noticed some mangroves blocking my way, so walked through them (well, over and under them actually).
As I was taking a picture of some wildlife, something flying took a large, meaty bite out of my back. It felt like an electric current traveled through my entire body. My first response was to scream, throw my camera into the water, and then take off my shirt to figure out what had stung/bitten/destroyed me... and nothing was there. So an invisible monster lay waiting in the mangroves for innocent victims, and that day it took two victims, me and my camera.
I was pretty bummed about the camera. I tried in vain to soak it in rice, but I knew it wasn't going to work and it didn't. I also had lost my sunglasses the day before so I borrowed a radical pair from an ex-soap opera actress (or that's what it seemed like) for the remainder of my stay. The staff was wonderful and one of the ladies dabbed vinegar on my back to relieve the pain of the bee sting (they were convinced it was a bee).
The next day I was invited with some other guests to take part in the twelve person canoe. Two of the ladies at Leleuvia had requested a canoe trip before they left the next day (one of these ladies, Marina, I would see in Auckland a few weeks later). It reminded me a lot of war canoe from camp! We paddled about halfway to the next island where the ocean bottom dropped out and a current picked up, and then turned around and continued our jaunt around the island. A few people got out to swim, but I found keeping "Sea Snake Watch 2015" going from the boat was enough excitement for me!
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| My paddle's keen and bright... |
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| Marina (white shirt) and Jacqueline (purple shirt) take part in the canoe adventure! |
I should mention the friends I met on the island... Jacqueline is a lovely British lady (Cyprus born) professor of anthropology in Suva. We ate most of our meals together and shared some wonderful stories. Ines is the most impressive world traveler I have met to date! She is Swiss born but had been living all through the South Pacific for the last few years, spending the last year working on a cruise ship in Tahiti. Marina and her friend Barbara, from Germany, were just rounding out a final few days on the island. Marina had visited the island over twenty years and ten years ago (this time with her young son). She showed us pictures of how the island had changed. Stee (or Steve to make it easier) is a Canadian lawyer for the UN, living in Geneva. There were plenty of families on the island and couples of course, but us singles had a great time eating, drinking, and playing together in the water.
Another day Jacqueline, Ines, Stee, and I decided to expand our snorkeling to an outer reef trip. Ceru, who ran the water sports activities, came with us as our guide. We swam along a drop-off near a neighboring island. It was like another world under the bobbing waves, reef sharks, sea turtles, and new and interesting reef fish and corals awaited us.
Leleuvia participates in a sea turtle tagging program with the local university. After our initial snorkel, we jettisoned to another spot and Ines, Stee, and I opted out of another snorkel, trying to get our sea legs back. Jacqueline and Ceru went into the water and a few minutes later Ceru popped up with a turtle! He handed it over to the boat operator and we brought "Soup" back to the island to tag her. Ceru said she was a 10-15 year old sea turtle, so just a baby in the grand scheme of things. She wasn't happy to be caught, but we tried to keep her as calm as possible on the trip back to the island. It was incredible to see how fast she could swim once she was released into the bay by the boat dock. Quite exciting to learn about and be a part of the process!
My other snorkeling trips were quite interesting. It was incredible to just grab a snorkel and fins, walk into the water a few yards, and see the most amazing fish I have ever seen in my life. Fiji snorkeling blew me away, best experience I've had so far with respect to visibility. I saw parrot fish, sea cucumbers, wrasses, trigger fish, angelfish, rock cods, snappers, butterfly fish, sergeants, anemone fish, leather jackets, rabbit fish, flatworms, banner fish, cornet fish, and sea snakes. Ugh, that sea snake, would always find me (or I would always find it). Sea snakes are highly venomous and also very shy. They do come up on land to mate and to lay eggs, but then return to the sea for most of their life. A few resort guests had seen the snake up on the island at night (after a long session of cava). We were all given a rechargeable light to carry with us at night and now I knew why...
Alternatively we could feed the fish from the boat dock in the afternoon if we felt like it. It provided hours of entertainment and the visibility was quite good once you got away from the sheen the sun was leaving on the water surface.
The food on Leleuvia was pretty amazing. The first few days we were served fresh fish and vegetables for almost every lunch and dinner. Without a doubt my favorite thing on the island was their bread and butter - it was out of this world and quickly became an obsession. The butter just had this extra bit of creamy saltiness you don't find in normal supermarket butter. The tropical drinks were also quite enjoyable as you can imagine. I tried a few before settling on the pina colada, their coconut milk was just unreal (again, don't know if it was island magic or what). I did like that the cook used local island ingredients in most of his cooking - coconuts, passion fruit, and breadfruit were all harvested from the island.
I took many shell walks, unperturbed by the bee sting, I continued to explore. I found some incredible shells which unfortunately I am unable to send home due to a mandatory quarantine period. Before I realized it was unrealistic to bring anything back to the States, I ran an important test on my new friends to see if they were still inhabited, dubbed, "the hermit crab test." Leave the shell in a designated spot for a few days and if it remains there, it's not inhabited, if it's moved, then something is inside of it. About half the shells I thought were empty were actually not. Good to know!
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| Opposite side of the island from the huts, the "wilder side" |
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| Ines paddling on top of the coral reef |
Ultimately my time at Leleuvia was very relaxing. My favorite parts were the sunrises and sunsets, the butter and coconut milk, the magical life beneath the surface of the ocean, and the wonderful friends I met on the island. I shall leave you all with a final sunset and sunrise on this magical island...
My final full day in Fiji was off and running quite early. The boat left early to accommodate another group, so I prepared the night before (I was the only person in the dorm at this point). After a quick breakfast and a beautiful sunrise, I joined everyone at the boat dock and waved goodbye to new friends.
After a boat ride, a taxi ride, another bus ride, and then another taxi ride, I found myself at my hotel for the evening. I was planning on walking through Nadi to get to my hotel, but again, I didn't feel comfortable walking alone through the city where I stuck out so much. I had just enough money for dinner and a small tip to the shuttle driver in the morning. It was an incredible feeling having air conditioning for a night, I had forgotten what it was like to wake up clean and refreshed and not sticky and salty.
The next morning I woke up super early in order to grab the free shuttle to the airport. I spent a few hours milling around the airport (international departures was inordinately nicer than international arrivals, go figure). I bought an extra large Fiji water since it was the cheapest I would ever see in my life. As I boarded my plane I felt ready to say goodbye to Fiji and excited to step foot in New Zealand. Onward ho!
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