two-fifths-of-a-second: BULA!

I used to think that all pictures taken of Fiji were photo-shopped to make the beaches pristine white and the water turquoise clear like blue kool-aid...until now! The beaches are truly as beautiful as they appear in a quick google-image search, a little slice of paradise.

Everywhere Ashley and I went the people would greet us with a song and a 'Big Bula'. Bula is the Fijian greeting used all over the islands, and it has many meanings such as: hello, welcome, cheers, how are you, etc. Our trip here went as well as anyone could hope, but due to the lack of internet connectivty I will have to attempt to summarize our week-and-a-half as concisely as possible (a huge challenge for those of you who have ever had the pleasure of hearing me recount a story)!!!

After nearly 35 hours in transit from Ottawa to Chicago to Los Angeles to Nadi (in Fiji) Ashley and I were then faced with a 4 hour boat ride to our first island destination of Nacula in the Yasawas. Here we stayed at a cute little place called Nabua. The staff were so friendly and gave us a great first impression of Fiji. Activites included volleyball, snorkelling at the Blue Lagoon (where the movie was made), cave exploring, and attending church in the nearby village.

Christianity in Fiji is quite interesting as it is mixed with a lot of Fijian traditions, folklore, superstition, and naturalism. Very often people will refer to their Christian values but then talk about if someone performs a ritual incorrectly (ex: firewalking) they will die immediately. Anyway, at church we did not understand anything that was going on except that it was father's day. After church however, some of us were invited to lunch at the homes of the people in the village. I actually got to eat with the family of the chef from our hostel and the owner of the tea place on the island (Ash went with another family). Homes in the villages are quite basic, usually with two rooms - one used for sleeping and one used for everything else. There was a communal shower in the middle of the village, but most houses had their own outhouse toilet.

Ready for church!

note: the green highlighting in his Bible

The man at the front right was the chef at our hostel

We also had some lovo and kava which are a way of cooking over hot rocks and the local 'drink', respectively.

Our second stop was on Naviti Island where we met a lot of fun people. Some of the staff did a fire show for us and performed some local Fijian dances, then we had our own little dance party and bonfire.

At our third stop we got to do a lil' photoshoot hanging in hammocks, chilling on the beach or sippin' some coconuts...I could definitely get used to this life of beaching!

symmetry

SHARK! The pictures speak for themsleves...

this fish was to be our bait for the sharks - our boat driver caught it via a blunt wire/spear

Eeek! There is just so much to say. Our final resting spot was closest to the mainland at a place called Bounty Island. Here are some pictures to show what we did.