From afar you’d think that I’m wearing three different coloured shirts, one red, one pink and one white but upon closer inspection you quickly come to realize that this is simply my stylish three tiered sunburn, the definition of a Canadian tan. Accompanied by the cherry coloured nose on top and fly bitten legs and feet, these remain only minor set backs of the excellent time spent in Fiji. Budgetary constraints confined us to the main island but certainly not against our will. An eight day layover allowed us just enough time to sample what the Fijian main island of Viti Levu had to offer in terms of beaches, mountains, juggles, waterfalls, cities and villages. Of course, we began this visit with a b-line to the beaches of the Coral Coast, destination Mango Bay Resort. A different spin on your typical Cuba/Dominican resort experience however with some of the same unfortunate trappings (e.g. scheduled egg tossing activities). Beyond its superficialities, the resort gave way to the ever-smiling local spirit with opportunities to snorkel, kayak and visit the local school. As a side note, snorkeling and kayaking are simply avenues for Sylvie and me to freak each other out. Fed by each others fears, every concentrated look at the ocean’s bottom seems to conjure some form of deadly creature, always poisonous and man eating/nibbling. The beach fulfilled our laziest of desires until we met a great American couple from Montana whom we followed to the countries capital, Suva. Heaploads of people filled this city’s scorching streets selling everything from unique fruits and veggies, to every nic-nacs under the sun, to weird mushroom shaped pastries on every single corner, to a candlelight Valentine’s day dinner at McDonalds, even florescent green speckled lobsters, everything except the one thing we desired, a beer (or in my case, a icy cold stiff drink). Soon after our trip to Suva, we journeyed into the Sabeto Mountains. Sitting at the foot of the mountain, we couldn’t have asked for a better view and more gracious hosts who brought us on our first ever Hash Run. Basically to summarize, it’s a locally organized run where at the end you eat homemade food, chug beer, wear a plastic penis on your nose and jokingly insult each other.
We finished our eight days in Fiji with a trek through the juggle to have a well-deserved swim in a beautiful (are there any other kind) waterfall. Privately guided by a local who had to cross every river three times to help us unbalanced broads get through the sometimes knee deep flowing water, all while hiking along sharing local knowledge and facts such as why the cows blocking our path were mooing bloody murder. He also was helpful in alleviating some of our underwater fears including telling us that what we were seeing wasn’t a deadly snake but a harmless ugly fish. Thus we departed Fiji a bit more courageous and one step closer to acclimatizing to the mega hot and humid weather.
