Here Bula, there Bula, everywhere a Bula!

Waking up this morning was a little bit of a disaster to say the least (not in a bad way if that is possible). The reason being is because we forgot to set our alarm clocks forward an hour since we changed from Sydney time zone to Fiji time zone. Lauren was the first to awake at ‘6:00’ promptly and took a shower which lasted until about ‘6:10’. I got up right after, and with it being so sunny outside, Lauren made a comment about how bright it was for ‘6:00’ in the morning. That’s when I made the shocking realization that we forgot to set the clocks forward. Usually this wouldn’t be a bad thing, but  we had to catch a charter bus that departed at 7:15 which was actually the current time! So we raced outside to ask the front desk if the bus had already left and since we were on an unlucky streak of course it had. However, it was just at the next hostel over so I told Lauren to go catch the bus while I went back inside the quickly stuff our bags and suitcase with all of our belongings. The Fiji people are known for their hospitality and already knew that we had missed the bus and had also planned to wait for us. Turns out the bus was over packed and we had to wait for another bus anyways. Everyone was complaining that we had to wait, but I was just thankful we had made the bus! We left the hostels and arrived at the port in less than 20 minutes. We had to check in our bags and check in with Awesome Adventure Fiji before we could board the semi-massive cruise ship. It didn’t take long before we were heading off the island of Viti Levu, which is the main island. We took a seat on the top to take pictures of the beautiful views Fiji had to offer, but we couldn’t stay long since we forgot to take the sunscreen out of our suitcase!

As we were leaving Port Denarau

Trying to get some sunshine!

 We soon headed down to the air-conditioned main cabin to relax a little longer since we still had another 45 minutes to go. I was about to catch some sleep since the night hadn't lasted long enough, but that thought didn’t last long since Lauren had a hard time handling the rocking of the ocean.  It could have been due to not drinking enough water the day before, or the salt air but either way, we were both ready to get off the vessel, and actually unto another one, which was much smaller. Once we arrived on our first island the island people came out on a small motorized boat to take us to the island of Wayalialia. When we were close enough to the shore we were greeted by more Fijian people who called “Bula” to us, which means hello in Fiji. We all gathered on the main porch of one of the bure, huts, to get the run down on what was going to happen for the day. Sunday is actually their relax day so there weren’t many activities planned but we didn’t mind since within 5 minutes we were already into our bathing suits and on the beach! We spent quite a bit of time searching for seashells, and finding way too many since they are all so beautiful here! I know that shells back in the US are always broken, but almost all the shells here are still in one piece. 

The start of our seashell collection!

We also stumbled upon a lot of hermit crabs which were interesting and fun to mess with. We saw a grandpa one, he was old and hairy with a green shell and a baby one that barely survived us picking it up. We kept noticing that a lot of people were snorkeling and a guy earlier had told us that we could rent the equipment for a day for $5 so we set off to see where we could do that. Before we found out where to rent the equipment it was lunch time and we were beyond ready since we had missed out on breakfast that morning. We sat down and ate the most delicious meal we may have had since we’ve left the United States, maybe even ever! It was almost a three course meal with pineapple chunks, cucumber salad, and this delicious potato cake creation that was just to die for. We had to ask the lady what it was made of because we definitely wanted to re-create this Fijian dish back home! After lunch and finally being full we were able to relax in the hammocks! We sat next to this couple that we had noticed on the way over and jumped into casual conversation with them. They were from Germany and had just traveled through New Zealand for a month and this was their last stop before they headed home to complete their Masters! Since we want to go to New Zealand we were definitely getting all the advice we could from them as well as Lauren asking them about Germany since she’s going there in the fall! They were very excited to share all their knowledge with us and we soon found out that we’d be going on the trip with them to every island which will be nice. We really wanted at this point to go snorkeling so we eventually just went up to the café place to see where we could rent the equipment. One Fiji man took me to the activity hut and soon enough I was in the water snorkeling while Lauren tried to take a nap in the hammock. It was difficult just getting out past the rocks since it was low tide at the time, but once I made it past, it was beautiful! It may sound stupid, but I wasn’t expecting such colorful fish to be that close to land! I even saw a fish that resembled Scar from Finding Nemo. 

Look closely, he's there in the top right corner.

Needless to say these fishies were not in a playing mood, and they definitely didn’t want to pass through Mt. Wanna-hook-a-loogie. So, for a while I left the fish alone and did some swimming to explore what was around the reef. I found a little trench that went further out in the ocean and eventually led to a big opening in the water, but since it was my first time snorkeling I decided to keep it on the safe side and not go too far into the ocean blue. Also because the only thing that runs through your mind is sharks.  I soon headed back to the shore, but not before taking a couple more pictures of different colored fish. I’ll be the one to say I looked goofy trying to walk with flippers on in the water, but it was really the only way to get past the rocks! Lauren went out after me and got to experience the same thing seeing different colored fish and amazing coral reef looking flowers. She did see quite a few things that I didn’t see though, so it was cool to hear her stories. This was her first time ever using a snorkel so she had a harder time adjusting to breathing through her mouth but that didn’t last long before she was a master! While walking along the beach earlier I had spotted a coconut and could not get it out of my head. I knew that I wanted to crack open the coconut to have a drink from it. We went back to try but no object seemed sharp enough to crack it. 

It was nearing dinner time so my attempt to crack open a coconut was lost, but on the bright side dinner was delicious! They had prepared a nice Easter dinner for us, and beforehand the village kids (or really they were teens) had come over and done a couple of songs from their hymn book to have a little Easter celebration. 

After they were done singing we were able to share our afternoon tea with them and talk to them about their village life. They were very excited to talk to us and even invited us to the village for their Easter celebration and activities. Once our Easter dinner was finished the owner’s wife put on a little presentation to talk about the different Fiji culture items and traditions. She said she wouldn’t talk long so that we could make it to the village but that wasn’t the case since she admitted that she was a talker. Lauren and I were both very interested in the items; the whale’s tooth was our favorite!

 It is actually a real whale’s tooth that it passed around the village whenever someone is in need. This is actually their most prized possession especially if they had one of in their home. However, if someone were to ask for the whale’s tooth you cannot refuse and say you don’t have it since they could bring on bad luck. A whale’s tooth, or sometimes even five whale’s teeth are needed to be collected before a man can ask the father for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Here are some other items like the fans made from the palm trees and then the war weapon that was used back in the beginning times of the villages.

After the presentation we all put on our sulus, which are the wraps worn as skirts, to walk over to the village. It is very rude for anyone to show their knees or shoulders, even guys wear these sulus. Unfortunately, since the owner’s wife talked so much we were late getting to the village and missed out on their activities. We especially wanted to experience their church service, but maybe another time. We immediately headed back to our resort to take part in a kava ceremony. This is a traditional way that the Fijians welcome visitors into their villages and oftentimes must be done by the chief before visitors can even enter.

This is a drink that they share by smashing up a dried up root, and used for many occasions like entering into a village. We had read in the Fiji book that it might be bad, but much to our surprise it wasn't that bad. If you’ve ever tasted dirt you’ve tasted kava! We had to clap our hands once before we were handed the cup, say Bula, then drink it in one gulp and clap three times for gratification. It actually gave us a numb, furry tongue but that’s what it’s supposed to do. They say it’s their beer, or a man drink, but I don’t see why. Once all the activities were done for the night, it was basically already dark but we still chose to go lay on the hammock by the ocean and relax a little. We had a full day planned the next day so we both went to bed early to catch up on some sleep.