Resort activities on Fiji time

We're at a Outrigger Resort on the coral coast on this last week in Fiji. The resort is very nice - similar in many ways to the resorts we've visited over the years, but different. When we arrived at the resort we drove up to park our car, and were greeted by the attendant. As he opened the gate, he raised his hands high in the air and yelled "BULA!" in a loud booming voice. It startled the heck out of us, and then we started to laugh. The attendant does this every time we park the car.

Today was a rainy day, so John asked that I play bingo with him after lunch. To my surprise I won the first game and a free cocktail. John was one square short, and kicked himself that we didn't swap bingo cards at the start. As I said to John, it's nice to win. Elizabeth joined the kid's club today, and enjoyed hiking, egg tossing, snorkeling, and boogie board racing. She was the only kid her age there who wasn't from Australia or New Zealand. She said that her new found friends first didn't believe that she was from Canada, and when they finally believed her, they wanted her to choose which of the two countries she liked best. She wisely didn't choose.

John has been kicking around the resort doing his own thing. He befriended a number of the Fijian staff members, and convinced one to drive him around the resort on a golf cart. It all worked out until they had a flat tire and had to walk the rest of the way back. He also talked his way into the gym to use some of the exercise equipment, even though you are supposed to be 17 years of age or over. The latest of his shenanigans involved first getting a few dollars from me to buy a snack, and then using the code on the receipt to access the Internet laptops in the café. The only problem was he needed to be 15 to use the Internet café by himself without a parent. John claimed to be 14 and 1/2, hoping that the attendant would be nice and let him in. She would have none of it. I'm not sure how claiming he was under 15 was going to help his cause.

The resort is intended to showcase indigenous Fijian culture. Catheleen overheard an Australian father admonish his two young daughters, who were around five years old, to get out of the pool. He said that they didn't travel half way across the world to swim in the pool all day, and rather need to go experience some Fijian culture. First of all, I'm not sure five year olds even know what culture is, and secondly, they didn't travel that far. There are cultural experiences to be found here though, including listening to some of the singing groups performing around the resort. Singing is a tradition here, and they even have a poignant goodbye song a group sings as guests depart.

Almost all the staff seem to be indigenous Fijians. Many of them are quite overweight I've noticed, in stark contrast to the typically slim Asians we're seen all throughout South East Asia. Speaking with Lynn last week, she noted that the diet in Fiji is poor, which contributes to a great deal of heart disease, diabetes, and an early grave for many. Too much of everything is the norm for many unfortunately.

We've driven to the local town a few times now. It's a small town but buzzing with activity. They have a covered market with fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood, and many vendors sell their vegetables and other items on the street, mostly spread out on mats. One lady had conical sea shells for sale, all fresh with the muscle or sea creature inside the shell - I don't know what type of sea food this was. We stopped by a few Indian stalls selling sweets, and picked up a few squares and balls, all brightly coloured and tasty. As always, we ended up at the bread shop to pick up some fresh bread, butter and various pastries. It's curious that inevitably an indigenous Fijian will strike up a conversation with us and point us to his store or a Fijian market, and warn us about the local Indian vendors who are supposedly aggressive. Funny thing though, the Indian vendors have been anything but aggressive. What a strange rivalry exists between these two groups.

We're enjoying the sunsets around here too. Just tonight we had dinner at a restaurant along the coast and just marvelled at the clouds, calm sea, and setting sun. It's nice to take it slow and enjoy the moment. As they say around here, we're on Fijian time.

Here's Elizabeth's silhouette after sunset near the restaurant.

Mud pools and stray dogs

We're back at the Hilton for an afternoon by the pool. It's not as hot today which is nice, and it's certainly been good to get to the pools this week, something we missed in Australia and New Zealand. It gives the kids access to some exercise.

Yesterday we visited the Sobeto Thermal Mud Pool. I wasn't keen on going at first. Something about the thermal part didn't appeal - it's already hot here. Also I wasn't thrilled about the mud part - who wants to get all dirty? But as it turned out it was a fun activity and I'm glad we went.

When we first arrived at the mud pool in bathing suits with cameras in hand, we were presented with buckets of mud drawn from the mud pool. We proceeded to coat ourselves in mud from head to toe, and then we let the it dry. I found it cooling to be covered in mud. I can see how this works for elephants and other animals. It must be the combination of protection from the sun and the slow evaporation effect from the drying mud which makes it cool. John wasn't too impressed with the idea of coating himself in mud at first, but he joined in once everyone else started. He did seem a little concerned though as the mud stiffened up. When we stretched it felt very strange as the mud cracked and stretched. After a while, we soaked in the mud pool itself, with contained a few feet of water over the warm mud below. As we stepped in, we sank up to our knees in the goop, and the kids tried jumping from a tree into the mud pool. After we washed off the mud as best we could, we soaked in a separate, and mud-free thermal pool for a while.

After our mudding experience we joined a kava drinking ceremony going on for a tour group that had just arrived. This time the kids joined us and they each had some kava. It was interesting to see each of the kids' reaction when they drank the kava. Elizabeth smiled, but you could see the grimace on her face for an instant. She later said it tasted like mud and she felt like she was going to throw up. I think she was exaggerating, but I don't see them trying the drink again. Me either frankly.

Lynn, the owner of the bed and breakfast we're staying at, used to drink a lot of kava, but not anymore. I asked why, and she said that after she had her daughter, she found that it was hard for her to wake up at night and in the morning to take care of her daughter. Lynn had an interesting perspective on life in Fiji, not all of it positive. A common observation from her again and again is how laid back the Fijians are, sometimes to their detriment.

One issue we've seen a lot here is a stray dog problem. Where we are staying we've seen and heard packs of stray dogs wandering the neighbourhood and fighting with the local property owners' dogs. Some people have taken to poisoning the dogs. Lynn has gone through a few dogs since hers have been poisoned, likely by accident. There are plans to build a dog shelter, funded mainly by a wealthy private family who recently emigrated to the island. It will be better for the dogs and locals when this dog problem is under control. They sure howl at night - good thing we have our ear plugs.

Here's Catheleen and me about as dirty as we're ever likely to be.