Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Days #33 & 34. Fiji (Long Beach/White Sandy Beach).

The caves were fantastic!  Took a motorboat out in a torrential downpour, climbed some rocks and stairs, and jumped into the cold dark water at the entrance.  Then we got to hold our breath and swim underneath some rocks and through a channel for about 12+ feet to the inner chamber.  Some of the resort guests refused to swim through the channel which had no air pockets in it.  It rained the entire morning, so I chilled in one of the bean bags and read my book all morning.  So far it's a really endearing book about a little girl and her foster parents in Nazi Germany.  After a rushed lunch, I boarded the Yasawa Flyer for Long Beach Resort (Matacawalevu Island) which I'd heard from other travelers was a really basic but nice spot.  Also, Long Beach was a place I wouldn't have to pay the additional resort charge.

Now I know why it's better to pay the extra $25 for a "better" resort.  Because the other ones are like 3rd world countries.  My night at Long Beach "Resort" was horrific.  Now mind you, the island that it's on is ridiculously, beyond belief beautiful.  In my opinion, one of the prettiest I've been on so far.  However, the place is very run down.  My dorm room had a bathroom with a beat up sink, toilet, and shower all in one area.  The shower was cold and squirted in all different directions (basically around you but not on you).  The beds consisted of a thin mattress and a top sheet.  NO bottom sheet.  Trust me, I was awake half the night scratching at the bed bugs I just knew were climbing all over me.  Surprisingly there weren't any.  But still, who knows what condition the people were in who rested their (likely filthy) bodies on that same bare surface.  The mosquito net may as well not have been there as it had holes all throughout.  I fell into a fitful sleep with that incorrigible high buzzing sound in my ear.  For dinner I was served rice and a handful of veggies in a sauce that I cannot even guess the ingredients of.  Everyone else had just the rice and a single chicken leg.  This was accompanied by bread and thickened chicken broth.  Breakfast was porridge and a pancake type thing.  Lunch was rice with a few shreds of tuna scattered around and maybe a piece of carrot or pepper if you were lucky.  Next time I come to Fiji I will GLADLY pay the $25 for great food, clean comfortable beds, air conditioning, warm water, and a nice bathroom!!!

Ordinarily I wouldn't complain.  I've stayed in worse hostels in New Zealand (Auckland!).  And I love camping which is certainly not 5-star.  Maybe I should have started out with the cheap "resorts" and finished with the really good ones.    But like I said, the location was amazing.  The people there were so nice and always happy.  We played a game of volleyball - locals against the tourists.  We beat them horribly!  There was this old man named Noah who had a few teeth missing.  He liked to yell orders to everybody while he himself hit the ball in every direction but over the net.  If he managed to set the ball, he'd shout "SMASH IT!!!" at the top of his lungs.  And if the ball rolled out of bounds down toward the water, he'd holler at the local woman to go and fetch it.  "RUN Martha! Run! Teamwork! RUN!!!"  He also liked to say the popular phrase "No worries", but in his own broken English.  "No to the worries" he'd assure us, "No to the worries."  He was a real clown, that Noah!  The next morning a girl named Judith from Denmark and I took a small motorboat out to the actual Blue Lagoon beach where the movie was filmed.  It was amazing!!!  I can see why they did it there.  We basked in the sunshine and tried to snorkel, but there were little jelly fish and I'd already been stung twice by those stupid mitochondria things just by walking through the water.  After spending 2 hours there, we motor boated back to Long Beach.

I boarded the Flyer again after that despicable lunch I mentioned earlier and made my way south to the White Sandy Beach Resort (Naviti Island), also no additional charge.  I heard the food was better there, and that the beds had bottom sheets, although it was suspect as to how often they were actually changed.  Despite the questionable frequency of their linen washing, the resort was charming.  There were some of the friendliest staff yet who made it a point to memorize every guest's name.  The dorm rooms were much nicer than the last place, mosquito nets fairly intact, and a big wooden veranda at the front was quite welcoming.  More volleyball ensued.  This time the locals were much better.  Some guys were playing Rugby on the next field although it looked like a miserable sport to play in this sweltering weather.  Dinner was also quite an improvement from last night.  They served lamb chops and sausages - for me they fried a couple eggs - with soup, cheese bread, boiled potatoes, sweet chili sauce, and still-warm banana cake.  The cake was so fluffy and sweet!  

After dinner everyone sat on some benches and watched while the Fijians danced and sang, their favorite pastime :)  Then it was "International Night" where each nationality had to perform a song or skit, tell a story or joke… anything specifically having to do with their nationality.  This couple from the UK did a dance and sang "For he's a jolly good fellow."  A couple of Swedish kids pretended to dance around a maypole like frogs while singing their song of independence.  I told the story of the midnight rider Paul Revere, demonstrated how his horse sounded as it pounded the dirt roads, and sang "Yankee Doodle."  I was the only American :(  After all the songs, stories, dancing, and games people started migrating down to the beach for a bonfire.  But by this time I was exhausted so I hit the sack, cocooned in my mosquito netting, head nestled into the egg crate that was my pillow.  Once the fire got started, I fell asleep to lovely wafts of smoke coming through my window.  

For breakfast we were served homemade chocolate doughnuts which were glorious!  I walked the whole length of the beach past the other 2 resorts.  Sunned for a bit.  Watched a man climb a coconut tree, cut about 10 off, and come back down head first.  Drank the refreshing juice of the green coconut.  Watched the Swedish kids build what they called the "Pit of Doom."  This was an elaborate creation complete with a big pit, coral "house", bridge, castle, moat, and assorted seaweed garnishes.  Inside the pit were poor confused tiny little crabs, the kind that live inside teeny shells.  I'd say about 40 of them.  They scuttled around, attempting to climb the wall.  Climbing and falling.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.  A few extra smart ones made their way to the top of the coral house and across the bridge to…. freedom?!  No.  They still had to get over the seaweed AND the moat.  Poor exhausted creatures.  Very entertaining though, hahaha.  When the Swedish boys ran off to do something else I rescued most of them.  Lunch was fried rice with a little onion, carrot, and very mealy peas.  I can't tell you how relieved I am to be going to a nicer resort with a real chef tonight!!!

Plan:  Stay the night/morning at Mantaray and then go to Octopus Resort in the afternoon

Budget:

Fiji day #6 (Long Beach Resort) - $10 Blue Lagoon trip, $5 internet, $2.50 water, $5 soft drinks (pineapple Fanta and orange-mango Schweppes… love these tropical flavors!)
Fiji day #7 (White Sandy Beach Resort) - $2.50 water, $2.50 ice cream

1 comment:

  1. Ha ha I can totally see you singing Yankee Doodle to everyone! I bet it was awesome:D

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