Sunday, March 13, 2011

Days #35 & 36. Fiji (Octopus).

My first dinner at Octopus was lovely.  I was so happy to see Hilly and Dave, a middle-aged couple from the UK I had met earlier in the week at Blue Lagoon.  It's nice to travel alone because you meet ridiculous amounts of people that you probably wouldn't have even noticed had you been with a companion.  But then again, sometimes it becomes exhausting to go through the motions with new people day after day.  "Where are you from? How long have you been traveling? Where have you been? Where are you going?"  Same 'ole.  You have no idea how nice it is to actually be with the same people for a few days.  Then you can talk about new things!!!  Like good books, sports, family, and my favorite… food :)  Hilly, Dave, and I shared a table and a bottle of Marlborough region (NZ) Sauvignon Blanc.  Two very adorable Welsh girls and a Swiss couple also sat with us.  They ate chicken cordon bleu and I had the most incredible stuffed eggplant.  For dessert we were served a delicate custard with fresh fruits over a rum-infused crust.  Divine.  Following dinner was "Quiz night" where each table had to put their brains together, coming up with answers to the sometimes random questions.  Categories included things like "Fiji Facts" and "Complete the Lyrics".  Then each table had to come up with a "talent act" to perform for everyone else.  Each act would be judged and given scores, and the highest scoring table would win $100 bar tab!  There were some neat acts.  Jonas and Sophie, a young Swedish couple who also happen to be gymnastics coaches, walked across the stage on their hands.  They were the absolute cutest ever, with their matching platinum blond fringe and tanned, toned bodies.  They should be on the cover of a magazine somewhere.  They asked me to come down to the beach and take a picture of them doing handstands.  They said this is tradition everywhere they travel.  I told them to e-mail me when they're 70 and I will fly out to wherever they are to take the handstand picture.  Jonas said "I hope so."  How sweet was that?
Ok, so back to the talent show.  Some people sang, some danced, one guy rapped the entire Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song while his friends beat boxed.  I came up with the idea that we should do a "midgets" show.  To be a midget, I put socks on my arms, sneakers on my hands, then shorts up my arms, and finally Hilly put her arms through the armholes of the oversized T-shirt I was wearing.  Dave and the Swiss guy hung a sheet over Hilly so no one could see her, a table was pulled up to my "feet" so I could stand, and the Welsh girls stood on either side to help out in case I couldn't find something.  After all, my "hands" couldn't exactly see anything (and that is what makes this act so insanely funny).  I told the audience I was getting ready to go on a date.  I did a few jumping jacks and pull-ups.  Put deodorant on, brushed my teeth, and applied a little rouge and lipstick.  Of course, I was super clumsy, looked retarded, squeezed toothpaste all over the place, and applied the lipstick to my chin.  The audience laughed non-stop!  Finally, Hilly's hands crammed potato chips in my mouth, put my shades on backward, and I proceeded to sing a tune.  The Welsh girls danced.  It was HA-larious!!!  Hilly was brilliant.  My face was a complete mess.  We won the $100 :)
Slept beautifully that night.  Breakfast at Octopus is served buffet style.  All you can eat tropical fruits, fresh doughnuts or muffins, pancakes, omelettes, cereals, juices, toast, and muesli.  It's insane!!!  The only problem is I stuff myself to near bursting.  The sky was clear.  Finally, no rain!  I played in the volleyball tourney against the local rugby team that afternoon.  They were, as expected, like Olympians.  Other than that, it was simply a relaxing chill-by-the-pool kind of day.  A new group of tourists arrived and I found myself in the middle of a rather large, boisterous group of kids from UK.  They knew Jonas and Sophie from another island.  They were real clowns, those Brits.  One of the girls got a massage and came back complaining it was the worst ever!  "All she did was rub me" she said.  They were half starved.  During lunch, if anyone had any scraps leftover whatsoever on their plate, Sam, Joe, Johnny, and Totty would all be fighting over it.  "Are you gonna eat that fish?"  Then forks would start jabbing, shards of lettuce flying through the air like shrapnel, french fries disappearing within mili-seconds.  Obviously, they had spent the past few days at the cheap "resorts".
My otherwise perfect day was marred by several things.  First I was bitten by fire ants on my buttocks.  Two bites.  They stung like fire.  I could barely concentrate on volleyball due to the constant urge to submerse my throbbing bum in the pool.  Secondly, my leg was attacked by a walking stick type thingy looking bug.  Thirdly, I had an allergic reaction at dinner.
It was "Fiji Night".  All the guest sat around the pool and watched the staff do their cultural dances and songs.  They put on the best show I'd seen all week.  Then we were served a Fijian-style buffet that had been cooked in the ground (like the Maori's "Hangi").  It was quite the feast.  Each table received a whole chicken, pork, fish curry, eggplant in coconut cream, cassava, a tangy fish ceviche, salad, and what they called "spinach" but looked and tasted more like collard greens.  Halfway through dinner, I felt like a fish bone was jabbing me somewhere in my throat.  So I went to the bathroom and tried to find it, but no fish bone.  Then my throat started to feel like it was swelling shut, and I really started to panic.  I decided that, despite my ill appearance, I should go back out to the dining area cuz it was better to collapse there than in the bathroom.  I asked if anyone at my table had a pen and explained how my throat felt.  "I think there is a fishbone in there but i can't find it!" I told them.  The Swiss guy said he also felt like there was something stuck in his throat.  Then I knew it was most likely an allergic reaction.  After about 15 minutes the tingling, swelling, sharp choking feeling went away.  I felt better, so I helped myself to another serving of the "spinach".  The sensation came back.  Bingo.  No more spinach for me!  Found out later that a few other people had similar reactions to the stuff.  What the heck was it?? I kept asking the locals, "Tell me the real name of that plant you called spinach" and they would look at me like I was an alien and say "Spinach".  I got nowhere with them.
After dinner, one of the UK girls named Emily and I grabbed a glass of Shiraz and sat out on the veranda.  It was a gorgeous night.  The moon was up in a crystal clear sky.  The stars were so bright.  Emily told me about her brother and his upcoming marriage to a Vietnamese girl.  Emily was excited for the 10-course Chinese dinner they were going to have after the ceremony.  She really likes her future sis-in-law.  I started talking about my late grandmother.  As I told Emily stories about my spunky, adorable little Gramma, I could picture her white curly head just barely poking above the front seat of her Oldsmobile.  Was it the wine?  Or the sentimental beautify of the night sky?  I don't know.  But for some reason I started crying and couldn't stop.  I sure do miss my Grandma Nina.  It just isn't the same without her.  I miss our weekly dates.  And helping her get ready for the day… shopping with her… talking to her.  
Budget:  Fiji day #10 (Octopus Resort) - $30 room, $35 food, $10 snacks/pop, $7 vino, $5 internet

1 comment:

  1. heather! i bet that "spinach" was taro greens. it is a plant common in Hawaii and also in Fiji. If not cooked thoroughly it can cause an allergic type reaction, burning swelling, itching, etc. some people are more sensitive to it then others!

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