Our first week in Fiji was spent at Smugglers cove backpackers where the sunsets were our of this world and we had a beach on our doorstep. After the fast paced American road trip all of this opportunity to relax was totally overwhelming and our bodies were ready for a rest (a holiday from our holiday so to speak.)
This first week saw us exploring Nadi local town, horse riding, swimming, sunbathing and visiting Susie's previous host family from her Fiji visit in 2010.
We saw a traditional fire dancing show which blew us away with the skill of the dancers and their muscly oiled bodies!
After just a couple of days in Fiji we knew our original plan of a three week stay would never be enough to satisfy us that we had seen all this fine country has to offer.... And so we did what any good traveller would do : we went with our gut feeling and increased our stay to nearly 2 months!
The first few days in Fiji were wet and humid and we were caught in a tropical rain storm while visiting the stunning Garden of the Sleeping Giants. That same day we visited the mud baths where Susu the 6ft5 very iffeminate Fijian giant smeared us with layers of mud all over our bodies, faces and even in our hair, the hot baths where we cleaned ourselves off were glorious, but we were still finding mud in all sorts of places days later!
Living life by the seat of our pants we went and booked in for our sky dive from 14,000 ft above Fiji and as soon as we saw the first crystal clear blue sky we were getting kitted up and squeezing in to the tiny 5 man plane prepared to risk life and limb in the pursuit of adrenaline sport. Jan did the sky dive in honour of her dad who had an expression which he used to use: ''gravity will get you' and it certainly did that day. The free fall is incredible and is an experience that we will both remember forever (or at least we can rewatch the DVDs if we start to forget.) we freefell 2 miles in 60 seconds.
We managed to squeeze a lot in to this first week including a lively visit to a Fijian Christian church fill of singing and love and a visit to the neighbouring town of Lautoka, we also took part in a traditional Cava ceremony. Cava is a Fijian root, pounded up to make a powder, mixed with water and strained through a muslin cloth which is commonly drunk by Fijians at social gatherings. Cava is served in sizes of either low, medium or high tide and before drinking it's traditional say 'Bula!' And afterward clap three times and say 'mother' which means empty.
Our Fijian travel agent, Russy, a very patient man, sat with us for hours planning our next adventures and we decided on unknown territory in the form of the North Islands, which were soon to become one of our favourite Fiji experiences....
Peace and love,
Jan and Sooz.
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