Fiji - Last day at Botaira

Group photo at the top of our climb. Picture Credit: TEAN

Village hike day! We ate breakfast at the usual and waited until 9. By this time I was really annoyed with my cuts, and I wasn't about to hike in flip flops, so I asked for some band-aides from the TEAN staff. Joy to the world, I got some comfort!

Luckily, today it was wasn't raining like the day before so the way there was nice and dry. The group from the other day had exaggerated the difficulty of the climb for sure. They made it seem really tough, but then again... throw some rain in the mix and you have a some slippery rocks. Eh, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. The heat will get to you before the hike tires you out.

Anyway, we get to the top. Bada-bing. We take a group picture. Bada-boom. We head down now, towards the beach and walk along that for the remainder of the trek. However, morning hours means high-tide, high-tide means wet sneakers, right? No. I ain't havin' that. I'm dodging the water like it's the plague. I DO NOT want my sneakers to get wet, and I succeed.

Inside the church

Just before we entered the village, most of the girls changed into skirts and shirts the cover your shoulders, because Fijian women still dress more conservatively. I'm all about respecting the culture, but the extra layer of clothing was not the most ideal situation after a hike. Also, Sam told us about the village and where the kids go to school. In this particular village (1 of 8), only 150-200 people live there. I happened to bring my camera this time so I snapped a few pictures along the way, but when too much is happening around me, I just kind of watch instead of participate. So while others got pictures of the kids and other locals, I didn't. It's all good, I'll just add in some other people's photos.

School boys. Credit: Greg Moores

The market wasn't what I expected it to be, but it was what I should have expected. Basically, in one of the buildings each woman had a blanket set up with all of their homemade trinkets spread out on it. Mostly there was sarongs, necklaces, and bracelets, but they also had various tools and wood carved items. I decided on a map of the Fijian islands on homemade paper.

The Market. Credit: Greg Moores

On the way back, the tide was down so there were no issues with that. I did notice that it started to get more breezy though, and then some clouds rolled in, and then right as we entered the woods... it started to pour. So much for dry sneakers... Good thing Kyra's backpack was waterproof. She let me put my things in with hers, thanks pal.

The village hike. Credit: Haley Peterson

Not gonna lie, the rain was really refreshing so I didn't mind so much that I was getting soaked. It's just that so much water was pouring down that I couldn't even see. I was wiping my wet eyes with my wet hands, that I couldn't dry on my wet shirt. It was just wet. Until it conveniently stopped raining just as we came out of the woods... Whatever, it was lunch time! I won't bore you with any details, but it was good like always.

After that I think I just waited until 2, because I was going snorkeling! I've never done it before so I was excited. We picked out our snorkeling gear, and blew that Popsicle stand. It was only a ten minute boat ride over, and we were dumped into the ocean. When I was first getting used to it, I forgot a few times that, hey! You can breathe, with your face in the water! That's what the snorkel is for. Sweet, deal. But yeah, it wasn't long before I got some water in my snorkel. I was taught that when that happens, you just take a big breath in, and then blow it out of your snorkel. No panic, problem solved. And I actually did do that a few times... when it was only a little bit of water. This time, it was a large amount that I breathed in, and instead of blowing it out, I tried to swim to the surface. Hey, it would of worked fine, but I was too close to the coral and I ended up scrapping my foot on it. By this point, you are all still shocked I scrapped my foot again, right? At least it wasn't the same one though. My right foot finally got a little taste of Fiji.

While looking at the underwater world, I got bored of looking at the coral relatively quickly, but the fish never got old. My favorite was probably when I was in the middle of a school of fish, because with any little movement you made they swerved in the opposite direction and it was very amusing and awesome. During our endeavors, one of the Fijian guys kept pointing out creatures he saw, so I stuck by him so I would be the first to see them. One was a sea turtle, and the other was... wait for it... a shark! And I totally took credit for attracting it with the blood from my foot. Woo!

On the boat I got a nice bandage on my cut, and we went back to the beach. Not long after we got back, other people who went scuba diving came back as well. A group of us gathered to talk about our experiences and then it was time to watch the locals husk some coconuts. One of the boys climbed the tree. Casual. Then they showed us how to husk them in a few different fashions. Some people took a shot at it, then we tried the water and coconut bits from both a young and mature coconut. Not bad.

Huskin' Coconuts

So far, it had been a busy day. The night was to entail a bonfire, performance by the locals, and a cultural kava drink. But then it rained pretty much all night. We sat around before dinner while they did the kava drink. It is apparently a religious drink, but it's made from a plant that gives you a high, and there is no alcohol in it. Interesting, but I didn't have any. What a buzz kill. Oh well, they did it as the buffet for dinner was happening so I just ate my meal.

It didn't look like there would be any bonfire tonight. Instead they had us bring all of our chairs to one side of the eating area. It took forever to set up, because none of us really knew what was going on or how they wanted us to set it up, so we just sat and watched. Then they turned out the lights. It was pitch black and when they turned them back on, they were dressed in their costumes and in position to give us a performance. I loved everything about it. The Fijian boys were hilarious with their dancing and I wish I had a video of the whole thing. I don't know how long it lasted but it was so fun to watch. At the end, they had us all up on our feet to participate in a ginormous conga line. It was a good time and then before we knew it they sang the last song. It was a farewell song, which they would again sing the next morning before we left. And I couldn't help but feel a little sad that we would be leaving.