I arrived at the airport in Fiji at Nadi at night and tried to save some money by going with a cheap hotel. They drove me for a ways to a hotel where I checked in and tried to get some sleep. The trouble was the bed bugs on the thin foam mattress and the other bugs crawling on the plywood walls. I wanted to be a good traveler and not complain but finally got up and walked around. The razor wire fence surrounding the hotel might have been a tip off we were not in a great neighborhood. I had paid for the night and they would not refund my money but I took a taxi back into the city and paid a little more for a hotel with air conditioning and a bathroom in my room. I felt better and slept great.

They had a pool which was nice but it rained a lot because we were just at the end of the rainy season and starting the high season. Later in my trip I talked with some girls who had been in Fiji the same time that I had and said it rained the whole time. I told them we could see it raining on the main island while sitting in the sun on the outer islands. I relaxed by the pool and then went into the city to look around. It looks pretty much like a tourist place with all sorts of souvenirs. I was told to trust the people with curly hair but not the straight hair people. I was told to avoid a trick where someone would come up to a tourist and ask their name. They would begin to carve your name in a ceremonial wooden object and then get upset if you would not buy it.

I started out in Fiji at the hostel on Mana Island. I tried to get into Beachcomber but they said they could not get me in for 7 days so I went to Mana first. Mana island has a fancy resort as well as the backpackers hostel. I got a room instead of staying in the dorm which was still cheap enough. The hostel at Mana has dogs, roosters, goats, and little kids running around. It is more like a village. The electricity would be turned off from 11:00 to 1:00 and 2:00 to 5:00 so they could pump water. They had pancakes and fruit with fish for breakfast. It can get very hot. I had a good base tan from Hawaii but still burned the first day there and had to spend the next day out of the sun. I bought a surfers shirt in Hawaii that protected from scratches but also blocked the sun so you would not burn. I wore my surf shirt after that to protect from sunburn. It was always interesting to see a guy from England show up and see how their pale skin turned a glowing red by dinner time. Usually they would spend the next day in the shade wearing a t-shirt and feeling the pain.

I met some great friends there. A Swedish girl, a Danish girl, a Canadian guy and his daughter, and a Scotish guy. We ran around on the island and had a good time hanging out. The Canadian guy was a martial arts teacher and he would climb the coconut trees and get the coconuts for fresh coconut milk and meat. This was a bit dangerous and also illegal we found out. He ended up with some scrapes from this venture. I met the Danish and Swedish girls when they arrived and they thought I was the surfing instructor because on my surf shirt.

We were around the tables at the main area when someone said the bonfire on the beach was ready. I was sitting at a table with some people and one of the girls was Irish. She told me to go to one of the other table where some of her traveling friends who were girls were and tell them to get their fannie’s down to the beach for the bonfire. I went over and told them that and a couple of the girls looked like they were about to beat me. Then they heard their friend laughing and figured out she had set me up. In America a person’s fanny is their backside, in England and Ireland the word fanny refers to a woman’s front side. I am told that when people come from the UK to America and hear someone talking about a fanny pack they are shocked. Two countries divided by a common language.

The group left Mana on the same day. The Scotish guy left in the morning in a small boat and unfurled the Scotish flag he had in his backpack when he left. The Canadian and Swedish girl left around 1:00 and the Danish girl left in the late afternoon. As I walked her to the dock she said, “Damn!” I asked here what was the matter and she said she was going to have to start all over again. She confided that when she had been in the airport in Nadi she heard a the Swedish girl saying she was going to Mana and she said so am I. She wasn’t planning to but it gave her a traveling companion. We had all had a great time together and know she would have to make a new set of friends at her next destination. It is one of the hard things about being on the road that one day you may have a great time with new friends and the next you are all alone. It can get lonely. It took me about 3 months to get over missing having friends and family around.

I actually left the next morning and they put me in a small boat with an outboard motor and a grade school age kid to pilot it. I had a big suit case and smaller case with all my clothes and camera equipment. We got to a point where you could not see land in any direction. I thought if we tipped over my suitcases and camera equipment would be lost but also I would not know which way to swim. I figured I would follow the kid and swim which ever direction he did. He guided me safely to Beachcomber island which had a band that played whenever anyone arrived. A bit different than Mana. They ended up being two different experiences but both great ones.

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