BULA!

Hello in Fiji is Bula and every Fijian you see will say it to you with a big smile on thier face. They aren't trying to sell you anything, they are sincerely happy to have you in their country. I arrived in Nadi, a city on the southwest coast of Viti Levu on June 24th. I was completely confused as I crossed the international date line. It's so confusing to talk to people back home who are a day behind. I arrived in the airport and the first thing that confused me were the men all were wearing skirts. Fijian men wear sulus as a professional form of dress. They are long skirts that are worn as a part of their culture. Men also wear shorts and pants, but sulus are their formal wear. Women almost all wear dresses or skirts. I think in over two weeks I only saw 3 or 4 women wearing pants or capris. I dealt with the typical confusion in the airport and people trying to tell me the hostel I wanted to go to was full and they wouldn't come pick me up, but sure enough after a 15 minute wait, my hostel bus arrived and I was on my way to the Nadi Bay Hotel. Nadi is not a very clean city and the beach was dirty, muddy and not very appealing as a place to swim.
















I quickly left Nadi and headed east along the coast line of the main island towards Singatoka, and the beach resort of Tubakula. This was my first experience of cars driving on the lefthand side of the road which is an experience in itself, especially when cars pass each other or cows are blocking the road and people are trying to get by. During u turns I absolutly have to close my eyes and hope for the best. I ended up at beatiful Tubakula with my own little house (only $25 Fiji dollars a night which is about $20 US). The beach was covered with coral and was hard on the feet. I did see some amazing beach life though like a blue starfish.











I did dive one day on the Coral Coast (the south coast of Viti Levu) and took full advantage of the resort hotel the dive shop was located in. My dive was expensive and wasn't that great, it was a day after it rained so the visibility was murky. I did work on my bouyency and breath control so it was good practice. I did see two white tipped reef sharks at the end of the dive. I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the pool or in a hamock looking out at the ocean. This is the life!