Saturday, September 30, 2006

The trip started off well. Two long flights and I found myself 16 hours in the future. I stepped off of the second plane and decended to the bagage claim to wait for my bag. The waiting was longer than anticipated, and the whole while I had a feeling that they had forgotten my bag somewhere. After staring at other peoples bags circling repeatedly, this ended up being truth. My bag is still in L.A. The airline told me I could have 50 fiji dollars compensation to buy only necessities. I intend to take full advantage of it. When I got outside I saw my bus drive off. It was ironic and I laughed in anger. So I waited a while then asked another bus driver (who was going to a different resort) if he could drop me off. He was friendly and told me it was no problem. He told me to get in the front seat, so I walked around to the right hand side and sat down. I then noticed a stearing wheel in front of me. "Damn, I guess I'm not in Canada anymore". Some british girls behind me started laughing and saying "bless you" but I hadn't sneezed.
I made it to my hostle finally and checked in. It was around 8 am fiji time, and check-in wasn't till 10, so I went for a walk along the beach. It was overcast, but the scenery beautiful. I noticed some horses graising in a feild by the beach, and watched them for a while. Then some birds came and I watched them. Then the birds started landing on the horses backs, and just hanging out there. Everyone is friendly here. Even interspecies friendships are not uncommon apparently. It's tomorrow now. Yesterday for those of you in Canada. I slept a lot and am no longer jet lagged.
I participated in a Kava cerimony yesterday after a sketchy guy on the street started talking to me and inviting me for a free drink of Kava back at his store. I was with a german guy I had met, and naturally, we accepted the strange man's offer and followed him like cattle. We then sat on a carpet in his store and drank what looked like muddy water. He made us clap several times before drinking it. Everyone has to clap three times, then one person drinks, but prior to that he must say "bula" otherwise bad things happen. I'm not sure what cause we both said "bula". I survived too, and learned a valuable lesson. Always accept free drinks from strangers. It's a good idea.

That's all for now. Still waiting for Ian to show up. Write more soon.

Justin