I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
Here in Rakiraki we had a small gathering to celebrate and give thanks. Nuper and Ahndree came to hang out with John and me for the weekend. We created a Thanksgiving feast with a Fijian twist. We had fried fish (instead of turkey), mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie (from an actual pumpkin!!!), dark chocolate brownies (just because they sounded delicious) and cool glasses of Captain Choney's Pineapple Kacabote to wash it all down. Everything turned out perfect; the pumpkin pie even tasted like America......so I hear. Unfortunately for me I was recovering from some intense food poisoning and could not enjoy the dinner. It was all just too savory for my queasy stomach to handle. The night before Thanksgiving I spent in the toilet. I made some bad decisions the day before and paid the price.....dearly. What did it was one or both of the following food items: three-week old rice and/or moldy cheese. I know, you are wondering why I would consume either. Let me explain my rationale for consuming both: the cheese was for lunch and there was a bit of mold on one side so I cut it off and thought the rest would be good. You just don't waste cheese in this country, it is too precious. The rice was for dinner and honestly I was just too damn lazy to cook up another pot. So, yes, I made two bad decisions; I did it to myself.
By Friday morning (two days later) I was fine. So the four of us made our way to Nananu i' Ra for the rest of the weekend. Ahndree introduced us to a returned Peace Corps volunteer and his wife who have decided to retire here in Fiji. They very generously offered to take us to the island and then out to some reefs for snorkeling. After dropping our stuff at the resort, we got back in the boat and motored to the Northern side of Nananu and had a picnic and snorkel day. Nuper climbed a coconut tree and got us some bu (young coconut) and Ahndree husked them....all of them. Ahndree is by far Peace Corps finest coconut husker. The snorkeling wasn't great due to the strong current and heavy rains but it was still a good time. The next day we got up early and hiked the ridge trail along the top of the island. We hiked for about an hour and came to a dead end on top of the ridge. Hot and sweaty, we decided to bush-whack our way down to the beach for a swim. We got a lot of cuts and bruises but eventually made it down in four whole pieces. The beach we ended up on is called "One Secluded Beach". We decided to hike back to the resort along the coastline. As we began to walk it started to pour. We were all in our bathing suites at that point and the rain felt glorious against our saltwater-covered skin and cooled us off nicely. At one point in the walk we decided to swim along the coast instead of hike and found a really healthy reef in the process. When we finally made it back to the resort it was 1:00, the hike/rock climb/swim lasted about five hours. That afternoon it proceeded to rain non-stop. Tired and satisfied from our adventure we spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies in the main room of the resort. At about five we took the sea kayaks out for a night paddle. Needless to say, we all slept well that night.
John and Judy (the returned PCV's) met us on the island for our last day and again took us around for a picnic/snorkel trip. This time we snorkeled around Nananu i' Cake and Honeymoon Island (the islands next to Nananu i' Ra). The reefs were much healthier there as both islands are fully forested and relatively uninhabited. The best snorkeling of the day was on Honeymoon Island. It was there that we saw a black-tipped reef shark and that Choney saw a sting ray!
The trip was a great way to end a month that has been full of workshops, traveling and meetings.
Here in Rakiraki we had a small gathering to celebrate and give thanks. Nuper and Ahndree came to hang out with John and me for the weekend. We created a Thanksgiving feast with a Fijian twist. We had fried fish (instead of turkey), mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie (from an actual pumpkin!!!), dark chocolate brownies (just because they sounded delicious) and cool glasses of Captain Choney's Pineapple Kacabote to wash it all down. Everything turned out perfect; the pumpkin pie even tasted like America......so I hear. Unfortunately for me I was recovering from some intense food poisoning and could not enjoy the dinner. It was all just too savory for my queasy stomach to handle. The night before Thanksgiving I spent in the toilet. I made some bad decisions the day before and paid the price.....dearly. What did it was one or both of the following food items: three-week old rice and/or moldy cheese. I know, you are wondering why I would consume either. Let me explain my rationale for consuming both: the cheese was for lunch and there was a bit of mold on one side so I cut it off and thought the rest would be good. You just don't waste cheese in this country, it is too precious. The rice was for dinner and honestly I was just too damn lazy to cook up another pot. So, yes, I made two bad decisions; I did it to myself.
By Friday morning (two days later) I was fine. So the four of us made our way to Nananu i' Ra for the rest of the weekend. Ahndree introduced us to a returned Peace Corps volunteer and his wife who have decided to retire here in Fiji. They very generously offered to take us to the island and then out to some reefs for snorkeling. After dropping our stuff at the resort, we got back in the boat and motored to the Northern side of Nananu and had a picnic and snorkel day. Nuper climbed a coconut tree and got us some bu (young coconut) and Ahndree husked them....all of them. Ahndree is by far Peace Corps finest coconut husker. The snorkeling wasn't great due to the strong current and heavy rains but it was still a good time. The next day we got up early and hiked the ridge trail along the top of the island. We hiked for about an hour and came to a dead end on top of the ridge. Hot and sweaty, we decided to bush-whack our way down to the beach for a swim. We got a lot of cuts and bruises but eventually made it down in four whole pieces. The beach we ended up on is called "One Secluded Beach". We decided to hike back to the resort along the coastline. As we began to walk it started to pour. We were all in our bathing suites at that point and the rain felt glorious against our saltwater-covered skin and cooled us off nicely. At one point in the walk we decided to swim along the coast instead of hike and found a really healthy reef in the process. When we finally made it back to the resort it was 1:00, the hike/rock climb/swim lasted about five hours. That afternoon it proceeded to rain non-stop. Tired and satisfied from our adventure we spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies in the main room of the resort. At about five we took the sea kayaks out for a night paddle. Needless to say, we all slept well that night.
John and Judy (the returned PCV's) met us on the island for our last day and again took us around for a picnic/snorkel trip. This time we snorkeled around Nananu i' Cake and Honeymoon Island (the islands next to Nananu i' Ra). The reefs were much healthier there as both islands are fully forested and relatively uninhabited. The best snorkeling of the day was on Honeymoon Island. It was there that we saw a black-tipped reef shark and that Choney saw a sting ray!
The trip was a great way to end a month that has been full of workshops, traveling and meetings.
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