Nananu again

Some of you may be aware that there is a bit of a political situation here in Fiji right now. I probably shouldn't say exactly what the situation is- you can read all about it online- but I just wanted to let everyone know we are fine. Everything is normal in the village and we don't feel threatened in any way.

Leslie and I celebrated Easter weekend with a trip outside our village to Nananu i Ra island, our favorite nearby getaway. This is probably the third time we've been to the island. I guess we should start trying to see some other places, but it's just such a fun and laid-back place that we keep coming back.

About 13 of us met on the island, bringing all our own food and, of course, beer. Everything on the island is expensive so bringing your own is a good idea if you're on a Peace Corps budget. We went out snorkeling and fishing with our good friends John and Judy the first day there. That night we had a good time, eating Tara's and Sylvia's excellent cooking and my excellent home brew. It's called "Dr. Choney's Elixer of Love". I'm working on patenting the recipe.

The next day we all woke up a little late and a little hung-over. It didn't take long for us to rally, and before noon the entire group of us was marching through head-level grass on a cross-island trek. Leslie and I had done a similar hike with Ahndree and Nuper during the dry season. It required quite a bit of bush wacking. This time, however, it was all bush wacking. It dumped rain on us during part of the hike, we had to all cross over a barb-wire fence, and the final hike down to the beach involved plowing through a thick tangle of trees. The real element of danger was introduced when Leslie stumbled into a wasp nest and was stung 10 times. I was stung once on the leg. We scattered into the bush when this happened and very slowly made our way around the wasp nest. We were expecting to come out at a secluded beach on the North side of the island. It turned out that in walking through the woods we had veered a little to far to the South and ended up on "mile long beach". The developed beach on the island where our hotel was located. We were literally 5 minutes from the hotel.

Pictures

Here is the inside of our house in the village. The picture was taken in the doorway. In the foreground is our living/dining room and behind the curtain is our bedroom. The floor is a layer of sand, covered by a layer of coconut branches, covered again by mats or ibes. Thanks to the Leonards for stocking our bookshelf! Thanks to the village maramas for ALL of the bula material.....it covers every bit of our walls!

This is the back of our house. John is the the garden doin some teitei. We planted tomatoes, beans, cucumber, mellon, cilantro and the basil that my parents sent.

This is a vasua or giant clam. I think they look funny.


These are Threadfin Cardinalfish.....according to Choney. I call them Precious Blue-Eyed Cutiefish! There are tons of these little guys!

John caught a Squirrelfish. It is so pretty......and delicious.....and filling! Doesn't Natalie look like a character from a Dr. Seuss book?