Fijian dream

Day 140 – Mana Island, Fijis

I’m living the dream life on a dream island with white beaches, palm trees, hammocks by the turquoise sea.

(You have to forget about the lack of electricity during the day, who needs it anyway, the lack of potable tap water, the cold showers, the absence of ATM and so on.)

A boat picked me up Wednesday on the beach with two other backpackers. Obviously, it wasn’t an official line but a service arranged between the respective hostels.

We arrived on time for the midday meal. We are served each a huge plate of some kind of dish, ranging from fish and some kind of starched root I haven’t identified to fried rice. We had crepes for breakfast today.

The hostel is on the beach, with shaded tables and hammocks on the sand between the building and the sea.

Last night, we were offered a workshop to make coconut jewellery. I joined before fully understanding what it was about, I don’t know if I would have had the patience otherwise!

You start with a good piece of coconut shell, and you make a hole in it with a knife. Then with rolled-up sandpaper, you widen the hole until you can put your finger through it. It takes a lot of time.

Next, you cut the hole out of the shell: basically, you saw a square around it, trying not to break it. Then it’s back to the sandpaper, to smooth out the corners then the edges until you create a ring.

It is a long process.

When you have the ring ready, you use a finer paper to polish it to a shine. And you have a coconut ring.

This morning I went with the two other baackpackers to a beah on the other side of the island. Crossing over the central hill to the other side took all of 10 min. Well, we crossed it at the narrow part.

The veach there is empty, no boats, no buildings, a lot of palm trees (see picture on the heading). There are a lot of interesting seashells and corals washed up on the beach, I even found a (broken) lavender urchin shell. I will have pictures to upload when I’m back on the mainland.

One of the girls lost her watch, so we spent some looking for it… We had to get back for lunch before we found it, but they found it when they went back during the afternoon.

The shower doesn’t have a window, so during the day, when the power is off, we have to leave the door ajar to see inside!

People are welcoming, and will say “Bula” (Hello), or “Bula, welcome” when we pass them by. (Which is nice in a tiny village, but strange in a more inhabited zone, where they are stranger and potentially taxi drivers trying to get a fare.)

Maybe more news on the next day, maybe not if all I’m doing is reading in a hammock by the sea!