the Yasawas

Back to civilisation!!!

We're just back from a wonderful couple of weeks on the Yasawa islands...they really were extremely remote and I felt so much further away from everyone than I have before, thanks to the lack of email, phone, TV or news of any kind. We were kind of scared that there would have been (yet) another insane natural disaster causing havoc by the time we got back, or possibly that bird-flu might have kicked off and countries started closing their borders...of course if that DID happen, the Yasawas would be the correct place to be. Now that I think of it, I haven't actually checked the BBC yet, better not speak too soon...we might need to hop straight back on a boat back to the middle of nowhere.

(OK, things look just as fucked-up as usual, so I think we're ok to stay).

The islands were fantastic. We stayed at 7 in total, plus we had a free night on this cruise-ship thing (not quite as posh as it sounds, but an interesting experience nevertheless) which made it pretty active in terms of moving around, which prevented things from getting boring (which admittedly, they did have the potential to, given that there was nothing on most of these islands except for tiny backpacker resorts and the occasional dive school). Days were spent snorkelling on wonderful, living breathing coral reefs teeming with fish [sic - is that how you spell "teem"?!], swimming in warm, clear, buoyant seas, sitting on beaches and playing volleyball - plus the occasional visit to a village or kayak trip. Accommodation was in bures - thatched hut-type things woven out of sticks - and was fairly basic: not just no hot running water...sometimes no fresh running water: it would be salt, which made showering off after getting out of the sea feel REALLY pointless. (We drank rain water). The islands had their own generators for electricity, which they'd turn on when it got dark. Sometimes dorms had lighting, though last night we went to bed with the aid of parafin lamps. Evening activity was necessarily limited...alot of time spent playing cards and alot of extremely early nights. (I think sleeping 8pm-8am is normal, now - plus a few naps throughout the day. Oh dear).

Most of the hostels were pretty empty, partly because of the remoteness and small-ness of the place, adn partly because it's getting to the off-season. (Lots of fabulously dramatic tropical storms). We'd usually be with 3 or 4 other tourists on an island, mostly backpackers, so things were very friendly. Plus the Fijians who work at hostels tend to be ridiculously friendly and also endowed with an incredible talent for remembering people's names. We met some very interesting people, including a couple of girls who were studying tourism at university in Suva(the capital city of Fiji) and doing a work placement on one of the islands. Six months working on an island with no phone or internet...and we thought we made sacrifices for our degrees!

On sunday we went to church on Nacula island, which was certainly...interesting, in an incredibly boring way. It was a methodist service, 2 hours long, and was just as boring as an english service except that it was conducted in Fijian, in a very very hot room. Luckily it seemed to be acceptable to lean your head on your arms and go to sleep - well, all the Fijians were doing it. More interestingly, afterwards we were abducted by crowds of little children, who each grabbed one of us by the arm and dragged us off to their houses for lunch - it's traditional, apparently. It was fascinating to eat in a proper Fijian household, but also extremely nerve-wracking...was I saying vinaka (thankyou) enough?? Could I eat the food? My heart stopped when I walked into the room to find the women of the household (men eat first) surrounded by plates of enormous, hairy-legged, spikey, lethal looking crabs. I love seafood, I was jus tterrified at the idea of having to tackle one of those beasts with nothing but my hands...the children all set to work, cracking the crab claws off and using them to lever the meat out of the shell, so I sat down ve-e-ry slowly, trying to appear calm and pleasant. After giving me a few minutes to panic, the mother presented me with a here's-one-I-made-earlier bowl of crabmeat in coconut milk...yummy.

Vic and I were both somewhat paranoid about eating in the village as Vic's friend Jess had done exactly the same thing in Fiji a few years ago and then came down with terrible dysentery afterwards. We drank plenty of water and went to bed early but, thankfully, were absolutely fine. Similarly last night's meal was some scarily bloody-looking chicken...and again, fine. Touch wood, times a million.

Anyway, we're now back in Nadi, waiting to fly our separate ways on saturday...and, of course, ready to celebrate my birthday tomorrow. 23 woohoo!! Thanks to everyone who's emailed recently, if I don't reply it's because I have only 6 mins internet time left. I'll get there eventually.