Don’t get stung by the Jellyfish!!!

From Fiji

Last night we got a real Kava ceremony at our hotel, courtesy of our good friend Cookie. Kava is the national drink of Fiji. It’s a root that is ground up and mixed with water in a special bowl called a bilo. Fijians gather together sitting cross-legged on a straw mat, around the bilo, where an individual is mixing the Kava. The person making the Kava says prayers and leads a series of hand claps and exclamations as he serves up the drink in a small coconut cup. When it’s your turn to be served, you clap your hands, shout “Bula!” to give thanks, then shotgun it. I can”t accurately describe Kava; the flavor is a cross between
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Temples, Coconuts, and Bures

The Sleeping Giant Mountains

We’ve been here almost 2 days and have decided that Fiji could very well pass for a territory in Heaven. The air is crisp and balmy, the sky blues as topaz and the ocean warm as bath water. We were fortunate enough to find a resort of “bures.” A Bure is a little hut on stilts, perched about 2 feet off the ground. Ours is on beachfront property with a prime view of the ocean. Hammocks hang between the palm trees here and we’ve made fast friends with the bartender, Cookie.

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