A Palm Sunday to remember

Day 2 is drawing to an end. We are about ready to go to dinner and then to bed. Since we get up with the sun, we got to bed with the sun, too. We are 18 minutes from the equator, so the days and nights are almost completely equal; 18 minutes difference actually. When the nights start, the frogs come out. I've taken pictures. I don't know how they will look. When I say frogs, I mean frogs. Seriously 10-15 in a 2 foot square. They hang out on the grass and the entire resort is connected by board walk, so we are fine. I see know why the boardwalk. When the night comes, also comes the geckos. The are so small and cute. If you look at the windows of lit rooms, like the bathrooms in the restaurant, there are 100s enjoying the light and the heat from being inside. It isn't scary or gross like in Central America. The bugs are minimal, so the frogs and geckos make it fun. Since we had a big rain last night, we found that the banks of the creek that runs through the resort have Mud Crabs. They borough in the mud like they do in the sand. Since the creek level raised a ton, the crabs were a movin' today. Higher ground I guess.

The humidity here is really kinda cool. Since it rained last night, the air was wetter than normal. Our books, although inside, had turned up pages like they had been left outside for the storm. Our bathsuits don't dry out and my hair is super curly. I am glad I will never see these people again since I look like a curly haired freak:)

Today, we borrowed their kayak and went for a row. It was much harder than it looked. We went up the beach about 5 miles and floated most of the way back. There are a ton of shells here, like the ones you see in stores. But up the beach, where there really are no people, we found the coolest stuff. Hundreds of small sand dollars, the size of pennies, nickles and quarters, sat all over the beaches. Chris even found a sharks egg case sans shark of course. One of the really big things to do here is feed bull sharks by hard while scuba diving. Loren kept telling us to be careful of the sharks, so we are going to avoid that particular activity.

Today is Palm Sunday. Although Fiji is Hindi, Muslim and Christian, it is a very big holiday. Everyone employee was telling us about what their church as doing today. I really wanted to be a part of something, but it would have been difficult. At around 3, we heard this amazing singing. We could tell it was a large group of people. I followed the sounds and found 150-200 Fijians walking down the road to Upraising. They carried a cross cloaked in purple clothes. The music was in Fijian and BEAUTIFUL. The were barefoot and had walked from their church miles away to a make shift alter on the lip of the beach. They sang and spoke. They prayed with their voices. It was seriously amazing. Chris said, 'They sure sing better than Mormons." I would agree.

The interesting part of this processional was that is what a direct statement about the driving of the people of Fiji. We knew it was bad as we were in the van for 3 hours. Road signs and road rules are optional, but it was clear that even the Fijians knew how bad it was. Almost all of the processors wore reflective vests and they had crossing guards who carried red warning flags for drivers. These people were barefoot and clearly of little means, but by gosh, they had their vests on to protect them from the cars. Chris said it is a sign that even then Fijians are scared of the drivers.

We got some scoop on the owner of this resort, too. He is a 30 year old Kiwi. The people have been calling him the director, so we just thought he was the manager. Today, we asked about ownership and they pointed to him. He owns another resort, too. Although he looks like a rich playboy, he can't be all that bad. He built this resort for his rich friends that had nothing to do but drugs. It was their job to actually build and run it at the beginning. Also, he has a policy for his employees, when it is their day off, no one contacts them. The employees really seem to relish this part. Finally, it was a Fiji Rugby match today. Chris and I were reading on our porch when we heard cheering from the patio restaurant. All of the employees and many guests were sitting down watching rugby. It was as loud a March Madness game. Cheering and Groaning abound. The best part was that the employees got to just sit and watch. Can you imagine employees at any place sitting down to enjoy the Superbowl or NCAA finals? I am not sure if it is the laid back people, the owner or a combination of both.

Finally, tomorrow we jet ski to snorkel. We can't wait. We have eaten some amazing food. Chris and I have made a deal that we can't order anything we would order at home. That makes the food fun. We had cold coconut, onion, peppers and fish soup today, Kokoda. It was actually delicious.

Well, love to all. We sure do miss our girls. Tomorrow...a new day and a new post.