After a very restful night's sleep, I wake up to the rain. It was still coming down pretty good which made for a great reason to lay around a bit. I took a cold shower which actually felt really good since the room was without AC and then headed downstairs for breakfast. This is where I discovered the best jam! It was mango and something and home made. I put extra extra on my bread! The rain stopped right at 10 am which was perfect timing since I had to check out of my room. The front desk agreed to watch my bag and I set out to see the town. As it turned out, there was not that much to see. I was able to wonder north to the WWI and WWII memorial and then ... read more

My host father and I were talking about our families and he asked if I wanted to see the video of his youngest daughters wedding. Of course, I said yes! Its a two day affair with their extended family coming from several countries including Australia, Canada and the US. There are gifts presented and lots of music and dancing. There are special ceremonies that just involve the husband to be and the bride's father. Then special ceremonies just for the bride to be. It was all so interesting. I loved watching how involved each member of the family and extended family are involved. The wedding itself was beautiful. The bride looked amazing! She was in this beautiful red dress trimmed with jewels and gold decoration. They she had on this cool jewelry and make-up that included ... read more

Hello all, The funniness continues... So when I left the internet shop yesterday, I got onto the public bus to go home. Oh my...so funny! The bus is basic...really basic! The seats, not so much cushion. The windows...um, there are none. That's right. Why have windows and AC when you have the south pacific wind! Once moving, its great, but while I waited the 15 minutes for the bus to leave the main station (and by station, just a parking lot), I'm pretty sure I sweat at least half my body weight. Here is one thing I have already accepted...I'm going to smell for the next month. There's no way around it. No place has AC. The sun is unbelievably hot, ceiling fans are limited and its humid. And, as if this was not enough to ... read more

We got up at our leisure again and went in to the lodge for another fantastic breakfast. Day four in a row of having the best scrambled eggs! Oh, and coffee!!! This morning, I had another special encounter. The monkeys were back and it was pretty quite in the room. I walked over to the big windows to get a little closer to our morning friends. One of the younger ones jumped onto the roof and then onto the ledge next to the window. I put my hand flat on the window and he reached out and touched the window too...right where my hand was! It was pretty cool! Mom went back to the room to get ready for the day's adventure. I stayed in the main building to send some emails and then when I ... read more

Our alarm clock went off at 6 am and I woke with a start. I could still hear the winds gusting, but they also seemed to calm down a bit. The lodge offers breakfast and so we dressed and decided to eat up in preparation for our hike. We knew we'd be walking for approximately 2 to 3 hours. Breakfast was fantastic and I've had the best eggs of all time. They have their own chickens here that lay eggs as well as grow most of their own fruits and veggies. They make their own jams too! Coffee is the big thing here and so instead of drinking my usual tea in the morning, I've made a switch. Oh boy! For the first time in my life, I LOVE coffee! I add a little sugar and ... read more