Singing, clapping and carbs on Mana Island

---

Bula!!

Today is Friday and we are due to leave Fiji tomorrow. As a personal reflection, Fiji has really grown on me since we first arrived. Initially I found the contrasts between the expensive resorts and the poorer areas a little alienating. It was certainly quite a culture shock from New Zealand. It was also a shame that we didn’t have the opportunity to visit all the smaller, more picturesque islands.

However, we did have a really interesting time during our 3 day, 2 night trip to Mana Island...

On Wednesday we assembled on New Town Beach to await our vessel to take us to Mana Island. About an hour and a half later (Fiji time!!) a small rickety speed boat pulled up, and all twenty of us waded through the water, massive rucksacks held up high to avoid getting soaked, and we all clambered aboard. It was a great trip as we skimmed over the water, passing tiny islands, such as Bounty, Beach Comber, and the island where they filmed Castaway.

As we pulled up to Mana island, we were greeted by Patrick, a rather sexy Fijian who effortlessly slung all three of our rucksacks over his muscular arms and led us to the other side of the beach to our home stay resort, "Mana Lagoon Backpacker's Resort". We weren't entirely sure what we had been expecting but I’m not sure that this was it! It was very basic with rather dark and dingy sleeping quarters, no electricity and very dubious toilets and showers. However, this was their village and we took it in our stride. It was just very different to our last rather luxurious resort at Mango Bay! As we walked outside, we joined a circle of guests who were all singing and clapping various welcome songs as Patrick strummed a guitar. Although we felt a little shy, it was very nice and everyone was very welcoming. There were backpackers from all over the world: a couple from Brazil, Juliana and Diego, a girl called Margarita from Venezuela, Linda from the Black Forest, Phillipo and Franco from Italy and Charles and Sophie from London. We also became acquainted with Rosie or “Popcorn” as we called her, who was a cheeky little girl living at the resort.

After a little while sitting and talking on the beach, we were called over for lunch. “Mama” was wafting flies away from a table loaded with food! There were potatoes, curry, rice, freshly baked bread, jacket potatoes and squash. Although quite stodgy, it was very nice and certainly filled us up! After lunch, Bean sat on the beach whilst Fee and I decided to explore the island. We started walked around the shoreline but soon the terrain became sharp and rocky with a steep rock face to one side of us. We'd been walking for about an hour by this time so decided to continue. Suddenly I heard a noise behind us and in the distance saw a local man watching us as he hid amongst the grass. It was a little unnerving, so we quickened our pace and carried on. 15 minutes later and he was still following us. He kept hiding behind rocks and amongst the grass, so it was obvious he didn't want to be spotted. It made us quite nervous but we tried not to show it! We decided to try and climb up the rock face so we could cut back across the island to our base. However, this was easier said than done. It was very difficult as we were both wearing flip flops. We decided to carry on but walked a lot faster and shortly reached a posh Japanese resort, which we snuck through to get back to our base! On the other side of the island we saw a Japanese couple getting married on Sunset Beach, which was really pretty.

Just after sunset, (which was very spectacular) we had another carb filled meal but with chicken and freshly caught fish thrown into the mix! After dinner we played some ice breaking games with Fee eagerly volunteering and Anna slinking into the background hiding behind Bean's head. Before bed, we had a nice chat with a local girl (14) who asked for some help with her English homework! We ended up having a good chat and she sang "Let it shine" for us! :-)

The next morning we had a gorgeous breakfast of watermelon, orange cake, pancakes and sugar, fruit and coffee and then spent the day relaxing on the beach! We also came across a nest of puppies which entertained Bean and I for a good hour! In the evening we had another Kava Ceremony (in which we now considered ourselves experts) and sang some more songs as well as a Fijian version of the Macarena! We quickly became very familiar with all the songs and clapping as we did it every few hours, as well as frequent yells of "Bula" and "I see you baby".

On Friday it was time to leave. It was actually really sad, and quite a few of the backpackers cried! Patrick, Mama and the other hosts were so friendly and accommodating whilst we were there and welcomed us into their "family". It was easy to understand why people who had been staying there a few weeks got very attached. Although the base wasn't exactly luxurious, there was something very humbling about living in such a basic hut with cold water to wash in and a diet of staple foods. There wasn't really much to do on the island about from to talk to other backpackers and sit and read so in that sense it was very relaxing to be away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

After we had hugged and said goodbye to our hosts, we made our way back down to the speedboat and set off, waving to everyone who was still left on the island.

It was a really unforgettable end to our time in Fiji.

By Anna xxx

---