Bula! (The Fijian greeting - everyone is so warm and friendly here, and they live on “Fiji Time”)
Apr 8
We certainly arrived like green tourists. We had the exchange rate backwards, so we thought everything was a ripoff! We also had trouble catching the bus. We kept standing there and bus after bus would just pass us by. It escaped us that you had to wave the bus down to get it to stop!Luckily, a local cab driver was very nice and took us on the scenic route to our hotel. He also took us to the local markets to buy bread, water, bananas, mandarin oranges and papayas (sample price: 50 cents for 5 oranges). It was actually a very long drive and we were happy to have his company.
We're staying at the Beach House Hotel. It's a recommended backpacker hotel with lots of activities on the Coral Coast. We have an open air room with mosquito netting over the bed. Within our first 15 minutes by the water, we saw tons of yellow tropical fish, many starfish (one bright vibrant blue), brittlestars, sand dollars, hermit crabs, and coral. So much life!
Dinner at the hotel is a banquet style BBQ for 8F ($4US). We are drinking from a rain water reservoir (praying for health).
Our first budget hotel. They even had free bikes for us to use.
Our open-air room. Loved the bright colors. We even had a cat stay with us.