The Beach Side of Fiji

Today was beach day, also known as day I spent squinting and watching and thinking. I’m just not a huge fan of beaches. I don’t like saltwater. Sand makes me itchy. And the sun tends to fry my skin. Fiji only added to my dislike by introducing coral to the beach and invisible bugs that like to bite me. I’m so itchy. I’ve tried everything but the bites keep appearing. They’re in weird places too, like all over my stomach (and those appeared before the beach). I also didn’t have a towel.

Possibly Castaway Island

The tiny boat we took to Beachcomber Island from the ship

So basically, I spent today on a resort island the size of city block (Beachcomber Island). I watched people in my group snorkel. I had an overpriced “sex on the beach illusion” that tasted like an Icee with the smallest splash of alcohol. I sat in the shade on a picnic table in the only part of the island without sand and read my book. I couldn’t even go shopping because the island gift shop was closed.

Chilling on the boat while everyone snorkels

 The sand is really weird here though. It's like clumpy and mixed with the coral, so even when you're just stepping on dry sand, it kind of hurts. I wanted to wear my flip flops to walk around but that was difficult because everything was uneven and I hate the feeling of sand in my flip flops.

The water is so clear and blue

 Our boat was late to pick us up from the island and take us back to Viti Levu (the main island we’re staying on) so I also got to freeze in my tank top as the sun went down while we waited and for the duration of the 45-minute, windy ride back where we passed the island that Castaway was filmed on. At least is wasn’t as sunny as the ride there though.

 But at least, since it’s Fiji (paradise as others call it, for some unknown reason), the view was good.

Sunset on the Pacific

Italia: Day Nine

Today was really boring. We didn’t have anything scheduled except for a visit to the beach in the afternoon, so I slept in until 9:30 before going for a run around the city. I managed to get lost but locate our hotel over the roofs of all the buildings, so it wasn’t too bad.

For lunch we went to Il Pomodoro, but they didn’t have any pizza! It was really disappointing. I ended up getting French fries and chicken that might have been turkey. I’m not really sure. It was a good meal that I topped off with a Bacardi Breezer in orange that tasted like orange pop. I’ll need to look for them in the states.

We met up at the hotel afterward and headed to the beach. It took forever for the rest of the group to assemble though, so we waited for almost an hour before we actually stepped onto the bus. The ride was also long and boring. I have an allergy to the parasites that live in sand, so I started itching and breaking out with little red bumps the instant we got to the beach. I ignored it though.

Pam, Chelsea, and I went into the water. It was kind of cold, but definitely manageable. Plus it stopped the itching and now I can say that I’ve been in the Mediterranean Sea! The only problem was the bottom was kind of rocky in random places and I kept accidentally stepping on them, so we had to swim out far and tread water, but then we realized all the waves were closer inland.

The Mediterranean

The beach

When we got out, Pam and I went down to a little restaurant farther down the beach from where the group set up camp. I got a Sex on the Beach while Pam got a sandwich. When we were done, the group split up and left the beach. Pam, Chelsea, Becky, and I headed back to the hotel and I took a shower before Becky and I went to the market. It was closed though, so we ended up wandering around and trying to find some stores that were open for shopping. We only found two and I didn’t see anything in either place.

We met up with Pam and Chelsea back at the hotel and tried to go to La Cantina again for dinner, but it was closed so we ended up going down the street to Burgerlandia and getting pasta and French fries. Then we went down the street to a gelato shop, which actually turned out to be rather gross. The ice cream was really watery.

We came back to the hotel afterward and I got a slice of flipped pizza from Pomodoro on our way. We waited in the lobby for the rest of the group to assimilate for our evening meeting, but nearly all of them were late. It wasn’t us for once though, so no one could complain.