one of the most awesome experiences yet..

We got to go to Bau and visit a volunteer who is tucked away on the side of Fiji right on the coast. She is currently working on coral reef monitoring! It was so cool. We got to go out on boats and go snorkeling to see the coral! It was awesome! now I know you guys are thinking like comkpletely tropical with completely clear waters---but remember we're peace corps and we're put in areas that need help. Anyways, the water wasn't 100% visibility but was still so great to see all of the colorful fish and awesome marine life. My favorite corals were the Christmas-tree worms which are small colorful coral that when you wave your hand near them they jump back in their holes (like on The Little Mermaid....oh man I just realized something- I was so Ariel for a day, whoop!). But there were bright blue starfish and tons of soft coral. My friend Julie who has worked in Hawaii on coral reefs said that was the most soft coral she's ever seen in one area. Actually that's who is on my facebook pic with me now! Then at the end some Fijians went fishing and caught some cool fish, a stingray, and an eel. They let me hold the eel too....then they gutted it and divied up the parts. My favorite part though was when we boated out to the coral this Fijian man was laying with his head and chest on the bow of the boat and put his feet on the benches. I'll post a picture of this soon because it was ridiculously awesome.


As for a business environment day we had was when we went to some local bakeries in some tiny villages and got to see how they make things. They used to only have brick ovens but have now switched to electric.

Another business environment trip was when we got to go to a village who have built a huge Bure (the really big grass houses) and have made an area to do lots of Meke's (the local fijian dances). They are anting to make this a small tourist attraction to raise money. It's awesome though to learn about the history of Fiji- especially the savage side. For example, this giant Bure's they built were places that only a chief or a holy man could enter. There was a giant piece of this cotton paper that ran from the end of the grog bowl up to the top of the bure- and this was how they spoke to the gods. When they built these bure's human sacrifices were required. Usually there were 4 men who wrapped themselves around each pole in all four corners. They were they buried alive. People were also killed when rolling the giant poles to where they were going to build the bure's. When someone died they threw them in/on the bure and covered. how crazy is that? There are only a few of these kinds of bure's in Fiji left with actual skeletons in them. And no worries, the one this village built required no sacrifices.