Ending Chapter to Mom coming to Fiji!

Matt, Kelly, Mom and I on Taveuni at the most AWESOME resort! Actually, This was our Thanksgiving night!

This was the sunset from Nakia resort. YES I FINALLY got to enjoy the fruits of where I'm at...

And NO I do not live ANYWHERE near here. I am 100% jealous of the volunteers who are though. Bahhhhh I still can't believe I went there! This was the beach from Coconut Grove

Scariest Bus ride e.v.e.r. It might not look that scary but when the guy is flying up and down mountainous lands with muddy dirt roads and no railing...you'd pee yourself too.

From there we traveled up to the top of the island and stayed at a quaint place called coconut grove that was really pretty and had awesome AMERICAN food. Then we traveled down to the eastern side of the island towards Lavena Point. We stayed at a small lodge that a village runs and also where another volunteer works. After a 2 hour scary dirt road bus ride, we headed straight out to snorkeling at the Waitabu Marine Park. Which was also really cool! And actually here, I felt like we saw MUCH bigger fish and more varieties of them than when we went diving. The visibility must have been about 100-140ft aka straight to the bottom. We saw some 4 foot grouper, 3 foot all different colored giant clams, 2 ft pumphead fish, and many more. The coral is still my favorite though, But my favorite part about this snorkel was when our very muscly and 50% toothless fijian guide was pointing what fish were what. As I swam past a school of about 150 long, silver fish 'on the defense'..I suddenly wanted to pee myself with fear. Thinking to myself...this is eerie the way these fish are staring at me and following my every move, and also how I'd never seen a barracuda but knew they were long and silver. I took off at warp speed to our guide who was a ways away. After I described how the fish looked, i asked him what kind of fish it was...and of course he replies 'oh yes, just a school of barracuda.' Perfect. What do we do next? Swim past them again. (And actually as it turns out they weren't barracuda...but I swear they were creepy and scary and probably dangerous).

After a night there we headed back to Nadi. Our plane was a few hours delayed but we luckily enough had time to get back to Nadi, shower, do a little souvenir shopping, and head to Hard ROck Cafe FIji. Hell yes to nachos with SOUR CREAM, and CHIPs and a FRESH Cobb salad. Sadly though I'm pretty sure that's where mom and I both drank Iced Tea (which was made with tap water) and yesterday proceeded to feel the effects of it. You can't have it all.

It was a really fun and much needed trip though. One of my favorite parts was showing my mom the things I could cook now (really good french toast and fruit crepes!, papaya salad- my specialty). SO whenever I come back in May, let me know if you want to have an Indian Night and I'll cook for you!

OK, I'll end this bad boy. Love you guys, Happy Belated Thanksgiving and Happy Early Christmas. Man I wish I were there for the holiday season, especially seeing as it's fixing to get balls hot here and my water shuts off at night, coolio. haha I love the pc. actually, I'm excited to experience this season, helps me put things into perspective. :0)

OK, LOVE YOU GUYS!