a guide missing most of his teeth, named 'assi', took us for a horse ride out to see biausevu falls. i have never been on such an adventurous trail ride in my life. there wasn't adequate instruction beforehand or supervision during, and i was actually sort of surprised that this adventure didn't pose a legal risk to the operators. but then i remembered the waiver gk and i signed beforehand, saying we accepted all responsibility for whatever befell us. i know that horses are sure- footed, but we went up and down some very steep, rocky inclines, where it wouldn't have been so difficult to pitch over a horse's head suddenly, or fall off the back end. lots of slippery rocks and sharp rocks, and lots of creeks to cross. some somewhat deep, with the water reaching thigh-height when seated on a horse. assi was not on a horse himself, but ran along beside everyone, shouting out instructions like a dominatrix. when it was over, i was actually sort of proud of myself for having lived through it. or something. it was gk's first time on a horse, and he looked pretty natural.
i never really had any great interest in snorkelling. when i agreed to snorkel with gk in fiji, i was thinking along these lines: 'well, you have to do something with your time, it is an experience gk wants to have and it will please him if you do it, you have endured so much more, you can do this. it will all be over in a couple of hours. what were you doing a couple of hours ago?' strangely enough, i got so caught up in snorkelling that i didn't realize my back and the back of my legs were getting sunburnt. there were so many unusually coloured fish and creatures, so many patterns, that i was actually very impressed, and didn't have to fake interest (although i don't seem to have any interest in ever doing it again). after a while, the sun disappeared, and things didn't look as clear and colourful underwater. our timing was unfortunately off, and it was about this time that we acquired a waterproof camera and gk took some pictures. a little red fish like the one that appears in this photo (a tomato clownfish) actually attacked gk. it was so funny to see this tiny little thing behaving in a threatening way with a creature so much larger than itself. anyway, snorkelling was better than i thought it would be.
i had never seen a blue starfish before. just walking along the beach, when it was sunny, so much was visible in the water. even at night a lot could be seen in the water, and we took a lot of photos of sea cucumbers and sea slugs and crabs and whatnot. it probably would be good to put some of those photos up, but for now i'm too lazy.
ok, i will admit that i've always wanted to go to a tropical paradise, and fiji is a place that i honestly wanted to see. we ended up going because we got a really good deal on a holiday on short notice, in part because a cyclone had recently torn through fiji, and in part because it was the off-season. we had beautiful weather, and the storm damage made the experience more interesting. what i didn't like, and what i couldn't ignore: there were many tin shanty-type dwellings throughout the countryside, reminding me that many of the people who were born in fiji were poor, while the tourist resorts pulled in obscene profits that most native fijians would never reap the benefits of. most fijians were very friendly, calling out 'bula' everywhere we went ('bula' is the greeting used for 'hello', but i think it also means 'cheers' or 'life'.) many of the fijiians didn't seem to mind the tourists, but you could tell that some of them were very resentful, and i couldn't blame them. i remember feeling somewhat pleased or relieved to hear a few sullen bulas in contrast with the rest.
evidence of some of the cyclone damage. gk and i are perched on a bit of the wreckage on a manmade island at the resort. behind us are the remains of the 'wicked walu' restaurant. walking around the resort at night was somewhat peaceful. not many people around. a couple of very thin cats followed us around some of the time. gk was happy spotting all of the nocturnal activity in and around the water, and i mainly enjoyed the feeling of the balmy air on my skin.. anyway, we had sex here not long after this photo was taken. or was it before? i forget.