July 16th: Off to Suva

Tree Huggers: in memory of the women who stood and hugged the trees they didn't want cut down and were cut down along with the trees because they didn't let go

This is where all the lost shoes that wash up on the beach are placed. It's how the park is kept clean along with making a funny joke

Today we packed all of our bags and hopped on a bus to the opposite side of the main island from Nadi to Suva where we will be staying for the rest of the week with host families. In order to break up the 4 hour ride we stopped at some scenic sites along the way. Most of the drive took us through the villages and the poorer areas along the sea side but everyone that saw we were American was waving and screaming "Bula." One stop along the way was to the Sigatoka Sand Dunes that are in the only National Park in Fiji and an archiological site where students have discovered bones and tools of the tribes of Fiji. It took two hours to walk along the dunes. I was surprised to see that vegetation had grown along the dunes even though it was all sand. Our tour guide told us that the sand was black because of the iron from inside the island where the sand had blown from. After this stop we drove some more and stopped at a Hill Fort where we had lunch and a guided tour of the ancestors of the tribes around the area. These tribes used to use Cannibalism until 1993. The tour had a beautiful view of the surrounding hillside. On we went after to continue for 2 more hours through to Nadi. I was exhausted and slept on the way. Once our bus arrived at the University of the South Pacific we met our host families and went home. There are two of us to a host family and my roommate is Audrey who is from Charleston. We went to bed pretty early to get ready for the next day.