Bula! and welcome to Fiji (7/6/04)

I’ve been in Fiji for 2 days now. I’m not overly impressed, but I hear it grows on you. Suva is VERY dirty. There is trash everywhere, and things are just grimy. I also noticed that there are a lot of emaciated wild dogs and poorly kept horses (way too skinny). In addition, being a woman here is quite different than being a man. I notice it more than the men do, but even they (my colleagues) pick up on it now and then. For the most part, women are ignored. If someone does pay attention (usually because I force it) it’s not always amiable. I was surprised when even one of the “Western” professors behaved that way towards me. He was very rude when I had to deal with him alone, but as soon as my colleague (Zach) came in, his demeanor changed immediately. The only person I haven’t experienced this with is a prof named Klaus (from Germany), with whom I’m suppose to collaborate on a project. He’s very nice and seems to want to make sure that I have everything I need, etc. The women are friendly to me if I make sure to greet them openly and with a broad smile and exuberant Bula! That’s fine with me… I enjoy chatting with them.

Upon landing in Nadi, I had to pay 150 Fijian ($75) for a cab ride to Suva (a 2 hr ride). It was only suppose to be 100 Fijian, but I had not idea where the hell to go in Fiji since the god damn University lodge doesn’t have an address. The cab driver and I spent a good 20 – 30 minutes in Suva trying to figure out 1) where the lodge was, and 2) how to check in. Sounds rather simple, right? Especially since the campus is very small. We were directed all over the damn place. It turns out that you don’t check in at the lodge, or even anywhere on campus for that matter. You pick up your key from some random building a few miles down the road from the main campus entrance. It would have been helpful if someone who worked at the lodge had answered the phone to give us directions, or if ANYONE at the University knew what was going on… we eventually found where to go by asking a girl who worked in some Indian fast food joint. Who would have thought that SHE would send us to the right place? Oh well. I found it and got my room just fine. The accommodations are meager, but work nicely for now. I leave my windows and doors open all the time… a wonderful sea breeze keeps the room comfortable and smelling great, but the mosquitoes are a bitch. A storm came through last night with pounding rain and howling wind… I love to be in a cozy room during weather like that. It’ll suck when I have to deal with that while staying in the village though, which will be a bit more like camping.

Zach and I are making a day excursion to the village tomorrow. We’re going with a few of the professors to try to work out a living arrangement for a few weeks. Apparently we can stay with one of the villagers for @20 Fijian a day ($10) and they’ll cook for us (kind of like a bed and breakfast). We’ll have to do all (or most) of our work snorkeling though, since air tanks are not easy to come buy in that area of Fiji. Fortunately, the reefs are shallow and accessible by snorkeling. We’re going to scout out sites tomorrow while the professors meet with the Chief to work out an arrangement. So, as of Monday I will be out of email contact for several weeks. I hope to make several trips back to the University though to drop off samples… I’ll try to drop a line or update my journal if I’m able to do that.

I went on my first two dives today. I already described them in an email I sent you though, so I won’t go into much detail. I forgot to mention that the prof I’m diving with is insane. He likes to dive until you’re out of air. I literally ran out of air today. I had to surface several yards from the boat and switch to snorkel. At least now I have a first hand experience of feeling what it’s like to run out of air. It felt like trying to breathe through a thick blanket or comforter. There was still a little air in the tank; it was just really hard to get out. In addition, he and Zach left me on a reef (unintentionally, of course). We were out collecting algae samples and I had my head buried in some rubble pulling pieces of a red, mushroom-like encrusting algae. Mark (the prof) had gotten onto me (teasingly) after the first dive for not collecting enough. Well, I hit the mother load. But, when I finished collecting, I looked up and everyone was gone. I was alone on the reef and didn’t know where the hell the boat was. No panicking though; I quickly assessed the situation. I had an idea of which direction they had gone, but I didn’t want to attempt to follow for fear of getting even more lost and further from the boat. I decided that if I didn’t find them within a few minutes, I would surface, find the boat and head back. I ascended to just above a reef spur (we were collecting in the grooves) and did a 360 turn to scout for them. Unfortunately, visibility had dropped to ~15 feet. I then decided to make a broad circle of the spur and groove, hoping to spot them in the distance or run into them. No luck. I was just about to give up and surface, when during my last go ‘round, I saw bubbles heading in my direction. They realized I was gone and had come back to get me. We finished the rest of the dive after a quick check that everyone was okay. Let’s just say that after that, I watched my compass with one eye and kept the other on Mark’s yellow snorkel for the rest of the dive… screw the algae!

Okay… I’m tired and I have to get up really early to head to the village tomorrow. It’s going to be a long day.
Moce (pronounce "mothey" = see you later),
Sara