Jan 26, 2015 Home and trip to Texas
The end of January was filled with thoughts of going home. It has been a year since I saw the grandkids and the rest of the family and all my friends. This time I am giving myself lots of time, since there is nothing going on in Fiji except waiting for the cyclone season to be over. With me out of the way, Alan should be able to work full speed on all of the projects. He won’t have to worry about cleaning up and putting things away every night.
I go shopping several days in a row, Need to be sure Alan has enough food to eat while I am gone since he hates taking the bus to town and shopping, if he runs low he will just eat out. I pack and repack and pack again. Just when I think I am done, I read the small print on the plane ticket and discover that Fiji Airways wants one 50 lb bag instead of the two 25 lbs ones that I have packed, so I need to repack one more time. Eventually it is done. The taxi is scheduled and I head to the bar to wait. When the driver shows up there are “good-bye”s and safe journey”s for everyone and I am off. Headed home for the first time in a year.
I am going from Fiji to LAX and then straight on to Texas to see my brother and his family for several days and then back to LA. The flight is not full so I can stretch out and sleep. Customs is easy and I am checked into Southwest with time to spare. I land in Houston on time and am soon waiting at the curb for Steve to pick me up. I had emailed my flight schedule weeks ago and confirmed it just before I left. I don’t have a phone but my iPad will pick up email messages in the airport. After waiting over half and hour I check my messages and discover he is waiting upstairs at departures since he thinks there is less traffic there. He had actually suggested this earlier but I had declined, seeing that I don’t know my way around the airport, and tired and have a VERY heavy duffel bag without wheels. I message him to tell him I am waiting downstairs and he sends back that he is upstairs. I am not going to try to figure out how to get up there with these bags so I wait. Eventually he shown up. It is almost midnight and there is no traffic. When he lifts my bag into the trunk he is surprised by how heavy it is. My point exactly.
Steve moved last year into a beautiful house on a lake in Houston but it needs a lot of work and he has been too busy to take care of it. So Sharon, who is getting married first, has taken charge and is determined to whip it into shape by her wedding day in March. Both girls are getting married this year. Since I can’t be there for the weddings, this is my chance to meet the boys . Everyone shows up for dinner Saturday night and we have a wonderful time. Elisa’s fiancé is a wonderful cook and makes a delicious baked salmon for dinner. We end the evening in the hot tub under the stars
When I cleaned out the house before we left home, I sent a lot of the family antiques and heirlooms to Steve for the kids. Now that they all three have their own homes, I was interested to see how they had divided it all up. Turns out, no one had even opened the boxes. They were just moved from Austin to Texas and stuffed into the closets. There were two sets of good china that should go to the girls buried n there somewhere. Meanwhile, Steve is using stuff that he got from the thrift shop. So I spent much of my time there cleaning out closets and sorting the good stuff from the junk. I found my mother’s good china which Steve had had since mom dies and did not know that he had. Also found my grandmother’s Havalind china set. Boxes and boxes were set aside for the thrift shop by the time I left and the good family heirlooms were displayed in the china cabinets instead of being hidden in boxes in the closet. And the kids know where stuff is when they are ready to move it into their new homes.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Rainforest on Fiji
Colo-i-Suva
We are into the rainy season and where have been intermittent showers all day as we leave Suva and head up into the rainforest for our last night of this trip. We climb up out of town, experiencing the usual frustrations of not having a map, one way streets and not being able to see street signs. The buildings spread out and we pass several embassies and schools. This does not look like a road into the rainforest but there are not very many roads out of town so this has to be it. Suddenly all buildings disappear and we are into the rainforest. Thick trees, lilies and orchids and other colorful flowers growing wild. Barely 5 miles up the road, there is a cluster of buildings on the left and we have reached our destination, the Colo-I-Suva Rainforest Lodge. (I never did find out what the name means) There are only a couple of other cars in the parking lot and very few other guests. Perfect for us.
It is absolutely stunning. One of the best places we have stayed, not for luxurious accommodations but for the beauty of the grounds and the way the buildings nestle into the landscape. There are maybe a dozen cottages scattered around with stone paths connecting them. Our room is in a lodge with 5 other rooms, 3 to a side. When we open the door we are looking straight out onto a beautiful lily pond and across to dense forest. Our room is very bare bones, just a bed, a nightstand, pegs for clothes, a small fridge. the bathroom is down the hall. But we almost don't notice the room. We go straight to the sliding glass doors which take up the whole wall and step out onto the covered porch set over the lake and there we spend the rest of the afternoon, just drinking in the beauty. It is cloudy, overcast and and cool. when it rains, it comes down in sheets, so dense we cannot see across the pond. the rain sheets off the roof and gathers along the paths, overflowing the ditches. It is all perfect. Between rain showers we wander the grounds admiring at the beautiful flowers
Eventually we head for the dining room, set over the other end of the lily pond. They offer a fixed price fijian dinner but I opt for the kokoda instead. this is Fiji’s equivalent of ceviche. A lovely cold soup made with raw seafood marinated in coconut juice and lime. Interestingly, the weighted does not like it, and in fact, does not like any fish dishes. Dinner and breakfast the next morning are goo, not fabulous but certainly good. Turns out the restaurant has just changed hands after going downhill for several years. The new owner used to be a chef and is doing his darnedest to turn the place around. It is beautiful, close to Suve and inexpensive. If he can improve the kitchen and keep good staff he should be a success. We wish him well and plan on coming back again next season. Meanwhile, we will refer all of our friends.
Next morning we drive off into the jungle to fine the waterfalls and swimming holes we have heard about. Once again, the maps we have been given are grossly inadequate but after wandering for a while we finally come to a cleared area that seems to be a parking lot with a trail leading off into the jungle. It is not raining this morning and as we climb up hill and over roots we are soon hot and sweaty. Tucked here and there among the trees are benches and small huts that are either bathrooms or changing rooms. Just about the time I am sure we have taken a wrong turn, we come around a bend in the path and there is a wonderful waterfall spilling down into a deep, wide pool, and below it another and another and possibly more down lower where we cannot see through the trees. There is not another soul around. it only takes a minute to shed our clothes and plunge into the cool water. Once again, we are in paradise. blue sky between the thick trees, ferns and flowers in every nook and crevice. It has been “improved” only enough to make it safe with steps carved into the hillside mud and handrails on the steepest parts and a cement dam with a path along the top separating the various pools. We spend and hour relaxing and enjoying. We could have spent days but we have to get back home tonight.
We are into the rainy season and where have been intermittent showers all day as we leave Suva and head up into the rainforest for our last night of this trip. We climb up out of town, experiencing the usual frustrations of not having a map, one way streets and not being able to see street signs. The buildings spread out and we pass several embassies and schools. This does not look like a road into the rainforest but there are not very many roads out of town so this has to be it. Suddenly all buildings disappear and we are into the rainforest. Thick trees, lilies and orchids and other colorful flowers growing wild. Barely 5 miles up the road, there is a cluster of buildings on the left and we have reached our destination, the Colo-I-Suva Rainforest Lodge. (I never did find out what the name means) There are only a couple of other cars in the parking lot and very few other guests. Perfect for us.
It is absolutely stunning. One of the best places we have stayed, not for luxurious accommodations but for the beauty of the grounds and the way the buildings nestle into the landscape. There are maybe a dozen cottages scattered around with stone paths connecting them. Our room is in a lodge with 5 other rooms, 3 to a side. When we open the door we are looking straight out onto a beautiful lily pond and across to dense forest. Our room is very bare bones, just a bed, a nightstand, pegs for clothes, a small fridge. the bathroom is down the hall. But we almost don't notice the room. We go straight to the sliding glass doors which take up the whole wall and step out onto the covered porch set over the lake and there we spend the rest of the afternoon, just drinking in the beauty. It is cloudy, overcast and and cool. when it rains, it comes down in sheets, so dense we cannot see across the pond. the rain sheets off the roof and gathers along the paths, overflowing the ditches. It is all perfect. Between rain showers we wander the grounds admiring at the beautiful flowers
Eventually we head for the dining room, set over the other end of the lily pond. They offer a fixed price fijian dinner but I opt for the kokoda instead. this is Fiji’s equivalent of ceviche. A lovely cold soup made with raw seafood marinated in coconut juice and lime. Interestingly, the weighted does not like it, and in fact, does not like any fish dishes. Dinner and breakfast the next morning are goo, not fabulous but certainly good. Turns out the restaurant has just changed hands after going downhill for several years. The new owner used to be a chef and is doing his darnedest to turn the place around. It is beautiful, close to Suve and inexpensive. If he can improve the kitchen and keep good staff he should be a success. We wish him well and plan on coming back again next season. Meanwhile, we will refer all of our friends.
Next morning we drive off into the jungle to fine the waterfalls and swimming holes we have heard about. Once again, the maps we have been given are grossly inadequate but after wandering for a while we finally come to a cleared area that seems to be a parking lot with a trail leading off into the jungle. It is not raining this morning and as we climb up hill and over roots we are soon hot and sweaty. Tucked here and there among the trees are benches and small huts that are either bathrooms or changing rooms. Just about the time I am sure we have taken a wrong turn, we come around a bend in the path and there is a wonderful waterfall spilling down into a deep, wide pool, and below it another and another and possibly more down lower where we cannot see through the trees. There is not another soul around. it only takes a minute to shed our clothes and plunge into the cool water. Once again, we are in paradise. blue sky between the thick trees, ferns and flowers in every nook and crevice. It has been “improved” only enough to make it safe with steps carved into the hillside mud and handrails on the steepest parts and a cement dam with a path along the top separating the various pools. We spend and hour relaxing and enjoying. We could have spent days but we have to get back home tonight.
cost-u--less
Cost-u-less
Another one of our reasons for this trip is to stock up on groceries. A number of the cruisers have mentioned Cost-U-Less as a good place to shop, so on our way out of Suva we made a point of stopping there. As the name suggests, it is very much like Costco, even carrying the Kirkland brand for many of its products. It was a delight to find things that had been a problem in Lautoka including coffee, pickles, long fire lighters, nuts and dried fruit. We even found a cockpit chair for Alan. Unfortunately, because of our lack of refrigeration, we cannot take advantage of all the frozen meats or produce. But even if had been just the same old things, it is a treat to go shopping with a car and not have to lug things back on the bus so I stocked up on everything heavy that I could find.
I understand that they deliver to the marina. Now that I have been here to see what they have, I might take advantage of that.
Another one of our reasons for this trip is to stock up on groceries. A number of the cruisers have mentioned Cost-U-Less as a good place to shop, so on our way out of Suva we made a point of stopping there. As the name suggests, it is very much like Costco, even carrying the Kirkland brand for many of its products. It was a delight to find things that had been a problem in Lautoka including coffee, pickles, long fire lighters, nuts and dried fruit. We even found a cockpit chair for Alan. Unfortunately, because of our lack of refrigeration, we cannot take advantage of all the frozen meats or produce. But even if had been just the same old things, it is a treat to go shopping with a car and not have to lug things back on the bus so I stocked up on everything heavy that I could find.
I understand that they deliver to the marina. Now that I have been here to see what they have, I might take advantage of that.
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