Aaaahhhh

Not much more I can say. As we are both somewhat sun burned we had elected for an easier day. Things could not have worked out better. After our late night yesterday Paula slept in. I went for a walk on the beach and was met by Shakira with juice and coffee on the beach in front of our bure. Paula was up before nine and, after a walk, we had breakfast on the beach. With all our various discussions and conversations, we didn't leave the breakfast table until around 11:00. We convinced Felipe to take us, in his six seat electric cart, on a grand tour of the island. The tour was great. Felipe is one of the original Fijians hired to restore the island and knew the name of every plant, bird, and insect. The island is very self sufficient except for electricity and eggs. They have large shops where they make all the furniture and everything needed. Most of our furniture is made from teak, rain trees, palm, or casarina. Felipe showed us all the various trees and explained how and where they are used in the construction of our bures. Felipe is very proud of the island and led us through the gardens, maintenance shops, wood working shops, water reservoirs and showed us where they are installing solar panels. I've become friends with a couple from Mt Shasta, California that are here installing the solar. The island currently uses diesel generators but the first phase of solar will supply 10 percent of the daylight demand. The solar is not working quite as advertised and we could sense some tension. Our Solar pals from California left yesterday by boat hoping to sort out the problems and return. The tour led us around the island, by all the beaches


and through the mountains. Our bure Mama had prepared a banner with our names to tie to a hibiscus along the way.


It was fun trying to first, understand Felipe's dissertation and names for everything and, second, remember it all. It helped that many of the trees and plants were similar to those we saw in the Amazon in October.

Paula and I took the short walk along the beach to our bure before returning to lunch. I was met with a wonderful surprise. Mama Laite discovered it had been my birthday last month so she decided to surprise me. Mama had decorated our bure with balloons and flowers.


Laite decorated the bed and spelled out "God Bless Happy Belated Birthday Mark Luv Paula & Mama" using palm leaves. And, of course, champagne.


It was a small group on the the beach for lunch to enjoy the sea food pasta as several couples had elected for picnics.


We talked and laughed for several hours over lunch when the sky clouded over and a beautifully cool, refreshing wind kicked up. The wind quickly grew to the point it was blowing over wine glasses and scattering napkins along the beach. We all helped the two Ani's to clear the table and retired to a friends bure on the point. Shortly after we were under cover, the rain hit with a vengence. After a quick glass of wine and champagne Paula and I returned home. We had four handed massages in our bure. Between the massage and the rain splattering off the palm trees, I fell fast asleep. Only too soon, Rini and Maeri patted me on my bare bottom and wished us a good evening. Goodness, not enough time for a decent nap before we dress for dinner. Life can be tough but at least we stayed out of the sun for the day.

Another surprise waited for me after dinner.


Everyone sang and danced. Mama Laite made the Lei.



A postscript - yesterday all the Fijian staff began a joyous celebration on the beach, calling for champagne and party. They had heard that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. We are without newspaper or TV so haven't seen any news from the outside since last Wednesday.

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