**Yasawa-I-Rara, Fiji

Our ship: Yasawa-I-Rara

Perfect. Volcanic. South Sea Island. Fringed by white sand beaches. Water temperature 88 degrees.... Protected by cool reefs. Long and skinny. Tropical forest and mountains. Caves. Shark-free crystal clear waters. Gorgeous. Undeveloped. The Blue Lagoon was filmed here. A few luxury Resorts sprinkled in. Make reservations: Turtle Island Resort. 600 residents in this tiny town. No tours.... No taxis...."just get on the tender and we will take you to a pier with a beach". Never mind it is a million degrees outside and the humidity is as high as the sky. Of course. I took the first tender in at 8AM with 10 other people. I figure if we take this much time to get here, for sure, I should check it out.



Landing at the pier, I began to question my judgement. I walked down the long pier, took some pictures of the beach and started to wonder if I could make the same tender back to the ship...... Then I noticed a few local people putting out tables and blankets on the grass. I headed over...curious.. What's all this about? Looks very very interesting! I said to myself. Lets have a look. I AM a TRAVELER ... NOT a Tourist, I say to myself at times like these.



BULA!! BULA! BULA! I was greeted with enthusiasm. I walked over to the tables and people were warm and welcoming. I took photos of some homes. Took photos of the children who were too shy to talk to me. I said to some Moms... Your children are so adorable! They are so shy! She answered back "They never had their pictures taken before" I right there and then decided to make my day into an adventure. All by myself, I started walking around the little beach area, always asking if I could take a picture, always asking before I ventured anywhere if it was OK to do so...
  My road less traveled:
  Leaving my fellow cruisers behind.... Everyone I met greeted me "BULA!" "Bula" I answered back. Seemed to be the right thing to do..... I asked what Bula meant...and it means everything including Hello and Good Morning... I became one with them (in my mind only). I continued enthusiastically responding "BULA!" to every single person on the island. I must have said BULA! a thousand times today. People came up to me "Bula!" "Where are you from?" or introduced themselves and shook my hand. One lady invited me to lunch. I asked "Is this the restaurant?" She said No, it is my home. I am making a fish bbq for lunch.
 
This is the home where I was invited for BBQ fish lunch--- see the BBQ smoke??? Then I met a little girl with a pink school back pack and I asked her if she was going to school. Her father took me along to see her class.  

She was 5 and in kindergarten. There were about 6 children in a one room school and the teacher was teaching them to write. All sat on the floor and had chalk boards. They just sat and stared at me.... Their teacher was very friendly and invited me in. I noted the backpacks hung along the wall... all the girls had pink ones. (Isla would like it here) A very shy bunch at school....
 

I then walked along the water. I asked where the village was and they told me to just keep walking and I did. A fellow cruiser from deck 9 asked if he could join me and together we walked to find a village. Along the way we passed people coming to set up shop. Items for sale were carried in wheel barrels. I met some goats. I met a little boy having a bath in an outdoor bucket and spent some time talking to the baby and his Mom.
 



Inside of one of the homes
  On the way to the village.....
  Village center.... I had the best time ever. Yes, I found the village. I met the people. I found a huge seashell on the beach I put in my purse. Pure white and heavy. I bought a cannibal fork... I don't think it has been used....
 

My fellow traveler decided to keep walking on and I was so hot I decided to head back. Finding the main village was my goal. Meeting people. Seeing how people lived. I had to go back to the school. I am guessing they were about Caelan and Isla's age. Learning to write. Right outside their classroom a rooster was crowing. Next to the rooster under a tree people were making a huge pot of fish stew . They let me look in. Smelled delicious. Lunch in 15 minutes! They said.
 
Many people did not get off the ship saying there is nothing to see. What no taxi's? Some people complained it was too hot and nothing there. Did they get off on the same island? I wondered? Did you see the school? Did you meet the goats?  

Did you see the house where lunch is being served? Did you see the village? Did you see the lady selling handmade cannibal forks and utensils? (I bought a fork and an instrument you use to hit people on the head.....They had all sort of utensils for this purpose... to my surprise)...They looked at me... "I missed that" "Where did you see that?" further probing... sounding disappointed they 'missed" so much. Some people's disappointment was my highlight of this whole cruise! I will certainly never forget Yasawa-I-Rara, what a delightful island. What amazingly friendly people! BULA! BULA!