Fiji blog 2 - Nate

After 12 hours in the air, and 7 hours in the airport, we finally arrived in Nadi, Fiji. Immediately after stepping off the plane we could already feel how different it was from where we had come from. The air is humid and filled with moisture, and almost seems thick enough to choke on. Promptly after getting off the plane, and exchanging our useless US money for Fijian Dollars, we found out what Fiji is “all about”. Mr. Beast, the most famous Youtuber of all time, walked no more than 10 yards away from us. While we were all shocked to run into such a famous and rich person, this also reaffirmed a stereotype that we had about Fiji. That it’s where wealthy people go to “get away”. In our minds Fiji just seemed to be this mystical beautiful island with sandy beaches and tropical fruits, a dream vacation spot. At least to me. But this pre-accusative believe was soon removed from my mind, as in just one day I saw so much more of Fiji than I ever pictured.

We left our hotel and headed straight to a nearby high-school, to watch the high-school teams play some rugby, and we were immediately immersed in a completely new community and culture to us. After watching the rugby match for about 20 minutes, we ended up in deep conversation with three kids a few years younger than us. They were super friendly and eager to tell us about life in Fiji. The conversation jumped from school, to sports, to food, to family, and religion. This was an immediate connection we had with the more real side of Fiji. The people side. This completely debunked the previous prejudice that we had about life on Fiji.