allyson and bryan

On the First Night, There Were Spiders /



It was Heather and Eugene's first night in Fiji. We'd just spent the day at a place that might be the most beautiful I've ever seen; after all, The Blue Lagoon was filmed here! We'd lunched on fresh fish, dined on chicken and risotto, reveled in the sunset, and of course had a glass of wine (or two). So when we stopped to drop our friends at Bure #7 at the end of the night, pausing for a moment to wish them sweet dreams, we undoubtedly were lulled into thinking that this day would end as perfectly as it had begun. Thus, imagine our surprise as we we'd begun to continue down the path to Bure #8, to hear Eugene exclaim in a steady but stricken voice "UM HEATHER WE HAVE A REALLY BIG PROBLEM." Fearing the worst (stolen backpacks! "redrum" scrawled on the dresser mirror!), Bryan and I rushed back inside and found a very pale Eugene staring up at their bed's mosquito net -- and the massive, black, furry spider clinging to the top of it.

Honestly, I'm not sure the pictures do it justice. My heart skipped at least one beat.

The rest of the story happened quickly: Heather and I left the two guys to stare helplessly at said spider, while we retreived a local Fijian ("spider? it is fine! friendly spider!") to swoop in and scoop up the gangly creature with his bare hands. We laughed nervously when he told us everything was fine now, and then retired to our separate bures where we tried mightily to sleep.

On the second night, our bathroom was covered in 1,000 moths.

On the third night, a mouse gnawed clear through my backpack to feast on a Cliff bar hidden inside.

On the fourth night, a mysterious band of creatures (bats, perhaps) living in the roof of Bure #7 left a stoopful of brown surprises.

And on the fifth night, we lay on the beach and watched a really bad movie about a giant ape in love.

But really -- spiders, mice, and poor remakes aside, it was perfectly perfect in the Yasawa Islands. The ocean is an amazing palette of blues and greens, the food is lovely, the activities are plentiful, and they even held a raucous Game Night with beer chugging contests and blindfolded races. (Bryan and I won a bottle of champagne for keeping a balloon between us the longest without popping or dropping it, or using our hands.) We played a lot of Skip Bo, read a lot of celebrity magazines from the homeland, and jumped on the trampoline at midnight under a swath of of twinkling stars.

By the time I get to post this (there's no Internet here whatsoever) we'll be packing up to head to New Zealand, where the weather should be cooler (yay!) and the sights endless. While I won't miss the giant spiders or the crafty mice, I will definitely never forget them, nor these five fine days in Fiji with fabulous friends.

stars, they're just like allyson @ 9:08 PM  

..........