Trekking Through the Rainforest

A few days ago we thought we’d go for a hike. We went and asked the lady at the front desk where we could go, thinking we’d just jump on some marked trail or something. She said that what we were looking for was nonexistent, but that we should join one of the jungle treks departing from the Beachouse. Today we took the trek with our tour guide, Jutah. We now understand that we could never have explored the jungles of Fiji on our own!

Jutah was an excellent guide. After all, he takes guests from the Beachouse nearly six days a week and has done so for the last six years! In addition to knowing his way perfectly through the maze of foliage, Jutah knew all about using the plants in the jungle for survival. “Fiji jungle: grocery store and pharmacy,” he said. He showed us how roots of certain plants can be ground, boiled, and used to cure the cough. He told us about the plant that you eat for breakfast and you get so full, you don’t need lunch or dinner. Of course he had dozens of other things he shared. He was very excited when he learned I was a teacher and might share some of his information with my students. I don’t know if he was as excited to hear that Jonathan is studying to become a kind of doctor. He pointed out how his ancestors, surviving off of natural products, lived long, healthy lives. With the existence of hospitals and modern medicine now days, his people are surprisingly less healthy. As you can tell, the entire trip was certainly more than just a hike; it was a cultural experience!

I’m sure you can tell from the pictures, the ground of this entire three-hour trek was mud – and Jutah did it all barefoot! I (Amy) have always had this “thing” about being barefoot. It sends shivers up my spine! I don’t think I would have done this hike for $1,000 without shoes! So, of course, it made it all the more amazing that this man has done it thousands of time without shoes! Jonathan and I were happy in our chaco sandles…and we still got PLENTY of mud all over ourselves!

We ended up at a beautiful waterfall were Jutah, despite my protesting, made us climb up into the middle of the waterfall. I kept looking back over my shoulder to where he was waiting with our camera to take our picture. He kept pointing and motioning for me to continue climbing and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’m glad we did it and I’m even more glad that I survivedJ. What an adventure…

Trip to Suva

Well, we experienced quite the day yesterday. We set off by ourselves to the capitol city of Fiji: Suva. We weren’t quite sure what we were going to do, once there, but thought it would be an adventure. It certainly was that. We jumped on a random bus headed that direction and arrived in the city two hours later. There were many times along the way that we wish we could have pulled over to take a quick picture (of course it was really killing Jonathan!). We passed many schools, homes, and little towns, as well as beautiful ocean vistas.

Once in Suva, we realized that it wasn’t really a “tourist destination” (that’s an understatement). We just decided to start following the crowds through the jam-packed streets into the markets. We ended up spending time in a grocery store and bought some supplies for dinner. We also explored some shops and ended up buying a backpack inside a larger department-type store advertising “Back to School” sales (school starts up again here in Fiji next week). Midway through our time there, it started raining like crazy. We eventually made it back to the “bus station” (a street with dozens of buses all honking wildly at one-another). I ran for cover while Jonathan went from bus to bus, looking for one to take us back to the Beachouse. Luckily, he found one and we climbed aboard. Since we were one of the last to climb aboard, we were separated but ended up making friends (myself with a college student named Mary and Jonathan with a local sugarcane worker). It was sure interesting to hear all about Fiji from a native’s perspective. The people here are so wonderful!

The Beachouse

Bula from Fiji! It’s hard to believe that we were in the mountains of Colorado less than a week ago! Talk about extremes. We left Frisco during a snow storm and were worried about C-Dot closing the Eisenhower Tunnel. Now we are in island humidity, experiencing both heat and the torrential downpours that are typical of the wet season here! I can say without a doubt that neither of us have seen anything quite like the rain here. The other day there was about two hours of an absolute down pour. All the pathways here were literally streams! We probably saw more than twenty frogs hopping all over the place. What did we do, you ask? We joined the locals for a game of volleyball in the rain. The next day our arms were covered with bruises from continuously passing the sopping wet, heavy ball!

Attached you’ll see some pics of the place we’ve been staying. We feel very blessed to have found the place since others we have spoken with here say it’s probably one of the best places they’ve stayed. We’ve certainly met some great people. I’m pretty sure we’re the only Americans here! There are two things that set us apart here, besides being American. The first is we’re married. We haven’t met anyone yet that shares that with us. The second is that we aren’t on a “world tour”, sadly. Most are on their way to Indonesia, New Zealand, or South America and are at least traveling for six months, most for more than that. We’ve had a great time visiting with people from Finland, England (Nottingham), The Netherlands, and Canada. It has certainly been a great start to our trip. We love Fiji!!

Christmas w/ the Fam!

It's hard to believe, but our family Christmas has come to an end. We had such a great time together -- all nine of us packed in to our little ski condo! It was certainly great to be together; the time passed too quickly. We had lots of adventure: xc skiing, snow-shoeing (Leah & I mastered Mt. Royal), running in the snow (Dev & Trav), attempting to "snow skate" (Ethan) and an all-day ski adventure to A-Basin. We also made lots of time for relaxation: movies, Settlers of Catan, reading, and sleeping. Of course, no family get together would be complete w/out lots of great food. Now the family is headed back to the great state of WA...Dev & Laris head to Portland next week. It's less than two weeks until we depart to the land down under. So much to do before then :)...

Hook's Visit

We had a great time with Jonathan's parents when they came to visit. They came at just the right time -- hours before a major snowstorm!! We got almost three feet while they were here. Thanks to the fresh snow, we were able to go on two xc ski outings (one major 4 hour trek). Jonathan and his dad got our Christmas tree too -- a little Charlie Brown tree:). We decorated it together and then celebrated our Christmas early. Since all of our Christmas supplies are in a basement in Fort Collins, we went w/ the lights, candy canes, and 2$ Walmart ball ornaments:). We're going for "simple" this year!

Thanksgiving

This was a landmark Thanksgiving for us. It was the first Thanksgiving where I (Amy) was in charge of hosting & cooking the turkey! Thankfully, I had two great friends helping me: Andrea & Sarah Hook (my cousin -- we'll, Jonathan's cousin, Greg's, wife). Together we basically cooked everything from scratch, including the intense gizzard gravy. Crazy, I know!

While we slaved away in the kitchen, the boys hit the slopes:). Jonathan and Greg definitely enjoyed that!! Earlier in the day, Jonathan, Andrea, and I went for a self-proclaimed "Turkey Trot". Last year, the three of us ran the 4 mile race at Wash Park. This year we made our own little Frisco loop and tried to maintain motivation without the hundreds running with us.

It was a relaxing break. We were so thankful to have dear friends with us, even though we miss both of our families. Thankfully, the Hooks are coming out to visit in two weeks and the entire Vaughn crew for Christmas:)!

Our New Home: Frisco, Colorado

We are officially residents of Frisco, Colorado. Jonathan has been living here since he started his internship on September 24th. I moved up here just two weeks ago when volleyball season ended, and the commute became more reasonable. Needless to say it is great to be together!

"Home" for now is a 3-bedroom condo, bigger than we've ever experienced. It feels like "ours", although there is nothing in this place that belongs to us (except for our Starbucks espresso machine, some food, and our clothing). We're a block off main street, (a quaint little stretch of restaurants, bars, and specialty shops) and a few feet from an extensive network of trails & bike paths. We love it here!
Jonathan is enjoying his time working for Howard Head Sports Medicine at Vail Valley Medical Center. There's a wonderful mix of interesting foreigners and high level athletes that come from all over to the see the "specialists" in Vail. Soon he'll also see the number of patients increase when the aspens are bare and the mountain covered in snow.


P.S. Jonathan ran out the door with his ski gear 15 minutes ago. He can walk to the Copper Mountain free shuttle and get front-door service to the lift. He's decided that he will probably do that every day at 2:00, since most people head back to Denver to beat traffic. In Denver we'd take a quick afternoon trip to 24 hour fitness. Here, we'll take a quick trip to the ski hill. Life is good:).