We actually got back reeeeeally early on Sunday, but I basically went into a coma until Monday night.
Oh, get this... So we get to the Miami airport at like 6 a.m., we get our bags, run to Whole Foods in time for them to open so I could get breakfast, then go home. I snuggle the animals and promptly collapse in bed. Chris cleans the kitchen, goes to mass, goes to the hospital to visit a patient, goes to Costco, goes to Patty's to pick up the dogs, comes home, unpacks, mows the yard... You get the picture. I waved at him periodically from my spot on the bed.
I have NO idea why I was so tired. I slept well in Fiji. Slept on the plane. Slept in the hotel in LA where we camped out for our layover. Slept on the second plane. Not only am I tired when I would've been sleeping in Fiji, but I'm tired the rest of the time too! Except I seem to be sleep saturated and now I'm just tired during the day... I had to take a sleeping pill at 4 a.m. so I could get SOME sleep before I came to work.
Anyway, enough of that. Fiji was awesome. The first place we stayed was a 10-minute boat ride from the island where they filmed Castaway, to give you an idea of what it looked like there. Our island was tiny and had just a couple of other couples on it at any given time, so it was really quiet and private-feeling and lovely. There was nothing to do but relax, except eat and snorkel and do honeymoon-type activities. :) There were baby black-tip reef sharks all over in the water, which I loved. We'd have breakfast, play in the water, read, nap in the hammock ("where did those two hours go?!")... When dusk approached, we watched the sunset and I harassed the hermit crabs. It was just so quiet and pretty, perfectly what you would expect Fiji to be.
The second place we stayed was more real Fiji rather than a resort. You know that on the whole island there was not one place to buy a postcard? That's how not-touristy it is. The corals there were amazing... We went diving and snorkeling. Both were amazing, but I could not get over how beautiful and healthy the coral were just yards from the road. Unfortunately we didn't bring the underwater camera EITHER time when we snorkeled, which kills me because the pics would've been way better than the diving pics we took 50 feet underwater.
The only negatives were: 1) I didn't get many pics with the SLR at all. There were all these cute kids on the coastal walk we did, for example, but we were hiking to a waterfall, so I didn't really want to lug the big, expensive camrea along. Sigh. 2) It is their spring there, and it was a bit chilly for us! Not chilly, really, except for when it comes to swimming. It was, I dunno, upper 70s? 3) Turns out Fiji has sad stray dogs. All of whom limp. I decided that if I found a puppy I would bring it home and give it to my mom as a souvenir or something, but the only little ones I saw were a little older and snuggling happily with their mom (and their fleas), so it was a no-go. The folks who run the resort there have taken in four dogs (their limit), one of which was so small they thought it was a rat or something. It's grown into a super beagle. :D
So yeah, I'm Mrs. Chen now. Doesn't feel quiet real.
Will be uploading pics in the next couple of days.. So far this is the only one I've posted. Goes to show how quiet the island was. No photoshopping any people out! :)
