We went to a squatter settlement and hung out, drank kava, designed and made masi ( bark cloth). The designs that cover it are made with clay paint and boiled bark ink that are patted through a stencil on top of flattened bark. Very cool. The people in this squatter settlement were from the lau island group and had sailed there on the "canoe" that is in the picture above. It is made totally out of wood and bark and they took us out on it for a joy ride. Here are some of the kids we hung out with during the day.

After a long week of rain in suva, we all decided it was time to hit up the beach. So we took a bus to pacific habor which is about 30 miles away. This was the closest place to suva with nice beaches and somewhere for us to stay. So we stayed at a backpackers hotel for the weekend. Ten of us stayed in one room with 5 bunk beds and then there was a huge common room with a tv air hockey table and some couches. It was really nice to get away from suva and eat what we wanted to eat. So we treated ourselves to some delicious meals and some sun bathing. The hotel had a cool bar and a huge tiki man pool. The theme of the pool area was cannibalism and had a bunch of paintings of Fijians eating white people, a giant spoon sculpture with human skulls resting in it and a giant boiling pot ( hot tub). Only in Fiji. Every room in the hotel was a different theme and megan and alex's room was under the ocean theme. PRETTAYY COOL.

The second day started off to be rainy so everyone wanted to leave but me and a couple other people decided to be optimistic and went swimming in the rain. We wound up staying later and it got really sunny out which was a surprise and it turned out to be a great day. As we were catching the bus back into suva it started down pouring. We got on the bus and there was only enough seats open for the 5 of us. So we made our way down the isle and squished into our seats. I was sitting with one cheek on the seat and the other basically on another mans lap. The bus was not like the others in suva with open windows and instead had horrible circulation and smelled of BO. Not the best way to travel. But we survived and made it back to suva.