Fiji - Jungle Spa

Jason and I are not "spa" people.  Jason has never had a massage and I could count the number of time I have had one on one hand.  But our resort was actually a world class spa - and apparently just last month won the 2017 World Luxury Spa Awards; Best Luxury Destination Spa; Best Luxury Resort Spa.  

Our stay came with a free 30 minute massage - so we both went and got a massage.  I expected Jason to hate it - but he actually considered buying a 90 minute one.  We ended up not getting any more treatments (we spent our money on something else) - but it was WONDERFUL and the spa is so beautiful and exotic.  It reminded me of Swiss Family Robinson.

Our massage started with a foot bath/massage.

Fiji - the people

What we didn't expect from Fiji was to fall in love with the people.  We thought we were going to a tiny island on the other side of the world to escape people.  We picked our island becasue it was so remote (not very traveled) and very private.  But from the first day we got there we instantly made friends - this is true for the staff and the other visitors.

The resort only has like 10 or so couples - I am sure every visit to Qamea is different depending on the "quality" of the other guests - we lucked out with the best guests.  The couple closest to the camera is Carol and Jerry - they were so friendly and welcoming - they treated everyone like they were already their friends.

This is Nick and Dana.  This is their third trip to Qamea - they came for their honeymoon for a "once in a life time trip" and have come back almost every year for their anniversary.  They were so helpful and informative!   Funny story about them:

"On our first night we met a couple.  During our conversation we found out that he had previously worked for BYU in Hawaii doing IT contract work (they are not LDS).  During the conversation we told them that we were LDS.  The next day when we were on a boat about to go snorkeling - I took off my cover up to get in the water, then they said they were talking last night and were waiting to see what kind of swimming suit I would wear - since I was Mormon.  This was a tender mercy for me becasue I have to admit - I felt tempted to buy a less modest swim suit for the trip.  It seems like so many members of the church wear bikini's and 2 pieces on vacation and I started to feel like maybe I should.  I mean, I am just with my husband AND on the other side of the world.  But at the store I just knew that I couldn't do it.  But to be totally honest - I went back and forth about it.  Now here I am the FIRST time in a swim suit and someone says that to me!  I just knew it was from Heavenly Father telling me he was proud of my decision.  "but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." Timothy 4:12

This is Danit and Kavir.    We were so excited to meet them and they were so fun to get to know and  talk to.  They are Israeli-Jews and both served in the Israeli army - talk about interesting people.  We got to know each other well enough that we stayed up until one in the morning talking about politics and religion!  We talked about Israel and Palestine, Trump, Obama, raising children to be religious, Judaism, Mormonism and how they connect - it was fascinating. 

This is Jacquelyn and Steve.  I mentioned them in a previous post.  They were the closest ones there to our age and we hung out with them on most of our outings.  They were so fun and easy to talk to.

After only being at the resort for about 10 minutes we found out that 3 members of the church worked at the resort!  We were trilled becasue we wanted to go to an LDS branch on Sunday but there wasn't one on the island and we wanted to find out how to get to the closest branch.  This is Eddie - one of the members.  He is a convert, returned missionary, and previous Branch president.  He became a true friend of ours.  We went to church with his family.  

It is Edmund - he is also a member of the church.  He is Eddie's cousin and also a convert and a returned missionary.  He was our tour guide for most of our activities.  

This is Moses.  He was the other member of the church.  He is a convert of just a few years.  He married a Mormon woman and has 6 kids.  He was baptized a few years ago and is saving money (and time off work) to make the 2 day boat trip to the temple.

This is Mariah.  She was one of the sweetest women.  She works mostly in the dining hall and made our mornings so bright and cheerful.

This is Siah.  Siah makes you feel like you are her most favorite guest that has ever visited.  In fact, I am pretty sure I am :)  In fact, I told her that my 7 year old daughter wanted me to take VERY detailed notes about everything I saw and did - so her daughter made Megan and authentic Fijian notebook for me to take all the notes in!  Megan LOVES it - it was perfect.  Isnt' that amazing?  The staff at Qamea is truly the best!

Fiji - the food

I didn't take many pictures of the food - mostly because Jason and I like to make fun of millennials who take and post pictures of their food - so on principle I couldn't  - but now I wish I would have (Millennials are so smart :).  Mostly because it was all soooooo amazing and it brings all sorts of happy feelings.

I mean for starters we got ice cream at breakfast!!!

I took a lot of pictures of our drinks - that was just for my Bucknelian friends (Women on my street) they all drink alcohol and are ALWAYS taking pictures of their drinks on vacation - so I told them I would too.  We got to have the most amazing virgin drinks and they were happy to make them and give them to us for free because they didn't have any alcohol!  If I were a real drinker I would have taken them before I had drunken them all - but I kept forgetting and they were just too good not to drink right away.

Fiji - Dinners

Dinners were always a nice time on our trip.  Our meals were all included and wonderful (that will be a whole other post).  We could always take our meals 3 ways: 1) We could eat in the main Dining hall with all the other guests, 2) We could have them set up a private meal on the beach or 3)We could have room service.  We mixed it up quite a bit but mostly ate in the dinning hall - which we didn't expect to do - but it was just so fun being with all the other guests and the workers - it was the people that really made this trip perfect.  

The beat the drums at every meal - Jason got to help beat the drums a few times.

Our first night at dinner.

A beach picnic

The dining hall was always so beautiful

 They always had a Fijian ban playing.  They were so cute.   One evening we had a private picnic on the beach under the stars (swoon) and they came over to serenade us - during this very romantic setting they sang us this very sad break-up song - it seemed like it was just a nice slow song that they knew in English so they figured it was a love song.  We found it quite funny.  Below is a picture of me singing with them one night.

Fiji: Rest and Cultural stuff - Day 7

We wanted to take a day and just do nothing.  That sounds like we had been busy all other days - but we only did one thing a day and some of those things only took an our or 2 but somethings took like 6  hours - but either way we wanted to have a day where we just bummed around the island and resort, read a lot of books, catch up on our show (The West Wing), and take several naps.  We did all of that.  It was awesome.

We also played a game of giant chess.

Ate some coconut

And learned how to basket weave.

These are some good friends we made - Jacquelyn and Steve Zawilinski - they are from Connecticut and work for ESPN (He is the director of ALL of Monday night Football) - they were here on their honeymoon.  We hung out with them quite a bit.  

I loved my basket - sadly it did not make it through customs!!!