Wow we are in Love in Fiji! We had another awesome day, with perfect (a bit hot) weather. We went to the sand dune and hiked for 2 hours first through the park to help plant some young mahogany trees in the area deforested by the wild fires. Students dug in the sand using hand shovels and we left rows of trees to come back to visit in the future! It felt good to give a little service to back to the people that have give us so much. We hiked up and down through the heavy green jungle climbing up to the ridge for a commanding view of the island. Continuing down the path, we arrived at "the" dune - what would be a most challenging mountain of soft sand. One of the students describes this climb as tying to up the down escalator - inching up 6-8 inches and sliding back 10! The guide through down a heavy rope which many used to help pull themselves to the top, many used hand and knees and went barefoot trying to conquer the mountain - The sun was intense, and we sweated buckets - while drinking massive amounts of water to keep hydrated.

At the top - what an accomplishment! The view of the ocean and the waves crashing on the sands below was worth the climb! We hiked down to the water, the sand was unlike any in the states - black grains like pepper stuck to our feet - and it was really squishy. We kept looking for a firm ground to walk - but it was more like walking in quicksand, which our feet sunk into making it quite strenuous to walk on. We walked the beach about a half-mile, then cut back into the wooded area to continue our hike.

We came to an area that was the Tree Hugger area. The legend started in Nepal where the village saved the mahogany forest from the woodcutters by hugging the valuable trees. In Fiji, the mahogany trees which are part of this amazing forest are adorned with "people" made of natural materials - branches, driftwood, vines for hair, leaves and sticks. Each was a piece of art that even famous basket maker Patrick Daugherty would have been proud to call his own. We worked together to make another member of this tribe of tree people before posing for pictures and heading on to see the Tree of Lost Soles.

Every morning, the guides patrol the beaches for rubbish that has washed up onto the sand. They recycle a lot of the finds, but the shoes are not recyclable. One bright guide decided to find a huge tree and using fishing line, decorated the tree much like a giant Christmas tree with ornaments using the lost shoes, flippers, sandals etc. The students found shoes on the beach, and then when we got to the tree, climbed the tree and hung our contribution from the branches. We signed one of the shoes with P2P and the names of the 7 states we represented before continuing to the info center.
9 of our student friends from the school had made the hike with us, and joined us for the bag lunch which for them was a delicacy - McDonald's chicken sandwich and soda! You would have thought it was a steak sandwich from Jeff Ruby's they was the Fijian students treasured this treat. Some of them only ate half a sandwich so that they could take half home to a parent of sibling. Our Ambassadors weren't quite as impressed - although hungry enough to each just about anything, little was wasted.
After a game of volleyball with all the students, guides and our DM's we said our goodbyes to Sunia our DM and to our student friends, and headed for a short 30 minutes of shopping in the town, and then a 40 minute hike to see the Eco Bird Park - since it had rained the first day.

Dinner was amazing - but now it's time to pack up our treasures and get a little sleep before the 3:30 am wake-up call that will signal our departure for the airport as we head tomorrow for New Zealand.
This may be the last entry for a while as tomorrow we are in the Maori tribe cultural center - sleeping on the floor - another adventure to look forward to. We hope all are well at home - and we'd like to say we really miss you, but we are having so much fun and doing so many things that the time is flying by quickly. Love to all!