somebody pinch me.

does the south island of new zealand really exist? around every corner is some completely diverse natural wonder form the many you have already laid eyes on. i expected beauty but i couldn't even begin to imagine what is here in reality. awesome in the true sense of the word. continuing on my adventures in serendipity i met a girl from vermont on the plane ride from fiji and we wound up throwing our lots in together for our time here and rented a car. we booked down to the south island with our jaws dropping regularly and headed into abel tasman national park. this is coastline as i have rarely seen before. we trekked and camped for days at a leisurely pace and just soaked it all up. taking plenty of time to be gently lolled in the turquoise waves. i went into some caves the other day and was surprised by some wicked looking insects the size of my palm. when i turned off my light there were glow worms on the walls with there pinpoints of green fluorescence.

i was just healing from an infected cut on my toe i got in fiji when last night i slipped on some angry rocks and tore my big toe open...awesome. cuts on the feet rule!!! we have also been being raided by these cute furry brown animals with long tails in the middle of the night. they couldn't care less that you come to chase them away. they just stroll off a few feet with absolutely no fear. tonight we are going to lamp at a camp site and make some tentative plans on what to do next. we will hit some hot springs, go to queenstown, hit the west coast with its glaciers and rainforest (right next to eachother) and then down to fiordland and maybe peep some penguins. i am already starting to feel like my time here will not be enough.

sweet! i didn't get cannibalized!

i just got back from a couple of days on one of the smaller islands. i spent most of the time there either swimming at these waterfalls with swarms of absolutley fearless kids or drinking grog with the chief of the village. grog is made from ground up kava root and steeped in water. they stay up until all hours drinking this stuff and after a while no one talks anymore. the stuff is hypnotic and just knocks you out. this activity was even more pronounced because there was a death in the village and so family came from all of the country to have the funeral and feast. and feast we did. we slaughtered a cow and a pig and had a boatload of freshly caught fish. the food is really good. we all eat together sitting on mats, with our hands, out of the same plates. i immediately felt like family there. everyone is ultra-friendly and happy to have you stay with them. i just brought some kava to present to the chief and bout 20 dollars worth of groceries and the whole time i was there i was treated royally. we are back in the capital now and i was forbidden to go stay in a hotel. so again i am a guest of saverio and his wife. ironically i also had some of the worst food i have ever eaten in the village as well. the first night i wound up eating instant noodles with dog food quality beef. gag reflex don't betray me now. can i have more please? it's delicious. please don't eat me.

here i go again on my own...

and i've made up my mind. i ain't wastin' no more time. Fiji. Are you kidding me? That’s where I am? After two days of flying I am suprisingly not jet lagged. Up and ready to adventure. This place is beautiful. When people who know eachother see each other on the street they just start laughing. That says all about you need to know. I made friends with the security guard at a restaurant last night and wound up hanging ut with him all day today. He took me to a school for the blind so that I can interview people who are blind for my project but unfortunately they were all away for vacation. We didn’t stop there though. We found out where a blind girl works and went there to track her down…on vacation too. I then took him to lunch to thank him and he took me to this restaurant in this back alley, just a food stand really, that served a big hunk of fish in some kind of coconut milk sauce with greem veggis, casave, hot peppers and some weird little citrus fruit. We just dug in with our hands and it was delicious. It was so much food that we could barely finish it, all for 2.50 american $ each.
He then brought up the island where he was from and I told him that I planned on going there tomorrow. As it turns out, his uncle is the chief of the island and he said that I should stay with him. On second thought, he decided to take off of work and go there with me for a few days. All I have to bring is some groceries and kava root…which is some root that they crush up and mix with water to make some kind of intoxicating drink. Sweet dude. This morning I was wondering why the hell I was subjecting myself to these travels and hadn’t stayed home where it was safe, predictable and comfortable. Ummm…that’s why. I’m just going to go hang out with the chief of some south pacific island for a few days. No biggie. Low hanging mangoes in full effect.
Oh, and that was just before we were walking down the street and ran into another friend of Salerio (the security guard). This friend just happens to be blind and the head of the fiji association of the blind. I sat a spoke with him for about a half hour. He is a very kind, educated and intelligent man. On Monday I will return to this town and go to his office to meet and interview some of the other blind people who work with him. I have a feeling that I am going to need to make an acronym. From now on I will refer to Low Hanging Mangoes as LHMs. Once again, LHMs in full effect.
This is not even mentioning the two fijian waitresses from the same above mentioned restaurant that stepped out on the town with me last night. Oh yeah, it’s all becoming clear now, that is why I left new haven.

Presenting...

Ladies and Gentlemen it's my pleasure to present the good almost-Doctor Robert McGlynn. May his journey around the world provide good fodder for journaling.

-Devon