Newsletter 3 (7 august 2002)

Bula Everybody,

Bula is the fijian word for anything that's positive (like good morning, sleep well, cheers, etc). I am in my last week on the fiji islands and i thought it was time for an update. The last i wrote you about were the hotsprings in Pucon (south of Chile), where Dee, Emma and i went that same evening to have "a bath". Really wonderfull and a strange experience as you think of it, coz it's only heatened by some kind of vulcanic activity. Weird though to swim in a hot and steamy bath, while the snowflakes were falling around us. You sleep well on it, i can tell. After saying goodbey the next day to Dee and Emma (hope to see you again guys, if not in Holland or South Africa, then perhaps in Costa Rica!!) i returned to Santiago, where i spent the last two South American weeks with Etienne (USA, California) and some other guys. One of them had a guitar on him (Thanks again Adam, i really needed it), so i could catch up a little, for not having played a long time. We spend days doing cultural things (musea, university), strolling through the city and drinking beer at nights, having long and interesting discussions about politics, philosofy and life in general. Really good to hear opinions of people from all over the world. After the 2 weeks in Santiago i flew to Auckland (New Zealand) for just 24 hours and directly after that day to Nadi (Fiji). Met this great fijian guy, who invited me to his family and arranged a cheap hostal for me by phone. Really nice, thanks Deo. I spent 5 days in Nadi (a little more than planned) mainly because i met a bunch of good peolpe around there. I played music with them (one of them was a magnificent guitarplayer, who could teach me quite a few new things) and we did the "normal" partying stuff of course. After 5 days there 3 of the employees of the hostal invited me to stay for a day&night at the little vilage where their family lived on a farm. Really good experience except for the ride to this village. Lousy car and a riscy driver. Man i feared like hell. 2 times the car slipped us almost in this deep gap next to the road.... But the friendlyness, cava (local relaxing drink here) and the beers and food at night made me forget all these things quite quickly. Next day to "Tuba Kula", a beach resort on the coral coast. I liked it there so much, that i decided to stay there for 10 days, which were good for relaxing, meeting new people, some sunbathing, (picking up) running (again) and a lot of holiday-like fun. Met this great couple (John and Pam from liverpool) who i spend a week with (seeing movies, swimming, running and so on) and also met Alex (great tahitian guy, who i hope to see again here (Suva) one of these last days. Also met Gill and Catherine, 2 girls (women i should say; sorry girls) who i met later again here in Suva. Gill beat the shit out of the local poolers and got a great deal of admiration for that. Way to go Gill! Might see them again in New Zealand, at least i hope so. The last days i spent in Suva. Again met some musicians in a bar where they had to play. Had a good time with them. And now i am here all alone, since everybody left. Went to the movies last night and go to the swimmingpool, to kill the last few days here. Saturday it's back to Nadi and on Tuesday i'll meet Tony (i met before in Santiago) in New Zealand. Looking forward to that. Hey, gotta go on now.

Hope everybody is doing fine either on their trip or at home and talk to you again in a month or so,
Jan.