We had a hard time sleeping last night. It was windy, rolly and uncomfortable. We were pleasantly surprised when we awoke to clear skies and bright sunshine. We couldn’t have ordered up a better day for a hike.

We met Tooey on the shore in front of the school at 10:00. We brought two of the crew from Flashgirl with us. We hadn’t explored the school yesterday, afraid to trespass. There is a large field in the center, lined with buildings on all sides. Some of the buildings are classrooms, some housing for the teachers, and some dorms for the kids.

According to Tooey, the children from all four villages on Waya attend this school. The kids stay here during the week and go home on the weekends. They teach through grade 8 on the island, which is compulsory for all children. High school is optional, and the high schools are located in the main towns.

We have heard from many people that one of the biggest struggles Fijians have is sending their children to school. We have gotten the impression that in elementary school parents have to pay for supplies, books and uniforms, which is very difficult in a village. In villages people literally live off the land and have no real source of income, so finding the money for the school supplies is a challenge. We have gotten the impression that in high school the parents pay for housing and tuition, as well, but we aren’t positive about that. We have quizzed every local who would let us, and we talked to many, many people who moved to the cities when it was time for their eldest child to go to high school. Moving to the city makes sense for two reasons: you can get a job to pay for schooling, and you save money by having your children living with you instead of paying for housing.

Tooey walked through the school’s field to a small footpath between two of the dormitory buildings. At the edge of the school is forest. We followed the footpath through the forest for about a half hour. We were surprised at the variety of foliage around. There are a few patches of farmland, but it is mostly uncultivated. The surroundings were green and pretty, with some stretches that are quite steep. The soil smelled rich and fertile. There were points along the trail where you couldn’t see the path through the brush, and we are sure we would have gotten lost if Tooey weren’t guiding us. Tooey was armed with a machete, cutting down overgrown brush for us as he led us along.

We came to a stunning viewpoint where we could see the bay below where we were anchored and the islands we had just come from a couple of days prior in the distance.

After a few photos, we continued on the trail. The farther we walked, the less foliage there was and the more overgrown, dry grass.

He took us to another viewpoint. Below us we could see another village clearly visible along the shore to the right. The view of the ocean and horizon beyond the village was beautiful.

We headed back to the school and said our goodbyes to Tooey. Tooey gave each of us a drinking coconut, which was nice. Drinking coconuts are green coconuts that are full of coconut water. As they ripen, there is less and less water inside as more meat forms. From there we were going to go snorkeling, but the weather turned ugly rather suddenly. Big clouds moved in and it looked like rain was a certainty. Eric doesn’t like to go diving or snorkeling when it is cloudy, since visibility isn’t as good.

We stopped by Yawarra, where they gave us a yogurt culture so we could make our own yogurt. Being city slickers, the thought of making our own yogurt has never even crossed our minds. Back at Kosmos, we made a batch of yogurt and set about cleaning the soles of our shoes. After our hike in Vanua Levu, the soles of our shoes were caked with a gummy mud that wouldn’t come off. We had scrubbed at the shoes some, then gave up and left them on the back cockpit. After the hike today, we had more of the same mud. We scrubbed the shoes for a long, long time to get them clean enough to bring inside.

The chatter on the radio was about how much water everyone collected last night in their rain catchers. Everyone was thrilled about being able to do lots of laundry and take long showers with all the water. We are seriously considering installing a water catching system. It is silly that we have to make water when everyone around us has full tanks from the rain.