At any rate, everything turned around for us when we arrived in Fiji. We were welcomed with huge, open smiles into a totally different world. Most of the people here are of Melanesian descent, as opposed to the Polynesians in Tahiti. They look very much like Africans: dark skin and frizzy hair. No one seems to be sure where this race originated or how they arrived in the South Pacific. The terrain on the main island even looks African: it's a land of flat-topped trees, muddy rivers, and open plains.