A Thumb, a hospital, and 49 firewalkers

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Well I have been in Suva for over a month now, and boy oh boy has it been a time. You all know that I am no longer a vagrant, I have a flat, a job (though the pay leaves something to be desired), and I have figured out the yoga schedule at the Indian cultural centre. And as exciting as all of those things are, I have actually done some cool things too!

First adventure to note was the hike that I took with 15 other young ex-pats outside of Suva called Joske’s Thumb. It was a hike that was straight up to a large thumb like rock structure poking out of the rainforest-y mountains that is somewhat iconic of Suva. Did I mention it was straight up? But the day was not rainy and the company was grand. Elke and I together with Laura, a Finn who works in the UN office attached to OCHA, and our stalwart Fijian guide brought up the rear and felt pretty good about it. No need to hurt yourself in Fiji, orthopedic surgery in a developing country is not an adventure. Nor is heart surgery. There was a good deal of grappling up roots and trails where the trail was non-existent, it was like a hike puzzle: where to step next so to ensure you remain upright. But we made it to the top, to this amazing rock face and overhang that looked back towards Suva with a glorious view of the surrounding forest, hills, and on to the ocean. Awesome day. Oh, and then we had to come back down. Ouch would be a good word, but it was actually not nearly as bad on the old knees as I thought it was going to be, and I only slid towards my death and caught myself at the last moment on a branch once. And I had another bruise on my bum to show for it. By the time we were back down at the jeeps, everybody was ready to hit Pacific Harbour for some food and beer, so off we went to Uprising…

Uprising is a beach resort that is more moderate and backpacker friendly. It is also ok with Suva townies coming, buying a few drinks and bumming around the pool all day. This is what Vanessa, Billy, Elke, Linda, and I all did a couple weekends ago to escape Suva and lie around in bathing suits without being stared at. So it was a convenient place to go post-Thumb.

The days after the thumb hike I could barely move. So really the only thing to do was go to the Hibiscus festival, which I do believe was chronicled fully in another blog. Unfortunatly during the Hibiscus time period I fell ill with what can only be assumed to be the Plague. I shant get into the gory details but I hadn’t been sick in quite some time, and I had kind of forgotten what to do. Lie in bed and feel like dying is what I came up with. Along with resisting going to a doctor in Fiji like my life depended on it. Hmm, interesting choice of words Emily. But I did go to a doctor, and I did not die. I paid a visit to the Suva Private Hospital, where you can see a doctor without showing identification, which was good because in my plague stupor I forgot any form of mine. So I waited about 15 minutes, and got taken into a room by a nurse. I was worried because there was another guy in the room, so much for confidentiality. But don’t worry, she pulled the curtain across, and all she did was take my temperature and blood pressure, then I waited in another room for the doc, who checked me out, gave me some meds and off I staggered. But I am much better, still have a lovely cough, and my voice is a little more Clint Eastwood than it normally is, but that’s ok.

After I was sick, I managed to get better enough to keep the booking that Elke and I had made at the Pearl resort and spa to stay the night and attend the Spanish degustation and wine matching. I know, when I read that sentence I question it’s veracity as well, but true it was. Elke saw the degustation, which is basically multiple courses of food tastings, with specially chosen wine to match, posted on the Suva ex-pats website, and we just had to jump on the chance to have really good food. And well we stayed in the resort for the night for the heck of it, we were already there!!! So we caught the local bus to the Pearl, which is about an hour south of Suva in Pacific Harbour (just down the beach from Uprising actually, but it’s way more upscale), and spent the day by the pool before dressing for dinner. I’ll admit, I got sunburnt. So we dressed, then hit happy hour for a couple cocktails, and then headed to the dining room, which was the poshest place I have definitely ever been in Fiji, if not the world. It was beautiful and I have never had so much cutlery! Or wine glasses, which boded well. Looking at the Spanish styled menu I got giddy all at once, I saw smoked salmon, I saw chorizo, I saw pinot gris, champagne, pinot noir, semillion, and chardonnay, I saw assorted seafood paella, I saw garlic prawn skewers, and I saw dessert. It was a dream to behold, and to be had. Every taster course came with a different glass of wine, though a full glass not a taster size (read: food to wine ratio was tipped heavily in one direction), and we just ate our way through the night. There were 6 courses, with all being taster size except for the entrée which was the paella and risotto and that was an entrée size. Lots of food to say the least! And the service by the waiters was awesome, seemingly the dream team of the Pearl’s wait staff! After we waddled back to our room, we both collapsed into bed until the next morning, we didn’t even take advantage of the more than one channel television we had!!!

The next day it was raining, so we hailed a bus on the highway and made our way back to Suva. Which was good because the South Indian Fire walking pooja was happening that afternoon at the Sri Raja Maha Mariamman Temple in Suva!!! This is a huge deal, there are few places in the world where devotees actually firewalk for reasons other than tourism, and this pooja was eleven days in the making of prayers, devotions, abstaining, fasting etc by the 49 devotees, all men. So Elke and I got to the temple and tried to get a decent spot near the fence where we could see the coals, and then we stood there for an hour or so waiting for the devotees as they were walking from the seaside in a 2 hour procession back to the temple which would end with the firewalking. Long way to walk to then stomp on burning hot coals. The pooja is to honor the Goddess Kali, the goddess of power and destruction, and the devotees, ranging from 10 years old to the oldest being 70, decorate their bodies with paint and steel rods pierced through their skin. Some of them had a few through their back or chest skin, others had them pierced straight through both cheeks through their mouths. It was quite the sight when they arrived I tell you! So they all came into the temple area, went around the temple, around the back of the coal pit and marched through it, then did another lap of the temple, went through the pit AGAIN, and then into the temple itself for devotions. And the fire-pit was not small, it would have taken about 7 or 8 steps to get through the thing, and it was made by burning 50 tonnes of wood in it the night before. That’s a lot of fire in the pit! While I know all of the devotees were true devotees, because who else would do such a thing, some did come out of the pit looking a little worse for wear than others, but merely by facial expressions, there were no ambulances or third degree burns, which for all cynical and intensive purposes there should have been. It was AMAZING!!! The power that people can harness is truly spectacular, though don’t get me wrong, I’m not signing up for next year. There were thousands of people there watching, very few ex-pats surprisingly, and I can see why Lonely Planet names it one of the top things to see in Fiji, it was pretty top!

Another cultural experience I have had lately was to go to Tandra Kahli, the yearly elementary and highschool national dance competition. It was held at the National arena, and the place was packed to watch the 6 junior teams, and then 10 senior teams showcase their socially conscious dance routines, all competing for the grand prize of champions. I must say, the junior competitors were so much fun, they were awesome, super cute, and a lot of them could really dance! The themes ranged from teenage pregnancy, to environmentalism to not giving into the various vices that are around and even one showing the evils of the internet and social networking sites (FB will apparently make us all fail miserably at life, you have been warned). Of course, it being Fiji, there were some rather cringe worthy moments (I’m not really up on my Christian pop, but wow), and since there are really only 5 dance songs that are played constantly here, we had the pleasure of hearing them many, many times in the night. By about the 6th senior dance, life was getting repetitive, we could only be warned against the threat of drugs through dance so many times, so we beat the crowd and headed out. But I was very glad that we went, those kids sure can bust it, and again, they were just so dang gone cute!

Events on the horizon to add to the fun are a shark dive in the next few weeks. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Also, I am dying to go zip-lining, but I may wait until my buddy Mel gets here to do that. Elke and I and whoever else wants to go, are heading to Voli Voli beach resort in a couple of weeks for a change of scenery, some gorgeous beaches, and some diving for me. And who knows what else!!!

Randoms:

I watched the entire first season of Gossip Girl while I was sick. Sick indeed.

It’s high time I discussed the taxi situation of Suva. It’s silly. Now, there are literally hundreds of taxis driving around Suva, and they are cheap, so it’s the best way to get around. All of the drivers are male, most are Indo-Fijian, and a good portion are verging on psychotic. None of the cars are what most of us would call road-worthy (and having been told multiple times that my car at home is a deathtrap, I think I have a pretty decent perspective), and few of them have seatbelts in the back seats. And by few I mean none. Back to the mental health of the drivers: with the knowledge of how dodgy the cars are, these guys drive like maniacs, they speed around corners, change lanes, pass others with large buses coming, and ride each others tailgates like it’s their job. Instead of getting me home safely, which is their actual job. As a relatively recent motor vehicle crash survivor, I am not ashamed to admit that I am quite a bit more nervous in cars than I used to be. Lets be honest, you can’t trust anybody to not run you over! And in Fiji I trust people even less. That being said, we have had a few taxi drivers that have been outstanding, notably the one who was pumping Tori Amos out of his speaker system, and the one whose car was so loud and rattly, Elke and I were shouting at each other, obnoxiously of course, to be heard, thinking he couldn’t hear us, and when he dropped us off he was laughing and said we were hilarious and asked if he could come into the yacht club for a drink with us. We declined. He also asked for a tip. We declined that too.

The other thing about taxis, and here comes a rant, is that if you are walking or standing beside the road, as a foreigner, they honk at you. As if I was standing on the road, wondering what I was doing there, and had forgotten that “oh shit, I’m here to hale a taxi! Thanks for reminding me with your vulgar honking at me!” I won’t get into the noises and tongue actions that have been known to accompany, that’s not for decent society. I actually had one stop, pull over, turn around, and park in front of me to get my attention. I literally had to look him in the eye and tell him to go away.

Vanessa, Elke, and I went for Chinese food a few days ago, at about 5:30PM. And the place was pitch dark and all of the servers were lying on the tables sleeping. We were a long way from the Pearl… I had a moment.

Apparently on Valentines Day you can reserve a table at McDonalds. No joke, this is a real thing. You can get a table, there will be flowers and a candle and a table cloth, and by golly Ronald McDonald romance!! It will be a great and deep seeded regret for the rest of my life that I will not be here for February 14. That moment could rival my and Jeremy’s romantic wine and cheese picnic atop Galiano island in June.

Speaking of McDonalds, and taxi drivers, Elke and I went through the McDonalds drive through a few days ago. In a cab. That was a cab driver among cab drivers. Patient patient man. That’s just a silly thing.

I saw an ad in the newspaper that someone is trying to sell a ferris wheel. I would imagine said ferris wheel had seen some action at the Hibiscus carnival and it’s owner decided not to ever be held liable again.

Well I think that’s all for me on this fine winter’s night, yes it’s winter in Fiji right now, low of 22 or so. Enjoy the pictures, and remember my love of comments…

xoxoE

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