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Published: August 6th 2007
Maka na leka = "No Worries" in Mali dialect of Fijian.
"I'm sorry sir, your flight has been canceled"
...and so it began. I went into this trip with the mindset that no plans are solid and I expected some unexpected twists and turns in the road. However, I didn't expect it to begin within seconds of getting out of Melvin's car at O'Hare. I'll do my best to give the compressed version of the travel details so I can get to the good stuff (Fiji).
In short...I was supposed to fly to LAX and then on to Fiji (Nadi - pronounced "Nan-dee"). The flight to LAX was canceled and I was routed through Aspen. My flight out of Aspen was overbooked, but I managed to stay on the flight to LA despite being a last minute addition, so I was on my way to LA and was back on track. Unfortunately, when I got to LA I found out that my backpack decided to stay in Aspen. Whoops. The next fun bit was that when I tried to check in for my flight to Nadi, they asked for my proof of onward travel (which is required when
traveling on one way tickets)...I showed them my ticket to New Zealand & they said "yeah, but we need proof that you're leaving New Zealand". Huh? I tried to explain to them that I knew more about their policy than they do, but they didn't buy my story. Apparently NZ and the South Pacific Islands are unique in the sense that they consider themselves as the same area, so I needed proof that I was leaving the whole area...not just the country of Fiji. So I got to buy my flight to Australia right there on the spot. Nice.
Then after boarding my flight out of LA we sat on the tarmac for 3 hours before they decided to cancel for mechanical reasons. Off to the LAX Hilton we went at 3am. My bag only managed to make it to Denver by the time my flight to Nadi left the following afternoon, so I was still sans bag. Other than worrying about my bag...it turns out that when I don't really have a schedule for the foreseeable future, I don't get too worried about flight delays & I really didn't mind all the hassle too much. It added to
Welcome to Nadi
Night out. Fijians are friendly and this one - Jimmy - hung out with us all night.the flavor of it all.
The original plan for Fiji was to land in Nadi and head out to a couple of backpacker "resorts" on the beach and relax for the week before flying to New Zealand. I didn't want to get too far from the airport, so I decided to stay in Nadi and wait for my bag. I stayed at a hostel called the Nomads SkyLodge which turns out to be partnered with an organization called TribeWanted and there were several folks that I met there who were heading off to this seemingly cool little island (Vorovoro) in the northern part of Fiji. It piqued my interest and after hanging around Nadi a couple of days & still no luck with my bag, I was ready to get out and do something. I told the airlines to send my bag to the SkyLodge when it arrived and off to Vorovoro I went.
(Believe it or not...that's the condensed version of the transportation adventure details.)
I'm not sure there is a quick explanation of
TribeWanted...but it's basically an online community that is working together to build an eco-friendly island community in conjunction with the local Fijian
Welcome to Vorovoro
Oddly enough, I was just taking a picture of a random island from the plane. Turns out it was the right one. tribe. Oddly enough, I had read about it in
National Geographic Adventure when I was packing up my house & dismissed it as sounding a bit nutty. Basically one can go there and work on some projects with the other members and the Fijians...or you can just chill on the beach & hike around the island...which is really all I had planned for Fiji in the first place.
So on Saturday (4/7) with just my day-pack (2 t-shirts, shorts, camera, & a few other minor things - thankfully one doesn't need much in Fiji) I flew to Labasa - the town where I catch my boat for the island. I had a few hours in town before the boat left & I needed to pick up a couple of things so I decided to wander town a bit. It's a bit hard to describe, but if you can imagine 95F, 95%!h(MISSING)umidity, a blend of Indian and Fiji cultural influences, cars on the wrong side of the road, and Indian/Fijian semi-techno music blaring out of every store front...that's it.
A comment on the Indian/Fijian thing...when the British colonized Fiji, they brought Indians to the islands to help manage the sugar
Vorovoro Sunset
Sunset the first night from the beach in front of the village. cane industry. Basically because the Fijians don't exactly have the world's most intense work ethic. From my understanding, there are still some issues with the mix of cultures...largely due to limited land rights for the Indians, which is now causing many of them to leave Fiji.
Anyway...back to it. As the boat came to shore, the other members came out to the boat to greet me and help with the supplies. "Welcome home, mate." I didn't realize at the time how much this place would end up feeling like a home in such a short amount of time. 200 acres of tropical island with a few bures (house-like hut thingies), loads of hammocks, a poker table hut, a tree house, a waterfall shower, an eating area, and a Fijian family living just up the beach. Some other projects on the island included a football pitch (soccer field), garden, and a 35,000 gallon fresh water tank. That's about it. In a lot of ways it felt like a tropical version of camp.
I had arrived during the middle of the Easter Olympics, so after getting settled in (meaning dropping my bag on the floor), we continued with some coconut
bowling, tug-o-war (Team America won - yeah!), and others. Good stuff.
It's not often that my Easter morning consists of watching the sun rise over tropical islands while I take a shower under a waterfall on the beach. But those were some of the elements of my Easter Morning 2007. Not too bad.
The primary social activity for the Fijians was to sit around and drink Kava (also called Grog)...their traditional drink made from a crushed plant mixed in a big bowl with water. I'm not quite sure how to explain it - not quite like alcohol...it just kinda slows you down a bit I guess. Apparently the effects build up over time, so the Fijians get hit harder than I ever felt from it. It basically tastes like you're drinking muddy water out of a coconut bowl. I don't think it will catch on in the States.
Monday (9th) was "Mali Day"...which is an annual celebration by the local villages on Mali (the island next to Vorovoro). Again, this basically consists of sitting around doing the Kava ritual all day with the tribe. It was a lot of fun to meet them all and to also
Mmm...dinner
I was lucky enough to be on the island at the same time as Ryan, a Hawaiian spear fisherman. get to know the other TribeWanted folks better...but the most interesting aspect of the day for me was the clear British influence on their culture. They start of with church...then follow that with Fijian ritual and drinking Kava...then all of a sudden the Kava stops and it's Tea Time & they bring out tea and cakes...then back to the Kava. It humored me. This same thing struck me later in the week when we were invited to an evening joint church-grog session down in the village. There were guys in front of me preaching about how he's been saved by God from a life addicted to drugs while there were guys behind me mixing Kava to be passed around. I think it would be like going to church and drinking 40s.
The stories from the week are too many to tell, but some other thoughts that I had include...
I think it was the 12th before I finally slept more than 5 hours in a row...which for those of you who know my sleeping habits...that's abnormal to have not collapsed by then. But...when hammocks abound and there is no schedule, afternoon sleepiness isn't too tough of an issue
Fijian Girls
Hanging out after Easter church to deal with.
I previously mentioned the Fijian work ethic. These guys know how to relax. One day they unloaded some bags of sand from the boat to make concrete for the water tank project. They each grabbed a bag and started to carry them up the hill to the work site. I thought that sounding like more fun than reading my book and hopped out of my hammock to help. When I came back down to get another bag, I saw them all sitting in the shade relaxing...which I knew meant they'd be there until morning tea. So I kept on with the bags...after 5 trips, one of them (named Save) said "Take a break, Marc. Don't wear yourself out." and basically forced me to stop working for the morning. Ah, the joy of a non-competitive work environment.
There is an amazing amount of respect built into the culture of the Fijian tribe. Pretty much everything is run through structured system involving the chief of the tribe - or whoever the ranking member is on site. Seems kinda old fashioned to the American mind, but I think it really helped contribute to the happiness and family feel
Tui Mali (Chief of Mali)
This is the head guy for the Fijian tribe drinking some Kava on Mali Day. to their culture.
Fijians are remarkably friendly and welcoming. They very quickly make a person feel like part of the family (or 'tribe' in this case) and there is a good deal of respect among everyone.
The idea of the project is to create a non-tourist relationship between the Fijians and the TribeWanted members that is different than other places in Fiji. I think that this is being accomplished to a large degree, but still I feel somewhat conflicted about it because the Fijians make new friends who are constantly then leaving them behind to continue on with our lives. I can't count the number of times that I was asked when I'm coming back...and felt like I was letting them down because I was leaving at all.
Speaking of leaving...when someone leaves Vorovoro, there is a ceremony on the beach where the leaving party walks down the line of people saying goodbye to everyone while a Fijian farewell song is sung. It's a happy time to celebrate the new relationships, but sad to realize that group of folks won't be together again. I decided to do a little dance at the beginning of mine...which then inspired
Kava-man
Mmmm...muddy water. Jacob (the island's first 8 year old) to dance as well. It made for a great last memory to be hopping around the sand in my Sulu (traditional Fijian garment) with Jacob as everyone clapped, sang, and laughed.
All in all, the time there was great because of the Fijians and the TribeWanted members. It really was an instant family of people from around the globe of all ages. I was quite sad as I boarded the boat and pulled away from the island and headed back to Labasa. Once on the flight back to Nadi, I found myself smiling the whole time thinking about all the good times from Vorovoro. The rest of this trip of mine has a tough act to follow.
The last line of the farewell song being...
"Mai Vorovoro nanuma tiko ga" - Mali dialect for "My Vorovoro, I will remember"
I expected that the journey wouldn't be exactly as planned, but I certainly didn't think that nothing would go as planned over the first 12 days. Oh well...the butterfly effect of that first canceled flight worked out in a way that I'd never go back and change if given the chance.
Fiji Time
This is about as accurate as their clocks get. Just goes to show how much I know about planning a good trip, eh?
Once back in Nadi, I was reunited with my bag (many thanks to Mom & Dad for hounding the airlines from the States) and headed off to Christchurch, New Zealand for the next leg of the adventure. From beaches and hammocks to mountains, hiking, and potential snow. Stay tuned...
- Marika (Marc)
Oh, and for the record...having been away from my luggage all week means that I didn't have my razor and I'm in full Scotsman form with my red semi-beard. I'm sure that thought will make many cringe.
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Hopefully future entries won't be distracted with tales of tracking down luggage & I'll be able to focus more on the interesting experiences.
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Comment added Aug 18th: Since my time on the island, 4 other people have gone solely based on my suggestion - two Swedish girls I met for 10 minutes in New Zealand, my buddy Kevin and his girlfriend Virginia. The Swedish girls planned for a week, stayed a month, and claim that I've ruined their lives because it was so hard to leave. Kevin and Virginia were prepared
Peak-2 Sunset
The island has 4 peaks. This was the top of #2 during sunset to blame me for a questionable week of their lives, but said they loved the experience and apparently I'm off the hook. That being said, I highly recommend that readers check it out and consider a trip to Vorovoro. It's unique and truly is a great experience. I know it sounds nutty...but if you're interested at all, give me a shout and we can talk more about it...especially if you're two cute Swedish girls (I received much praise from the island staff for sending them).
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Parson Adele
non-member comment
all men wear dresses when they want to impress
Doctors in their robes, professors in their gowns, judges in their robes, what is it about dresses? This looks like a good way to begin an adventure. You find out what you truly need and how you like receiving lost luggage. we miss you