Viseisei Village

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Our next stop after the Gardens was the Viseisei Village, which is where the first Fijian people landed and established themselves. Our tour guide around the village was Eleanor, and even though our adventures have only just started it is going to take something special to top Eleanor's tour.
Eleanor and 500 other Fijians still live in the original community on around 35 acres. Eleanor was very friendly and explained that her ancestors were thought to have come from South Africa. When they landed her people split up, some staying on the coast, and others making for the highlands. Her community is split into three distinct tribes; carpenter, fisherman and warrior tribes.
Before we could progress on the tour we were taken to a small market of about 8 stalls, which was run by ladies of the village. Most of the stalls were the same, but each lady took us through the merchandise as if we hadn't seen it before. Some of the stuff was really cool, mother of pearl necklaces, masks representing tribes made out of treated wood, and amethyst bracelets of which I bought one for $5.
We continued the tour once we got to the end of the stalls. The current President of Fiji comes from this village, and his house is in the middle, although he spends a lot of his time in Suva. His name is Ratu Josephe Elo Elo (spelling?). Ratu means royalty, or in this case prince. To help us understand Eleanor explained that if she was a princess she would be Naddy (pronounced Andy) Eleanor.
Eleanor showed us the native bread fruit, which when cooked is similar to potatoes, but grows on trees and is quite big. The houses the villagers lived in were quite simple and small, and the windows and doors were all open because it would have been so hot inside.
There are two religions within the village, with the Methodist Church being near the middle of the village, while the Catholics have to travel into town for their church service.
Eleanor showed us the memorial burial sites for each tribe within the community, before taking us to her house where her daughter and a friend were watching the Wellington 7's International Rugby Tournament on TV, and ironically Australia was playing Fiji. While we were there Australia scored a try to make the score 14 all. Outside Eleanor's house we saw these huge bananas on a tree that weren't ripe yet.
Just as we were finishing our tour and returning to the ladies behind the stalls, Fiji must have scored a try on the final siren to beat Australia. People came running out of the houses cheering, the ladies were clapping and celebrating, and cars and buses driving past started tooting. It was really cool. Sadly though we had come to the end of our tour so we had to bid goodbye to Eleanor, which we did in Fijian which pleased her no end.

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