Bula

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Bouncing along the road in an old bus, the sun is shining and a warm breeze is blowing through the open windows. A local cover of 'bright sunshiny day' is playing on the radio, a group of kids are running alongside the bus waving and the Fijians up the back of the bus are laughing. A wave of happiness sweeps over me as I think there is nowhere else I would rather be right now. This is the east coast of Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji. It's one of the poorer parts of the country that barely sees any tourists.The bus runs through 3 times a week and it seems like everyone is out to greet us. Everybody waves to us as the bus passes by, the kids playing out on the road, the women sitting in front of their houses, the men working on road repairs, and even the teenagers walking home from school. And the wave is always accompanied by a big genuine islander smile.

I've definitely made the right decision choosing Fiji as the starting point for my mini-retirement. The plan is to spend the next 2 years seeing more of the world (including a big trip around Australia). I might have to pace myself though because the last 4 days have been packed with activities and cultural experience. I've been sandboarding down the tallest, steepest dunes I have ever seen, tubing down a river, hiking up hills and ankle deep in water down a creek in the middle of a dense jungle, a ride on a long boat, jumping off waterfalls, bamboo rafting, a BBQ on a beach rated as 7th best in the world, learning to cook my own roti at an Indian restaurant, kayaking, a coconut oil massage on the beach, soaking in hot mud pools, and all the games at the resorts at the end of the day ranging from crab races to limbo competitions.

I've also been learning the local traditions. To enter a Fijian village, a Kava ceremony must be performed to gain entry permission from the chief. I was appointed chief of the group of visitors (an easy job because a spokesman was also appointed for me) and as we announced our arrival, the village chief invited us into his home to perform the ceremony. We presented our gift of kava root, and asked permission to enter the village, the school, and also the water where we would later be rafting. The chief then gave a long speech in Fijian acknowledging his ancestors as the kava was mixed. I was presented with the first bowl, trying to remember the right Fijian words to say and the number of times to clap, then made sure I finished the whole bowl in one go. After the rest of the group finished their bowls, it was on to bowls 2, 3, 4... Took me a while to realise that while I was given full bowls, the locals were only drinking smaller ones. It's not the best tasting stuff, but it's not as bad as some people make out. And you get that nice numbing of the mouth. With the formalities over we introduced ourselves to the chief and his family and had a look around the village. It's good to see that they are proud of their traditions. They are not just used as a way to get money out of tourists. It's also been interesting to hear the stories of cannibalism, that seem in such contrast to the friendly nature of the Fijians today.

The next highlight was the school visit. We arrived during teeth cleaning time, with all the kids lined up outside brushing their teeth. Our gifts of pencils and books were gratefully accepted, and the kids then invited us into their classrooms and introduced themselves and asked us about were we were from (and lots of questions about their favourite sport rugby) before singing us some songs. When it was time to leave grades 4 to 8 all joined together and sang 'kee-so-lei-ee' in amazing harmony.

Tomorrow should finally provide the chance to relax, after hardly having a chance to breathe since leaving work last Friday. I'm flying to Labasa on Fiji's 2nd biggest island Vanua Levu, then taking a boat out to the small island of Vorovoro. I have joined The Tribe and will be staying in what is part sustainable community experiment, part Fijian village experience where visitors become part of the community and contribute to the village. I don't know much about it yet but there was a BBC documentry made on it. I'm expecting something like the community from the movie 'the beach', except with friendly Fijian neighbours instead of angry drug growers. I'll let know know more about it when I return in a little over a week.

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