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Published: February 10th 2005
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My place viewed from the waterSo back to Fiji....
The island I stayed at was absolutely amazing. I really need to catch up with my blogs because it is tiring writing about old stuff...so I'll go kind of quickly.
(again…I’m not going to edit this so sorry if it is a little sloppy)
So after that crazy hike that I talked about in my last email I ended up at this village. The village was right on the water in "one of the islands in the yasawa group". I'm staying at in a room that a lady name Adi rents out to tourist (but I am the only one there). Like I said before things were a little slow when I first got there; but after settling in some of the locals came bye to see who the new white boy was (although after two week in Hawaii I wasn’t very white anymore). Fijians are the friendliest people I have ever met in my life. In this small village everyone knows everyone else and anytime anything happens they all know…so people would come up to me and be like “Bula Chris” ask me where I am from and then start up a little
conversation…at first I was kind of the jaded traveller wondering “what do they want from me” but all they wanted was to just sit and chat. They actually loved to talk about their heritage and culture; so anytime I would walk around the village it was like I had my own personal tour guide pointing out everything of any relevance.
My days usually started around 6am with the rooster (Jeff’s rooster in Hawaii was by fair the craziest one yet..sometimes starting at 2:15..at least in Fiji the roosters know their roll) I would lay in bed till about 7 when I couldn’t take the heat anymore (sweating in bed) and then I’d head out to the water….jump in, and be disappointed…the water was literally like a warm bath. In order to get to the “colder” you had to swim about 100 meters out where the water level drops (just past the coral reef). Anyways. After that I would be called to breakfast by either a bell or if Adi was feeling sassy she’s blow on a shell (you know that noise you can make with a conch shell). Breakfast would be eggs or porridge and bread plant (not too
big of a fan of bread plant). Then I’d either hike up the mountains, to the waterfalls, snorkel or just sit in the sun (after about 4 days I had done ever single possible thing there was to do on the island). Lunch was at 1 tea was at 4 (how proper)…but the heat…the heat was served all day and there was no break from it. There was NO POWER so no AC (of course)….no fan…no ice…just heat and flies (flies like you see on national geographic…tons). But don’t get me wrong. It was beautiful, white sandy beaches, grass huts, friendly locals. Look at me, I’m in Fiji and I’m complaining about the heat..haha. No power, I liked it that way, that meant fewer tourists, and it was nice being the only white face around. So after lunch I’d sit in the sun and read maybe nap (there wasn’t much to do on the island) and then all the young men in the village would get together and play VOLLEYBALL. How “lucky” was I!!! (They where good too)
Sooo…this kind of experience, well they are hard to explain because it is impossible to get across the feelings that you have interacting with the locals on an eye-to-eye basis. Often times you travel the world staying in hotels, chatting with other travellers, going to tourist spots…and that is fun, but it something completely different when you actually get to share some time with locals, be it in Fiji, or in Timbuktu. This is what you travel the world for, these are the real experience. So even the simplest thing, such as doing laundry, really feels special.
One day I was hiking across the island and I came across another village on the other side. I was walking through the village just kind of looking around and some older ladies saw me and started talking to me. They invited me to eat with them (it still amazes me how friendly everyone is…it is something that I would never be able to get used to). So here I am, in a local village with local ladies, eating fish and mangoes. This is what travelling is all about. I tried to leave money but they wouldn’t have it.
On another day I got invited to hike to a waterfall with some of the ladies to do laundry. So here I am sitting waist deep in water at the bottom of a beautiful waterfall LEARNING how to wash my cloths with the local ladies.
One night I was out looking at the stars (which where absolutely amazing since their was no power for at least 60 miles) (because it was too hot to go to sleep) when a local guy came bye and started to chat me up. So here I am 10 o’clock at night sitting under the stars chatting about fishing with a man who has never left an island that I can hike across in less then a day.
The Kava ceremony:
(This happened a lot while I was in Fiji..But I’ll just explain the basics)
Kava it is a plant that grows locally on the Fijian islands. The root of the Kava plant is dried, crushed and then, in a kava ceremony is mixed with water and drunk in mass quantities.
On my second night in the village I got invited to join a group of people (about 12) in a Kava ceremony. I had heard all about kava before this and was eager to be involved in the ceremony. So this is how it goes. Everyone gets together and sits Indian style on a woven mat normally under a grass hut (outdoors). A kava chief (ME!!) is elected and he is basically in charge of drinking the first cup of Kava (each round), normally the chief is the guest of honour and they try to get him all drunk (I think). Next they elect a “Body Guard”. The bodyguard is normally the most experience person there, or if you are at someone’s “house” it is the homeowner. The bodyguard’s job is to keep the drinks flowing. He/she determines when it is time for another round. And then lastly there is the “driver” this is the person who actually makes the Kava, this is normally a younger person (with an elder closing watching the mixing proportions). So everyone sits in a circle on the floor and the first batch of kava is made. Then the Kava is blessed (with a circular hand motion that mimics the mixing of a large bowl, and then some words that I didn’t understand…but was told translate into something like “the kava is ready”). Kava is created in a large wood bowl and served in coconut bowls. When being served you have two options; high tide - full bowl, or low tide - half bowl). At least with my experience the kava chief (me) doesn’t get much say and ends up drinking high tide all night. So the driver passes you your drink, and before you take it you clap (a deep “cupped” clap) and say BULA. Then you drink the Kava, pass the bowl back and then clap three more times. Then they go around and serve everyone else. Taste: Kava tastes and looks like dirty muddy water…and I actually think that is what it is. Right from the get-go you will experience a numbing/tingly feeling in your tongue (and after a while, your lips). But that was it for me…I drank and drank kava for hours but never got drunk. There is anywhere between 5 to 20 minutes before rounds and the atmosphere is really chill, normally a little music in the background (from a radio). Kava ceremonies can last for hours and hours. Although the Kava was pretty bad, being a part of these ceremonies was definitely the highlight of my trip to Fiji, and on the last night the chief joined us and told stories about the island…a really great last night for me.
Funny random things:
One day I got out my ipod and my fm radio converter (old people - the fm converter allows your iPod…a fancy kind of walkman….to broad-cast an fm wave that the radio can pick up..So you can basically take over a radio and play the music off of your ipod)…Well these guys where absolutely AMAZED (and rightfully so, I still think it is really cool) by this thing. And they where loving some American music.
While I was getting ready to leave the island I was waiting for the boat and I ended up teaching a little boy how to play paper football…I don’t really think he understood but we sure did have a good time.
Well everyone. That is enough for now. I am in Australia and will be updating this in a few days. I hope everyone is well and make sure to leave a comment, I like reading what you have to say…you guys have been slacking lately!!!
-Chris
“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move”
“He travelled in order to come home”
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anonymous
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SOunds like you are having an amazing experience do far in your short time of traveling. Just hink if all the world were as freindly as those people. Australia shoudl be amazing. Be safe. - Mark