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I bustled my way through
the touts at the airport and found my hotels pick up car. To the Nadi Bay Hotel! I immediately went to bed. When I woke up
my dorm had filled up a bit. I met Izzy and Felix, and English girl and a Canadian-Fijian fella. They had just spent 2 weeks
at Felix’s family’s village on an island, and showed me the photos. I was very impressed, and oohed and aahed,
in all the right places, then Felix said, “Well, I’m going back on Friday. Wanna come?” – “Sure!”
He was escorting Izzy to
the airport then heading to Suva,
the capital, and would be going to the Island on in two days. We arranged to meet up at the
dock, and he would take me over for a few days. Neat!
Til then I stayed in Nadi
(pronounced Nandi), and pondering what to do the next day, bumped into Ellen and Herre of (The Hole of) Darwin fame! Bizarre, hadn’t seen then
for a couple of months, then –bing- bump into them in a hotel in Fiji!
I explored Nadi, interesting
but not exciting, then the next day I got up early and caught the local bus along the south coast towards Suva. The bus was jam packed to the brim.
After 4 hours I finally
jumped out at the little town Felix had directed me to, where I sat and waited for him, feeling very out of place. I chatted
to a couple of people as they asked where I was from and what I was doing, then a totally drunk bloke came up to me and said,
‘Are you Will?’
“Pardon?’
‘Are you Will? Waiting
for Felix?’
“Oh! Yes, I am.’
It was Felix’s cousin,
William, who had been taking advantage of being on the mainland and getting completely wasted, and Felix had asked him to
pick me up.
One thing Felix was going
to meet me for was to help me buy my Sevusevu. It is very rude to turn up to a village with out a Sevusevu – a gift
that you give to the chief of the village, who then accepts it and grants you permission to enter his village. The most common
sevusevu, and most widely received, is Yaquona roots, the ingredient of the infamous Kava.
Kava is a near necessity
to Fijians and a complete oddity to tourists – it tastes like saw-dust and also happens to be mildly narcotic. The roots
are pounded into a powder, which is then strained through a cloth bag in a bowl of water, rather like a large teabag. It is
the basis of many ceremonies, and is a huge part of Fijian life – and therefore a good sevusevu.
William showed me where
to buy some and sniffed and haggled on my behalf, the merchant looking as bewildered as me. But he picked out a good bundle
of the gnarly little roots for me (a good job too, knowing kava came as a bundle of roots I very nearly bought a bundle of
thick heavy looking things - They turned out to be the equivalent of potatoes!).
Then, after a couple more
drinks in the local shop, we and a few other villagers assembled on the dock and climbed in a long wooden boat, and made our
way to Beqa (pronounced Banga) Island. One of the originating islands of the traditional
Fijian Firewalking.
After a 50 minute boat
ride we arrived at the village (the only way to arrive – there are no roads, tracks or paths on the island.)
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| The Village on Beqa |
Now, as it turned out,
Felix was born here, but grew up in Canada. He recently returned because his uncle is the chief
of the village – and he is next inline! Now being a chief of a village in Fiji
is a big thing! So being the guest of Felix meant I was the guest of the Chiefs House.
I met Felix who had been
sorting some other stuff out (being next chief-in-line and all!), then pretty soon it was dinner time – it also happened
to be New Years Eve!!
We had a huge village feast
in the town hall. One tablecloth laid out along the length of the hall on the grass matting, with another tablecloth crossing
it at one end. This head tablecloth was for the Chief’s family, and therefore any guests of the Chief’s family
– me! Very weird to be at the head of the ‘table’ (floor) in a village you have never heard of in a room
for of villagers who have no idea who you are!
The meal was very well
presented, lots of fish (whole) and the potato like roots and… more fish, and a few unidentifiable things.
After dinner I presented
my Sevusevu (to one of the village elders) then there was a church service from 10pm to midnight. I was going to go, so the
Chief lent me a shirt and Sulu (traditional Fijian man’s skirt). I couldn’t understand anything of the service
– but the choir!! Wow, 20 Fijians belting out Hymns- amazing!
Then it was Happy New Year!
and back into the town hall for a village Kava ceremony. I had been watching the young blokes pounding the Kava roots with
a big pole and metal bowl, and the hall was quite full when I got there.
This seems to be the core
of Fijian traditional socializing, they drink Kava nearly every night, but it is always as a ceremony, often very relaxed,
but it always follows certain rules and orders.
The Kava is mixed in a
central bowl, and then a half coconut bowlful is scooped out and offered to everyone in turn, starting with the chief, then
the elders, right down to the plebs at the back.
Each offering follows the same steps; the recipient claps in acceptance, then downs the murky, grey liquid,
that tastes of stale sawdust, in one. The offerer, sits facing the chief and claps three times, on completion of the coconut
shell he shouts something like “Ohmvey!” which means empty. The rest of the room repeats this cry. The freshly
narcotized then returns the coconut and claps three times in gratitude. The cycle then continues for the next person.
It is a bizarre drink,
pretty grim tasting, and it makes your lips and tongue go numb. I didn’t feel any other side effects, the only other
one being sleep inducing.
After a couple of hours
with the elders and villagers, Felix suggested we adjourn to a house where all the youngsters hang out. Sure, might be interesting
to see what they are up to. They were all crammed into one house, with funky lighting and a stereo blasting … having
a Kava ceremony – exactly the same as the oldies, this tradition runs deep! So we drank Kava, boogied, and had a few
nips of Bounty Rum (powerful stuff!) til the sun came up.
Quite a unique New Years
Eve!! Happy 2005!
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| And this was supposed to be the beaten path! |
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| Lunchtime outside the Chiefs house |
I spent the next couple
of days wandering the village, Felix showing me some of the sights, we went on a great walk along the coast and up into the
forest, and to the local waterfall and swimming hole. Explored the source of a pig frantically squealing, when I got there
the squealing had stopped, and a couple of guys were singeing and scraping off the hair of the fresh carcass on a fire.
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| I had the honours |
I had a great few days,
feeling very welcomed (if not slightly out of place being treated like a member of the chiefs family, we were cooked for,
cleaned up after and everything). But the time came for me to leave. The night before I left we had a Kava ceremony and the
boys gave me the honour of offering the Kava to everyone.
| So what do you put in this stuff? |
|
| Sawdust |
. . .. . . . . . . . .
. . . The next day Felix and I caught the boat back to the main island with
a group of the young lads off to do a Firewalk at a resort somewhere.
Felix and I caught a local
bus to Suva,
the capital. We went to the museum, and got tremendously rained on. I made my way to a hostel, and said farewell to Chief
Felix – Thanks for a great time, Felix!!
The rain bucketed down
over the next couple of days and so I ended up staying in Suva,
sorting a few things out. Namely my flight ticket to Canada.
Just before I left Oz I made very hasty, spur of the moment arrangements with my buddy, Ade, in England,
to meet up in Canada to go snowboarding.
I told him I arrive in 15th Jan in Vancouver. He
then took time off work, booked his flights, and roped a friend in to do the same. I then discovered, my flight wasn’t
the 15th, but the 21st!?! OOOoopps.
I had to do a serious switcheroo,
or I would be Mr. Numpty for many years to come. Fantastically luckily I went into the Air Fiji office and changed my flight
there and then to the 14th, easy peasy.
I moved out of Suva
to a local Rainforest park lodge that was equally rainy (it is the wet season afterall) but much more scenic and tranquil.
I spent a day struggling with my next itinerary; do I go on a 16 hour ferry ride to a very scenic island that is probably
half drowned in rain; or, do I head west to the tropical paradise islands with beaches and sunshine, which cost 90 buck a
night…
Hmmmm..
Now that I only had just over a week left I figured a few
days on the beach would be nice, but getting to and paying for the resorts on the Mamanuca
Island group was some serious money. Luckily I met two German girls who
recommended the place they had just come from. Nananu Lodge was a backpackers hostel on Nananu-i-ra Island (same price as backpackers
on the main island) that you could get to by a 20 minute boat ride, and take your own food. Just as beautiful as many of the
Mamanucas at a fraction of the price – perfect!
I caught the local bus
up to the north of Viti Levu, the main Island. The local buses are all tropical buses, as
in they have no windows, just open sides – extremely refreshing in the heat. Then when it starts pouring down, you unroll
the tarpaulins, with little plastic windows, and let them hang over the window. And again the bus was full, I had to sit underneath
my bags and enjoy the 5 hour trip along the unpaved road. The north of the island was supremely scenic, unfortunately my camera
decided it was time to throw the film in and head to electronic heaven. So no more award winning pictures any more I’m
afraid.
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| Perfect for a bit of off-roading! |
I met Philip, an American
bloke, as we waited for the boat over to the island. The local supermarket was not too liberally stocked so I didn’t
take much food over (unlike Phil’s bunch of pineapples). Then we caught the boat, along with the Feegee Experience busload
(a tour bus of youngsters), to Nananu-i-Ra.
We spent the next few days
enjoying the tropical island; sitting on the beach, kayaking, snorkeling, climbing up coconut trees, picking coconuts, husking
them, cracking them open and drinking the milk and eating them on the beach. We became connoisseurs of the young green coconuts
with the soft rubbery flesh, or the dry brown coconuts with the solid tasty flesh….we kept our days busy. The Feejee
Experiencers came and went, but there was a group of us who seemed to find it hard to leave (one girl had been there for 2
months!). I decided to stay there til I had to leave Fiji.
| Beautiful beaches, Beautiful people |
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| Except for the weird one sitting down. |
But leave I had to, so
5 days later I jumped back on the boat and continued my circumnavigation of Viti Levu back to Nadi.
I had 24 hours in Nadi,
and bizarrely met quite a few of the folks from Nananu-i-Ra as they disappeared on different flights. And then it was my turn,
and off to the airport, again with a heavy heart. The plane was delayed for a few hours, until 2am, but eventually we clambered
aboard and I had to say farewell to this sunny and rainy (?) cluster of islands – and indeed, to the Southern Hemisphere!
On to the North...
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