While Mel is back home to attend his 50th High
School Class Reunion (yes he is that old!) my girlfriend, Glenna has come to
stay with me. I miss my friends and family so much while we are out sailing so
I am thrilled that she is here.
This is Glenna’s first time in the South Pacific so I want
her to experience it all! We have lots to do and so little time. Here are some
highlights:
Snorkel trip to South Seas Island:
Up bright and early for our cruise out to the nearby South Seas Island. This small island is run by the tour company of the same name.
Here you get to relax on the beach (free beer and soft drinks yea!) Snorkel on
the fabulous reef, kayak, and beach comb. It is picture perfect. Lunch is also
provided and it was yummy.
This was the first time that Glenna snorkeled, and I have to
say it was a very nice reef with lots of fish to see. While you can snorkel
right off the beach the guides will also take you out on a boat to snorkel some
very nice coral “pillars” in deeper water. The water was very clear and we saw
lots of fish.
Too soon it is time to go. While we were having so much fun
the wind and waves had built up to getting back onto our “Mother Ship” to take
us back to Denarau was exciting. But soon we were all on and heading back.
Back on Mazu, we have invited new friends we met on the island for drinks. She is from New Zealand and he is Fijian, a student at the University in Suva. We
enjoyed the warm evening with our new friends with drinks, snacks watching all
the activity in the harbor, a perfect ending to a great day.
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| A warm welcome to South Seas Island |
Market trip to Nadi
and Lautoka:
I have always found that one of the best ways to immerse
yourself into a culture is to go to the market. Now I don’t mean the grocery
store. Most markets are open markets selling fruits, veggies, fish and
handicrafts. The best day is usually Saturday so that’s when we go.
We hop on the bus bright and early. Our first stop will be
Nadi. On the bus we meet a man who wants to show us a Fijian craft store run by “real” Fijians, (this seemed to be an important distinction by the man). I quickly figure out that they ride the bus to meet tourists
and bring them to the store, but he is very nice and the store is Fijian run.
Here we are invited to book an inland trip to the small village of Bukuya. As we had this on our list of things to do we agree to
their tour and sign up for Monday. After a quick stroll through the Nadi market
we board a bus to the much larger Latoka market to do our shopping.
Glenna and I have decided to prepare a Fijian meal so we are
looking for unusual fruits and veggies to prepare. We really enjoy the fresh
fish market and the spice vendors. We end up purchasing clams, some sort of
greens that look like large fern fiddles, roasted corn on the cob, bananas.
We are very tired from the day of shopping so we head back
to the bus terminal and board a bus to take us back to Nadi. And there we wait,
we wait and wait some more. After about a half hour the bus finally leaves. It
appears we are on the milk-run as this bus seems to be going everywhere but
Nadi. We go on gravel roads into the cane fields, and around Vuda Point and
then the driver stops, down this gravel road by a small shop and gets out. Must
be union break time. By now we have been
on this scenic tour for almost an hour. When our driver returns I ask if we are
now going to Nadi. No he grumbles, this is the Vuda Point bus. You must get off
at the main road and wait for another bus. Now I am positive that when we got
on our bus in Lautoka it said Nadi on it. We think that while we were waiting
they changed the sign on the front of the bus…
So here we wait on the main road with our iced down clams,
and all our other purchases from the day. We are unsure when the next bus will
arrive, and really we are in the middle of nowhere. Soon a nice young man comes
to the bus stop. He waves down a taxi and tells us we should go with him in the
taxi to the airport to catch the bus to Nadi as it could be a long wait here.
The driver will only charge us a dollar each to the airport, we take him up on the
offer, after all, it’s all part of the adventure… and soon we are at the airport and on a
bus to Nadi, then another bus to the marina. We are home by dark but man are we
tired. No cooking tonight. We decide to
just eat our corn and have a beer. Fijian corn is awful! Not the sweet corn we would eat on a lovely summer day, It is feed corn, that we would grow to feed stock, not humans. So it is cheese and crackers for dinner.
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| We make our Fiji feast the next day yum, yum |
Inland Trip: Bukuya village
We are excited to go to our trip to village. We are picked up by George and his
wife Noti (sounds like naughty) who are from this village. This village is just starting
on this endeavor of bringing in small groups of tourists to experience true
Fijian village life. And we are excited to be one of the first groups.
It take about 2 hours on a hilly gravel road to get to this
village. As you see from the pictures it is a very neat and pretty village and you can tell that the Chief and
families that live here take pride in their village. While poor it is neat and
clean.
When we arrive we are greeted by excited children who run
along the road, excited to see phalanges visiting their village. We are greeted
by more of George’s relatives with pretty lei’s. We are brought to Georges home
and greeted by a welcome song and a kava ceremony.
Let me explain a little about Kava in Fijian culture. It is
VERY important. When you visit a village you by custom bring Kava to present to
the Chief. You are them welcomed into the village (more on that later). Kava is
the social drink in the villages. Both men and women will drink Kava but I
notice it is more men than women. In
Fiji, the Kava only produces a mellow feeling,
it is not that strong. Oh, and let’s say it is an acquired taste, I think
it tastes a bit like dirty dish-water.
So Glenna and I are here being treated like favored guests,
greeted with song, and Kava. We hang out with the guys for a while doing this
while the women and other male relatives are out preparing our food, (later
Glenna and thought we would have liked to have been out with them for a while
as we love to see how people prepare and cook food).
Soon we are served a very nice lunch. Fijian eat on mats on
the floor with no utensils. Also the family shares all food. We eat with the “older
women” and the men continue to play music and drink Kava. They will eat later I
guess.
We are then taken by one of George’s s to tour the village
and meet the Chief for a “formal” Kava presentation. There is a small elementary/middle school. Students
board in Nadi for High School. Along the way we make friends with the children
and give out pens and pencils.
Soon we are at the Chiefs home. They are waiting for us,
already drinking Kava. The cousin is our spokesperson and will introduce us to the
Chief and present our Kava. We are wearing sarongs and must remove our shoes
and sit. The Chief is sitting by himself across the room and is….. playing solitaire!
There is about 10 family members there. Our Kava is presented along the
customary speech. It is accepted and now we are part of the village, really, we
are welcome anytime if we want to stay, someone will put us up they will
protect us and provide for us… not bad for a bundle of Kava…
Cousin Manny takes over the tour. He is a Third Sex Fijian,
been raised as a girl, as we have seen in all the cultures in the South Pacific,
too hard to explain here… google it.. He shows us the Chiefs new ceremonial thatched
house (hey, why didn't do the Kava ceremony there, guess we could not interrupt
the solitaire game). Then we are invited into another home for, guess what? More
Kava! This family was so much fun, a relaxed group, take a look at the pictures.
Too soon it is time to head back to Denarau. It is a long
ride back. We stop for pictures at Navala Village, a traditional
thatched hut village. Before long we are back on Mazu exhausted. But what a
day! We really got a taste of Fijian life. They are such a friendly, generous
people, living a simple life and not needing anything else, just keep the Kava
coming!
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| Thatched home in Navala |
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| Navala Village |
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| Navala Village |
The next few days with Glenna are a blur, we go on a dinghy
ride where Glenna catches a Barracuda (catch and release), a great seafood
dinner and Meke (Fijian dance) show, I get sick and we need to visit an
Indo-Fijian Doctor ($40.00 for an office visit and an injection of
antibiotics), and gift shopping, say hello again to Mel as he returns, and then I have
to say good-bye to Glenna.
Glenna, I hope you had as much fun as I did.
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