Fiji
We crossed the International Dateline and therefore omitted Sunday, February 12, 2017 from our lives altogether. Someone said Regent had fleeced us all by selling us on a 128 day cruise when it was really only 127 -- idle minds...
We made 2 ports on the largest Fijian island called something unpronounceable, but don't worry, you probably won't need to come here. We went our separate ways from Lautoka for different experiences. Al went off through the 'lush landscape' for sightseeing to Nadi, I went to Lawaki Village for a Kava ceremony. Comparing our pictures, we once again feel like neither one of us missed anything.
Enroute to Nadi, the interior mountains were beautiful and green but too far away to see very well, as was the ocean and coastline. The nearby surroundings were an unattractive mishmash of houses barely stringing together to be called villages. Nadi was unremarkable - but he got to shop! His favorite!
Lawaki Village was just on the outskirt of Lautoka, so we arrived quickly and were welcomed by the whole community with very loud singing and drumming and typical costumes, closely related to African in look and sound. Turns out the first Fijians arrived here from today's Tanzania. To show respect, no one was allowed to wear a hat or even sunglasses on the head into the Kava ceremony, and we were all told to wear clothes covering knees and shoulders. The ceremony is a traditional welcome for visitors to a Fijian village. A cloudy concoction is made by mixing some dried root with water in a large wooden bowl, then dipped out with a small cup and offered to the visitor, who receives it with a certain clap, drinks it down in one swallow, then smiles and everyone claps 3 times. Someone said they used different cups for each visitor, but I didn't see more than a couple, and the mixture was stirred with one of the men's hands, I did not partake but somehow they let me in anyway. People who tried it said the kava was terrible. The Fijians tend to drink a lot of it. It's not alcoholic, but is slightly anesthetizing, so not much goes on after 3 or 4 cupfuls (different strengths are possible). When Fiji was British, the government brought in a lot of workers from India because they notice the Fijians had trouble getting things done. One of our guests said his lips felt numb for 3 or 4 minutes after he drank it. After drinking the kava there was a lot of dancing and more singing and drumming, then we looked around the village. It consists of a large chief's house, a large church, community hall and some miscellaneous houses and other small buildings around a large expanse of grass in the middle.
We drove for an hour out of Suva to get to the Arts Village which proposes to be an example of a typical Fijian village but is quite a bit nicer than Lawaki village from the day before. There's quite nice landscaping all around and a lotus pond in the middle of shops and restaurants. After looking around we were escorted to an open air seating area across another lotus pond from which rose a beautiful hillside. Off to the left and high up on the hill was a large thatched chief's house. Closer to the level bottom section of the hillside was a flat sandy area and then .... some smoking rocks!!
Yes, our main objective of taking the drive and going to the village was to witness firewalking! - or at least hot rock walking! So, a narrator gave the legend of some blessed islanders who are the only ones capable of such a feat while we watched the barefoot costumed warriors prepare the rock pit to their satisfaction. The rocks had been heating up in the firepit since early morning and it was now noon and they really were smoking. After much aligning and positioning, at least 8 men walked on the rocks one at a time and at least twice each. They didn't stay on them very long but it looked to us like the rocks were at least really really hot. Afterwards there was a lot of dancing and singing and drumming and raining! We were under cover but they continued their show without a pause in a drilling downpour. One of the competitions enacted was a fight over some land and a woman, who was chosen (since no one volunteered) out of the audience, much to her chagrin. When the victor was just about to claim her, some other dispute came up and he had to go back and settle that with another competition. So she's probably lucky they got distracted since these Fijians are known cannibals, although she was really skinny and wouldn't have been much more than a bite!
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| Arts Village |
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| Cool Chief's House |
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| Preparing the rocks |
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| Fire Walking! |
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| Village Entertainment |
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| The Victor! |
Back in Suva, we walked to the huge produce market right on the dock, the largest one we've ever seen anywhere. Very colorful and crowded. All the locals were doing their food shopping there, but we were after another exotic flower arrangement for our room and scored a nice big one for $10 US.
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| Suva Market |
In the 'It's a Small World'
category, the entertainer on the ship last night, Dan Chopin, was from St.
Louis. During the show, he referenced a wild childhood and blowing up
M80s on a rooftop with David McAvoy. We know a David McAvoy who was a
close friend of Al's younger brother, Carl. We spoke to the comedian after the
show and in fact, he was talking about the same David McAvoy we know.
Dan knew Carl and David from St. Roch's School and even went with Carl to the
family farm in St. Clair and rode horses there. He remembered 'a kind of an
orange horse' (probably Pumpkin) pulling a pony cart and a whip with some
carved lettering on the grip, all true. Al remembered Dan's sister Louise
who was in his class at St. Roch's. We couldn't even believe it! So they met for coffee once and then we met for a while one afternoon and there were lots of memories and people in common, so it was a happy coincidence. We'll go to Dan's last show tonight and then he leaves the ship in Wellington, New Zealand.
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