Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Bula, Bula
Right after posting a couple days ago, we had our first kava ceremony at a small handicrafts shop in Nadi run by some people from a nearby village. They haven't been in business very long, and after carefully explaining that kava is a gift, were very disappointed when we failed to give a gift of buying a seriously overpriced piece of not terribly impressive handicraft, or failing that, making a donation "for the kava ceremony". Perhaps they will become better businessmen in time.
The last two days we've been on two delightful tours operated by Adventures in Paradise, a small Fijian tour company. Yesterday we went on The Cave Tour, which started with a kava ceremony in someone's driveway under a tree. It is very exciting to think of how the world is being pulled together by blue tarps. The same blue tarp that covers our metal shed at home is being used on a Pacific island thousands of kilometers away to illustrate traditional ceremonies to strangers. Then (steps omitted) we floated across a river on bamboo rafts pushed and pulled by people in the water, and walked up into the jungle to a large cave. Getting to the biggest part of the cave required crouching and walking sideways hanging on to a bamboo pole -- the water was up to our knees but the ceiling was very low. It's pretty primitive compared to Carlsbad or Tasmania, but it was still a lot of fun. They told us about a US/Scottish couple getting married who couldn't get their parents to agree on a location, so they just went to Fiji by themselves and got married in that very cave. This has been about the only story we've heard that hasn't involved cannibals. I think they are proud of their pre-Christian past. I would be. The cave had an impressive "cannibal oven" sited in a hollow columnar flowstone. Nadia, our guide, is a smashing Fijian interpretation of a universally occurring gender and loads of fun and a good guide.
Today we went on The Waterfall Tour, which started with a kava ceremony. This one was in a large room in a small village. Chief Leone Sarogo Dradra is very nice and tomorrow (10 March) is his 73rd birthday. He was very excited to get his picture taken "so his wife could look at him after he was gone". I don't know how he can have avoided having dozens of pictures of himself in all these years, since Wanqa, our guide, is related by marriage into that village. Since they were all so nice, we bought some handicrafts and headed up the creek towards the waterfall. Wanqa pointed out lots of plants along the way and told the medicinal properties of each one. He uses traditional medicines himself for his family. The waterfall wasn't amazingly high, but the water was nice and "cool" by Fijian standards (Josh, a trainee who is also the owner's son, seemed actually to be shivering), and the day was a lot of fun.
Fijians have an Island attitude toward consonants. Wanqa is pronounced Wanda or Wanga depending. On the other hand, Nadi, the main tourist center, is generally pronounced "Nandi" because it's easier for the half of the population of Indian origin to say.
Prince Charles is making a visit to the area tomorrow or the next day -- hopefully it won't delay our departure or make us miss our connection on Friday. Perhaps he'll get to drink kava out of the human skull chiefs traditionally get to use instead of the coconut shells everyone else uses. (I think I overheard the English tourists on today's waterfall walk wondering if he was "bringing the Rottweiler" referring to his fiancee. They gave us tips about another glacier to see in New Zealand, and we told them to check out the Anza-Borrego desert on the next segment of their trip.)
The last two days we've been on two delightful tours operated by Adventures in Paradise, a small Fijian tour company. Yesterday we went on The Cave Tour, which started with a kava ceremony in someone's driveway under a tree. It is very exciting to think of how the world is being pulled together by blue tarps. The same blue tarp that covers our metal shed at home is being used on a Pacific island thousands of kilometers away to illustrate traditional ceremonies to strangers. Then (steps omitted) we floated across a river on bamboo rafts pushed and pulled by people in the water, and walked up into the jungle to a large cave. Getting to the biggest part of the cave required crouching and walking sideways hanging on to a bamboo pole -- the water was up to our knees but the ceiling was very low. It's pretty primitive compared to Carlsbad or Tasmania, but it was still a lot of fun. They told us about a US/Scottish couple getting married who couldn't get their parents to agree on a location, so they just went to Fiji by themselves and got married in that very cave. This has been about the only story we've heard that hasn't involved cannibals. I think they are proud of their pre-Christian past. I would be. The cave had an impressive "cannibal oven" sited in a hollow columnar flowstone. Nadia, our guide, is a smashing Fijian interpretation of a universally occurring gender and loads of fun and a good guide.
Today we went on The Waterfall Tour, which started with a kava ceremony. This one was in a large room in a small village. Chief Leone Sarogo Dradra is very nice and tomorrow (10 March) is his 73rd birthday. He was very excited to get his picture taken "so his wife could look at him after he was gone". I don't know how he can have avoided having dozens of pictures of himself in all these years, since Wanqa, our guide, is related by marriage into that village. Since they were all so nice, we bought some handicrafts and headed up the creek towards the waterfall. Wanqa pointed out lots of plants along the way and told the medicinal properties of each one. He uses traditional medicines himself for his family. The waterfall wasn't amazingly high, but the water was nice and "cool" by Fijian standards (Josh, a trainee who is also the owner's son, seemed actually to be shivering), and the day was a lot of fun.
Fijians have an Island attitude toward consonants. Wanqa is pronounced Wanda or Wanga depending. On the other hand, Nadi, the main tourist center, is generally pronounced "Nandi" because it's easier for the half of the population of Indian origin to say.
Prince Charles is making a visit to the area tomorrow or the next day -- hopefully it won't delay our departure or make us miss our connection on Friday. Perhaps he'll get to drink kava out of the human skull chiefs traditionally get to use instead of the coconut shells everyone else uses. (I think I overheard the English tourists on today's waterfall walk wondering if he was "bringing the Rottweiler" referring to his fiancee. They gave us tips about another glacier to see in New Zealand, and we told them to check out the Anza-Borrego desert on the next segment of their trip.)
