So today the weather was less than stellar. It started out fairly gray in the morning and continued to get worse until around 11 am when it started downpouring! Fortunately, we were able to run to the cover provided by the restaurant/bar area with our deck of cards and hang out for the next two hours while it rained. We played cards for a while, reveling in the fact that despite the rain it was still nice and warm and the breeze was beautiful. So yes, lots of rain, but we were still happy to be able to enjoy the outdoors :).
After playing cards it cleared up slightly and we were able to relax out by the pool and on the beach. Fortunately, the sun came out right around 2 pm - perfect time for a walk to town!
Octopus Resport has a great selection of activities that visitors can take part in. Unfortunately some of them (such as the 7:30 am mountain hike that I had wanted to go on) were cancelled. However, we were very lucky that the sun came out so we could head off into town for a tour! About 20 of us went over the mountainside with our guide, Lye, an older gentleman who works at Octopus Resort and lives in the town of Nalauwaki. Lye led us the 20 minutes from our side of the island to the other, stopping for some scenic vistas along the way.
The way to town was a dirt path through a mountainside rife with...pigs! They were everywhere and quite cute (albeit a little stinky :-p). Lye led us through town, stopping to say "bula" (hello!) to everyone we met along the way, arriving at their kindergarten school...or at least what remained of it after the cyclone that came through the Fiji Islands two weeks ago. Fortunately, everyone in their village was safe after the cyclone and nearly all the houses and buildings survived intact. The only exceptions were the kindergarten school and the teacher's housing, both of which had been semi-permanent structures originally, and which were basically wiped clean.
Lye mentioned that they were collecting money to rebuild their school. It felt REALLY good to be able to provide aid to a community and know that it was going directly to building a school back in that exact spot. Hoping we can come back in a few years and see their progress!
After wandering all the way to the school we went back to the town center where we sat underneath a tin roof for a cava welcoming ceremony...which we were not ready for at all...
It is customary in Fiji to greet guests with a cava ceremony. Cava is a drink made from water and the crushed roots of the pepper plant. Basically it looks like muddy water. When guests enter a space, the host will prepare the mixture and everyone sits in a circle. The host will then offer each person the cava in turn. Before you take the bowl, you clap once and say "BULA", wherein everyone responds "bula" while clapping three times. You then drink the cava, hand back the bowl and clap three times, after which the bowl is passed to the next person. It is customary to finish the entire prepared bowl of cava, and so the ceremony continues until the cava is gone.
Well...that is all well and good...when you have a stomach of steel. But when you have a stomach like mine, and have just been sicker than you've been in YEARS the previous day, and saw them taking the water they used from their local tap, and yet you don't want to be rude...what do you do?
You drink the Cava.
So the ceremony began and the bowl was passed around the circle. And so Jon drank. And then I drank. And it tasted like mud water. And made our tongues numb. Don't worry, it's supposed to do that. I don't know if that makes it better or not.
The cava went around the circle once and EVERYONE drank it. I was shocked that everyone participated! Lye then asked our "chief" aka the first man who had taken a sip, if we should do another round. And (I think under duress from Lye) he said YES! AHHHH! But this time Lye said he was glad we'd all tried it and we were free to pass the bowl if we did not want to drink it.
WHEW.
So the cava came around again. And Jon drank it. AGAIN! I couldn't believe it! When it was my turn all I could think about was how sick I had been yesterday and I passed. After which half the circle decided to pass. I was so glad I wasn't the only one! Regardless, it was one of those moments where I was glad that I had been given the opportunity to try something new. I'm just still hoping I'm not sick as a dog later today!!
After the cava ceremony we sat under the tin roof waiting for some of the villagers to give a presentation. Lye told us that the ENTIRE village has a population of 437.
CAN YOU IMAGINE??? Living on an island your whole life and your entire village has a population of 437!!! Just crazy!!
As we were waiting under the tin roof, it suddenly began to POUR. SO HARD! And it sounded SO much louder under the roof! After about 15 minutes it began to let up just enough for us to quickly put our shoes back on and head to the town meeting room. When we got there, we sat in a semi-circle and some of the villagers presented native Fijian songs and dances for us. It was pretty magical, especially the way the sound echoed in the big room!
We then got the opportunity to participate in the dancing. It took me and Jon a few minutes to get the hang of it but we finally got it towards the end :-p.
After the dancing, some of the women set out goods for sale and I was able to buy my FINAL bracelet! (I have been collecting bracelets in each country we've gone to. Sometimes it's been hard to find a bracelet for sale (like in Zambia where I bought one at the border crossing into Zimbabwe!) - other times there have been millions to choose from (Thailand/Cambodia). This was the first time since being in Fiji we'd been able to purchase goods and I was quite excited to find a shell bracelet and also a bowl with turtles carved into it for our house (ya know, when we have one...).
After the market we slowly made our way back to Octopus. MUCH slower, in fact, because the rains had made our original path VERY muddy so we had to be quite cautious so as not to slip. We got back to the resort around 5 and fortunately the weather held for the rest of the day, albeit at a slightly cooler temperature (ya know, like 72. BRRRR!) There, we ate dinner, relaxed, and came back to our room early...all the while hoping that neither of us gets sick before our big travel day tomorrow... oy.
Jess' highlight of the day: our village visit!
Jon's highlight of the day: drinking the cava...
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