Monday morning I met Sierra in the lobby of the hostel at 9 AM for our Mountain tour of Fiji. We were picked up by a Fijian driver of Indian descent named Vin (phonetic spelling).
Vin and his trusty truck
We were joined on the tour by a guy named Paul from a different hotel. He was from Minneapolis and had just finished school; he is going to be an investment banker. We drove along steep and muddy, dirt, gravel and partially paved roads up into the mountains. The clouds were so low that they looked like ragged pieces of cotton stuck to the mountain tops.
Mountains of Viti Levu
During the drive, Vin explained to us why there were so many Indians in Fiji. He said that when the British owned Fiji, they first imported Chinese people to work on sugarcane plantations but the conditions were poor and the people complained to the Chinese government and were all able to go home. So then the British imported Indians to do the same thing and they stayed because they could not afford to go home. Vin also said that Indians cannot own land in Fiji, they just lease it from the government and the Fijian chiefs. He said that there is a problem now because when the leases run out, Indians lose all of their land. They are very worried about the elections coming up this summer because it could be a turn for the worse for Indo-Fijians. This multi-cultural heritage is reflected on the back of the Fijian two dollar bill which features people of all different heritages that make up modern Fiji.
On our tour, we first stopped at a small Hindu shrine, and then we proceeded to a lookout point. On the way, Vin stopped the car and took Paul out to look for guava fruits on the side of the road. I had never had guava before (unless they put guava cubes into fruit cups?), at least never freshly picked Fijian guavas that you just bite into like an apple. They tasted kind of like a funny tasting tomato and Vin said that they were not sweet because of all of the rain. When we got near the scenic lookout point, Vin parked the truck on the road and told us the direction to walk in to get there.
Sierra with the truck in the background
Notice the guava
There were centipedes all over the ground because of the rain so it was hard to avoid stepping on them (I did my best!). We hiked for about fifteen minutes in muddy waist-high grass to get there and it was breathtaking. We were on the level of clouds and we could see the ocean in the distance. It was beautiful.
More breathtaking views…
There was so much mud that our feet were totally covered, my new Teva sandals are all stained red from the iron-rich mud of the mountains and my pants got all covered with dirt. After that, Vin took us to a waterfall where we washed off a bit swimming in the cool mountain water. It was actually warmer than ocean water in Rhode Island in the middle of August! We climbed the rocks and jumped into the water – it was awesome! I felt like I was on MTV or something. After the swim, Vin brought out some homemade Indian food and we had a nice picnic by the waterfall. There was some kind of fish in curry sauce, boiled potato and eggplant in another kind of spicy sauce and Indian flatbread. The food was great and we also had some homemade lemon drink that was like lemonade only much less sweet, but very good. When I told our driver that I couldn’t eat the fish, I found out that he is also a vegetarian for religious reasons because he is Hindu. He told us that he will be taking part in a religious festival in a few weeks that is Malaysian-style Hindu worship where he will have his skin pierced and hooks attached to his back. He invited us to come if we were still in Fiji then.
After the meal, we went to visit a Fijian village. When visiting a village, you have to cover your shoulders and you cannot wear any hats or sunglasses because it is considered very rude and disrespectful. Also, each of us had to bring some kava, which is the national drink of Fiji. It is made from the sun-baked root of the kava plant. It has this mild spicy smell to it in the powder form and it is the color of gray-brown clay. It has some sort of chemical in it that numbs your lips and makes you tired and Fijians enjoy it socially like Europeans enjoy wine but it is non-alcoholic.
We were invited into one woman’s home where she took same of the kava we had brought and made the kava drink. She took a piece of cloth and poured the kava powder into it and then poured water around it. The cloth is to strain the powder. She kneaded the cloth bag until the water turned grayish brown. Then we did the kava ceremony. She filled up a cup with the kava and passed it to Paul who clapped once and then drank it. Next she passed to Sierra and finally to me (I asked for just a little), and I drank some.
(My clothes are wet from the waterfall)
It made my lips and throat feel numb and unpleasant and it tasted like dirty water. I kept imagining that this is what it would taste like if I drank the water used to wash hands in ceramics class.
After the kava ceremony, we wandered around the village, taking pictures and getting our feet nice and muddy again. Paul took a picture of a little girl with his digital camera and showed her the picture and soon enough we were completely mobbed by children wanting to see our cameras and see pictures of themselves. Few of them spoke English, they knew a few words but we could only really communicate with the older children who went to school. When their mothers called them to lunch, they dispersed and another woman called us into her yard to show us a kava plant. Her name was Mary and she was holding a little baby girl named Agnes. She told us that the village is about 200 people and 31 houses and that it is made up of three clans: the chief’s clan, the caretaker’s clan and the priest’s clan. The caretaker is the one responsible for the welfare of the people and the chief. If there is an issue in the village, it is the caretaker that is responsible for calling together a meeting. Mary’s father is the head of the caretaker clan in that village. She also said that they have for the first time now their own village priest because the village is Wesleyan Methodist and they also have a nursing station so that women don’t have to go down to Nadi for pre-natal care. They also have a primary school up to grade eight.
We left the village and drove through a rainforest and saw some more scenic sights. Vin tried to find us a little river where we could wash our feet and he could get some water to clean the windshield before returning. We found plenty of little streams along the road and used one of those for washing. We were very lucky that it did not rain during our trip but on the way back the rain started falling. Descending back to sea level, you could feel it getting more humid and warmer and the vegetation was much lusher. On the way back, we looked for guavas again and Vin even climbed a tree to get some of the bigger ones. Then, once we got into town, Vin took us for local made Fijian popsicles which were delicious. They were chocolate but they tasted more like chocolate dissolved in very sweet milk. Yum. Then the trip was over and Sierra and I were back at the Skylodge around 3 PM.
That evening I met this Canadian girl named Leslie who has been everywhere. She’s done working holidays in England, Australia and New Zealand and she’s been to Africa and all over Asia. Now she’s on her way to Australia where she will be doing a year abroad for her degree in marine biology.
Surprisingly most of the people I met were girls who were traveling on their own and a good deal were either British or North American and going to Nz/Oz for school. One thing we all had in common were the naysayers who said that we were crazy to go on our own.
Tuesday morning I woke up very early because I couldn’t sleep because I didn’t want to miss my flight. Sierra and I had agreed to meet in the lobby at 6:15 AM and then to take a taxi to the airport because the complimentary shuttle only leaves at 5 AM and 7 AM and since our flight was at 8:45 AM, the former seemed way to early while the latter was too late. The taxi only cost 6FJD which we split so it was a good deal. We were early for our flight so I read my New Zealand guide book while Sierra tried to get rid of the last of her Fiji dollars at the gift shops in the airport. The flight was only 2 and a half hours long (like from Rhode Island to Florida!) and they played Transporter 2, again which I watched, again. This time the plane was smaller and older so there was only one big screen in the front instead of your own personal screens.
For the three days that I was in Fiji, not one ray of pure unadulterated, unfiltered sunshine touched my body, yet I am sunburned. Also, I have mosquito bites all over my legs because I didn’t bring any bug spray with me and now they’re all bleeding because I shaved my legs (and I was being super careful to avoid the biggest ones!) Oh well, it’s a small price to pay for getting to go to Fiji!
[Continue reading this entry]
