Keep Fiji beautiful

7:31 AM 1/21/2011
I'm glad to have the chance to experience Fiji longer.  I like this place.  After getting past the heavily pushed facades and touristy images, Fiji is beautiful and authentic.  I've been learning everywhere I go. 

I spent the weekend with Jo's family in Nausori village.  He and his wife, Bale, have two sons, both around my age.  One lives at home, the other has his own family in town.  We mostly just hung out and visited different family, but it was also a big weekend (by coincidence).  The church was exchanging pastors with another village, and in honor of that a lovo was made -- a pig was slaughtered and put into a pit of hot rocks in the earth along with some vegetables (taro, breadfruit).  This was covered with taro leaves, cloth, and then dirt, and baked for an hour or so.  I was lucky to be able to participate.  Traditionally this ritual was done to give sustainence to the people traveling between villages for their journey.  Although they use mini-vans now instead of canoes, dramatically reducing the transit time, this ritual is still observed.

We attended a rugby tournament, and a banquet that followed.  That was a lot of fun.  Rugby is popular in Fiji and many of the pacific islands.  Maybe it's the warrior blood that rugby awakens.

I took a down day to bum around, then visited a village in Abaca (pronounced "am-BAH-tha"), on the northwest coast.  I took a bus to one village, Tavakubu, then walked from there about 10 km or so.  Very quickly I entered lush mountain landscapes, with pine trees (reminding me of Colorado!), coconut and banana trees, streams and bright green hills.  When I arrived it started to rain hard.  I stayed with a family - I drank the kava I brought with the men.  It's a ritual bull session.  I was grateful that they didn't feel any need to entertain me, and just carried on talking in Fijian.  Every once and a while, one of them would tell me that the topic was the unusual shape of a cassava stalk, or about a pig hunt.  So at least I got the gist.  When I went back, the kids were having their own session, albeit with copious amounts of a very sugary beverage that turned their hands and lips red.  We sang Christian songs and passed around the cup.  The whole evening was very enjoyable.  In the morning I hiked to a waterfall, and saw incredible views of the mountains and out to the ocean.  On leaving, I visited a plantation of my host family, and saw the cassava that was cut that day for our our lunch, and tasted their ginger, and saw many other crops growing.  The usual style there is somewhat haphazard (to my eyes) and on hills.  As I returned, it started to rain, and I stopped by the house of Manoa and Mela and their 12-yr-old son, Simione.  We had some food and tea, and then they invited me to stay for the night.  I wasn't in a hurry (Fiji-time), so I stayed.  I got a glimpse of a really beautiful and simple lifestyle. Manoa's work for the day was fixing a water pipe (it flows from the mountain), and planting a few things.  I planted a coconut tree.  We sat on his front porch, overlooking the most beautiful landscape: the trees he planted 10 years ago that now bear fruit, the lush mountains all around, and many islands in the ocean in the distance.  We watched the sun set over the Mamanuka islands, then ate some beans that we had shucked, along with rice, lit by a kerosene lantern.  At sunrise, I walked with Mela and Simione back to town. We noticed the trash that people throw on the sides of the roads, and agreed that it's important to "keep Fiji beautiful."

There are so many details of my experiences that are meaningful to me.It's amazing how challenging it is to choose the ones that are most important.  Manoa does not usually go to church; on Saturdays, they do not work - they sit and read the Bible and pray together.  It's very simple. They all seemed very happy people.  I was glad to receive their hospitality and the reminder to slow down.  Silly city-boy, always jumping around, just like a monkey...