A Confusing Date

To be honest, I am not doing a lot these days. I went on a day trip the other day but I was the only one on it- apart from the guide, of course. It was fun though to have someone to ask questions about and I kept teasing him about his cannibalist ancesters. We went to Navala village in the highlands. It is the only village that has purely traditional housing in it- bures, big thatched buildings. About seven- eight hundred people live in the village so it is more of a town than anything else. Because of the houses it is firmly on the tourist trail and wehn you arrive you are shown around and allowed to take (hundreds of) photos before having a kava ceremony.

This was my first taste of kava- the potent local brew, not alcohol but some kind of narcotic root that starts by making your tongue go numb, followed shortly after by the rest of your body. Everyone talks about how bad it tastes so I have been very nervous about trying it. I had heard that it was considered really bad form to turn it down so I waited until I was in a position where I had to drink it or risk being the next day's lunch (no, that's not true, they stopped eating people after a few missionares put them off. Probably because they tasted so bad. Plus they wouldn't save the meat until the next day. In the past they would sometimes start the meal while 'it' was still alive, sometimes 'lunch' was even forced to eats parts of itself before the end).

Actually it wasn't too bad. Maybe they brewed up a weak batch as it seems to be the job of these old guys in the village to greet tourists and drink kava with them. But at least now I have had it- as everyone kept telling me 'you haven't been to Fiji if you haven't drunk kava'- now I have drunk it but can't see it taking the place of beer in my diet.

So that was the day trip- villages, kava, sea, beaches, fish, the grave of a chief who ate 999 people in his time (you would think that even if he was stuffed at that point he would have had one more just to round the number up. If he hadn't much room maybe he could have had gone for something smaller like a baby). Yesterday was a shopping day, pure and simple- shops chosen by the strength of their air-con. Today it is raining so I am here, in the net cafe again, trying to sort out the next leg of the journey. I am flying to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands on Saturday- I leave Fiji at 6pm on Saturday and arrive in Rarotonga just before midnight the night before! So I won't blog then as it will just muck up all the dates!

Also been trying to get hold of people I know in the States, who are long overdue a visit. Going to be busy!