Fiji log 6 -- 31 May 2015

Fiji log 6 -- 31 May 2015

     Only a few days left here before we head back to New Mexico.  Yesterday was rainy, but not enough to discourage activity.  I shot the squall line coming across our bay.

  Then, the clouds made the sunset much prettier.

  

     On the way up to supper, Fran startled a toad that was resting on the walk way.  The disgruntled amphibian hopped away just as I shot the flash picture.

  I had to crop pretty much to remove Fran's foot from the photo.

     The band was having a kava ceremony between numbers.  There is a definite way to drink kava.  It involves clapping a number of times and using both hands.  Above all, the drinker is respectful of the giver.

 The band    

Terry gets kava'd

      The band is great.  They play every night and at some lunch times.  Tiko, the base guitarist led Fran and me on our walkabout yesterday.  They are working to earn enough money to make a CD.  They promised to send me a copy when they do.  They have written several songs, each distinctive island music and easy listening.  I hope that they have the same success as did Israel Kamakaweo'ole.

     Kava is made from the roots of the kava plant.  In an earlier blog, I showed photos of making it.  When the plant is ground fine, the powder is placed in a cloth bag.  Water is added and when the color is right, the ceremony begins.  It didn't seem to have much taste, but a few ounces drunk last night numbed my tongue.

     This morning, we relaxed as the divers headed out for another day.

     I did my relaxing in a hammock on the beach and shot the two above.  Happily, I did not manage to fall out of the hammock as I was taking pictures.

     Disregarded the manager's advice and walked west along the beach.  After about 50 yards, there was a mangrove patch that ran as far as I could see.  When I went inland, I found a bulldozed road and followed it for about twenty minutes to another cove where a couple of boats were tied up.  Met four guys on their way out to the end of the jetty for hand line fishing.

 Walking, I saw a couple of

shore birds.

We are trying to decide if this

is a heron or an egret.  Most votes are for heron.

Grey version hunting on the beach.

 I found this little path to nowhere near the marina.  I think the stumps are old cocoanut trunks that were planted like we see them.  They are common to the area and often seem to mark property divisions.

     There is an overcast this afternoon, with a brisk wind.  The combination makes taking fish pictures difficult.

These are all taken from the bank.  I have no waterproof camera. 

We haven't identified most of these. 

     Since I can't annoy the fish or natives, let me correct some of the things from previous blogs.  It's mostly spelling.  Fijian is pronounced a little differently from what English speakers expect.

Vowels:

       a as in water

       e as in pet

       i as in mean

       o is long like shore

       u is also long as in true

The consonants have some different sounds as well.

     c sounds like a soft 'th' like the

     b if it has a consonant preceding it is 'mb'

     d if there is a consonant before sounds like 'nd'

     g is pronounced more like the 'ng' in ring

     j is closer to 'ch'

     q is pronounced 'ng' like linger

     r is rolled the way it is done in Scottish or Spanish

     

That means that when I wrote 'yandro' for good morning, the correct spelling is 'yadro'.

Bula is used by everyone for a greeting.  According to my Fijian dictionary, it means 'to get well or to live'.

     Tonight, the group is making a night dive.  This is the group of divers.  Non-divers like me are not included.  They left just before sunset

     To take advantage of the remaining light to navigate to the dive site.  Most of them have dived at night, but our newest diver is excited by the prospect of his first dark dive.  Tomorrow, he will be taken on a deep dive (30 meters).  Tomorrow is also our last full day at Wananavu.  Everyone really liked the place and especially the people.

     That's it for tonight.

     

Fiji log 5 -- 30 May 2015

Fiji log 5 -- 30 May 2015

  

     Things were back to their wonderful normal when we arose this morning.  There were pretty clouds in the sky, but it was dry and most of my gear had dried.   IMPORTANT LESSON LEARNED: Never store your bag midst wet diving gear!

     We found one of the musicians, Tika who said he would show us a nice walk around the resort.

dive boat coming home

rainbow over bay

Fran and Tika under the rainbow

Tia found us a ripe guava growing wild

flowers around one of the vacation villas we passed.

     Some of the photos I took earlier, but didn't post were found when I loaded the pictures from our walk.  Those below are from a couple of days ago.

beach we walked Wednesday

two Mina birds outside our bure

blue jellyfish

blue jelly showing its bottom

pipefish

wild lantana

crab coming up the rocks

      All in all, it was a lovely day today.  I shot a few sunset photos with the other camera and will post those in tomorrow's blog.

Fiji log 4 -- 29 May 2015

       Not many pictures today.  We motored over the central mountain range yesterday to Pacific Harbor after the divers finished their second dive and had lunch.  About the top of the range, it got dark and started raining.  We listened to the sound of the surf all night and the rain continued through the morning.

  Fran in the rain

  more rain

 crab castles by the stream; and it's still raining

This morning, Fran and I took a taxi to the art village near Navua.  We found some pretty souvenirs.  We are having them shipped home.

water lilies at the art center pond

Last night, I managed to break my vial of insulin.  Part of this morning was spent looking for another.  The local Chemist (Pharmacist) did not have the type I regularly use.  I am trying another and will keep track of the results.

Certainly happy that we came during the dry season because it rained and rained and rained.  It’s been pouring water on us, the land, the cars, the people and the crops for about seventeen hours at 11:00 today.  I suspect that we’ll have droplets until we cross back over the mountains to the dry side of the island.

We’re staying at the Uprising Beach Resort.  Frankly, I don’t care for it.  A couple of the staff are friendly, but the rest look at us as if we were an unwelcome disturbance of their day.  The food is cold and not very flavorful.  I think this resort is mainly for younger folk.  There are quite a few and they partied hard last night.  The resort features disk jockey whose choices are loud and fast for dancing.  OF course, the rain may have soured me on this whole place.

How-some-ever, there was one piece of advice worth remembering.  It was on the wall of instructions to find the "convenience".

     Most of the divers agreed.  We got on our bus back to RakiRaki about 4:30 PM and rode through the rain.

Our evening stop for potty and beer.  Still raining.

     Wananavu Beach Resort called us about an hour before we arrived to get information on what everyone wanted for supper.  We made it back about 8:30.  About half the group called it a day and hit the sack.  The rest of us had supper and did the same.  It had been a long day.  My legs took about fifteen minutes to get back to walking.  For that quarter hour, I tottered around like a hundred year old without his cane..

Fiji log 3 -- 27 May 2015

mangrove blossoms

     After breakfast yesterday, we went walking on the beach again. This time, we headed east and were joined by another member of our group, Frances Figueroa.  Her husband is Didier, a terrific raconteur.  Frances loves to talk too.  She was raised on a farm and tells stories of her childhood.

We walked among and around mangroves

     We found some shells and wild lemons during our walk.  Frances thought she left her room key with the things we collected, but when we came back, it wasn't there.  We searched.  We got Topher and Nico to help.  They waded out in case the key fob had floated out.  Finally, Nico decided it could not be in the water.  He retraced our route and found it where Frances had slipped and fallen.

fish from the dock

Fijian mother and child on the beach

     In the afternoon, we headed to the village of Narara.  It was a rough bus ride, but oh so worth it.  When we arrived, we were greeted by a group who sang a welcome song.

         When the song was finished (I'll try to post it on Facebook), girls and women circulated, handing out little necklaces made of leaves and flowers.  They squatted down and clapped four times when they had finished placing them around our necks.  We were told that touching someone's head is quite rude.  The lowering of their heads and clapping was an apology.    

    After that, we took off our hats.  In a village, the chief is the only male who wears a hat.  Wearing a hat in town is disrespectful.  We were conducted to a central, open building.  We took off our shoes and were seated in an arc around the kava bowl.  The men and the chief's spokesman did the kava ceremony.

     Evalone, our guide was selected to drink kava for us.  But after that, two of each group were chosen to drink ceremonially.  Two girls from New Zealand were with our group.  Each got a drink.  Then two men from our party and two women also did the ceremonial drinking.  When the ceremonies were concluded, everyone was invited to taste the concoction.

     Kava, when prepared, is a light tan liquid.  It has a bland taste and is supposed to be an aid to relaxation.  It is made from roots and bark.  These are ground together by pounding in an iron mortar.

raw kava

grinding kava (only men do this)

ground kava

     When the ceremony and drinking were finished, we headed for the water slide.  It was a tricky trail, lots of ups and downs and two water crossings.  I slipped and fell a couple of times, but there was always a villager nearby to help me up.  I have never met a nicer, more obliging folk.  They treated me and Fran as if we were their grandparents.

     The water slide looked like fun.  Most of the group stripped to their bathing suits and rode it multiple times.  Some of the village boys showed off for us.  They jumped instead of slid.  Several did creditable dives, including a forward summersault.  When everyone had as much fun as they could stand, we headed back to Narara.  The walk back was not as strenuous as the way to the slide.  But the temperature had dropped to around 70ºF and the villagers were uncomfortably cool.

     A delicious lemon tea was waiting for us.  The girls and boys circulated with little sweets.  In the same place as the kava ceremony, Narara had made a market for us.

  About 20 people had placed things they had made on mats.  There was jewelry, sarongs (called sulu), carved wood and shells and just stuff.  It was fun.  If you bought something and needed change, the vendor asked around for it. If the bills were not there, someone went out to find the correct amount.

     When we left, everyone who had helped us or talked to us lined up to shake hands.

     We learned some more Fijian.  So far we have

Bula = hello, welcome or whatever the situation indicates.  

              It is almost sung by the Fijians.

Yandra = good morning

Vinaca = thank you.  This is almost sung with the 'vi' high and the                      rest lower

Due = knock knock.  Actually knocking on a door is the equivalent of              trespassing.

Ohe-due = come on in

     One of the things we were told about the Fijian culture is that respect is very important.  That is why men don't wear hats in a village, so that only the chief will be adorned.  Also, if you come into a home or building where everyone is seated, you walk bowed slightly.  That shows you do not consider yourself higher than those already present.