June 1 - July 2, 2006
Savusavu & Naviqiri Village Return (Fiji)
by Chris
 

Note:  The following are repeats of two BLOGs posted around 6/27 and 7/19.  If you read the BLOGs skip this web journal.

Posted June 27

One of the main reasons we came back to Fiji was our love of the people, their smiles, laughter and good nature is thoroughly infectious. Our arrival in Savusavu felt like a homecoming with greetings from our old local friends and cruisers alike. The most amazing thing is how all the locals remember our names. We were constantly surprised by the "Bula Chris, Bula KT" calls as we walked around town, even the woman at the local vegi market remembered KT. We received a couple of VHF calls from local cruiser residents who have started businesses there, "Welcome Home", and it felt like it.

We spent the first couple of days recovering , sharing war stories over happy hour and cleaning up the wet gear around the boat. Bobulona was getting ready to head north to Hawaii (via Samoa) so I spent a couple of days setting him up with some fishing gear. He really wants to catch a Yellowfin Tuna and I've got enough gear to outfit a fleet a fishing vessels so why not.

KT and I were both amazed at the fresh vegetables at the market, yum! After dealing with air freighted or even worse ocean shipped veggies in Majuro, the fresh from the earth kind was much appreciated. Little things like mint and cilantro, fresh with root stocks still on them. KT even tried to get some to grow so she could add them to the basil she actually kept alive during the trip south.  She was excited to start testing the solar oven that Red gave us to give to a local Fijian village. It only took a day to get it out and cranking and soon we had fish, bread, eggplant and roasted chicken all cooked to perfection in the solar oven. It was a little difficult to get the position right in the tidal river of Savusavu but it worked great when we moved out to the point for the weekend to relax and enjoy the nice breeze. KT even saw a Lion fish while she was snorkeling.

We headed back to town, because we could, for more fresh veggies and a nice sushi dinner to say goodbye to Bobulona. We spent the rest of the week enjoying the laid back atmosphere of Savusavu, its fresh food and cheap beer during happy hour. It's a nice balance between small town atmosphere blended with the cruisers, not too much of either and if you get sick of one you can hang out with the other. KT cooked more things in the solar oven and, hold the phone, the cockpit cushions were made. Its kind of been a standing joke between KT and I because she has been threatening to sew them since we left. They turned out great but we both realized that the light gray color would show every piece of dirt brought aboard Billabong. So we had a happy hour complete with Ginger snap cookies and invited Indra over so we could get them dirty and get over the fact that they wouldn't stay clean forever.

KT joined a couple of our cruising friends for another session of 'Cooking with Luci' and made an amazing Tamarind Chutney before we headed out the point for the long weekend. I spent most of my time working of some fishing designs so that I could get Curly (the local rascal who helps the cruisers) to help me test them. I wrote up some "spec sheets" for all the things we've been using successfully, but Curly has been out of town for weeks buying a new boat (to him), so I'm not sure it will happen. We returned to Savusavu which was filling up VERY quickly and decided it was time to head out of town.  We spent a couple of days getting some supplies for the solar oven (that we could leave with the villagers), checked out, and headed to the point for a quick stop so we could leave early in the morning.

We were both very excited to see our old friends at Naviqiri Village. We had a nice beam reach (hey after 1700 miles of beating we weren't sure we remembered) down to the pass and a reef sheltered sail around the point before the wind died. We fished and caught a large barracuda, which in hind site we should have kept but threw back, and watched as a large shark stalked our lures for about half an hour. We had a choice, we could anchor and get up early in the morning to continue our trip or we could keep going (using our GPS track from last year) and arrive at the village at 10pm. We decided to keep going so that we could surprise everyone the next morning. We anchored just as the almost full moon rose above the clouds and went straight to bed so we would be ready for our exciting day in the village.

We walked in early and went to Sera and Freddy's house only to find out they were both gone!!!! Sera now baby sits for a school teacher and Freddy was in Nadi. Grandma was there and she was soooo excited to see us. Of course she can't speak a lick of English so she just sat there smiling, laughing, hugging and punching us.. and boy that woman can hit!! Luckily we were greeted by Aquila, Freddy's nephew who spoke fluent English who could explain where everyone was. We walked around the village saying hi, watching in amazement at the expressions on their faces. "Chris, KT you came back like you promised".. it was kind of funny to watch. Right away they would ask, "Where's Julie and Karl" like all Americans who have ever been together have to stay together. Of course the kids were the most fun, some of them having grown significantly in the eight months since we last saw them. We said "qito qito" (play play) and they all ran up to the playing field. I pulled out a bunch of Frisbees and threw them as they went screaming across trying to catch them. One kid even grabbed one, held it to the sky and then kissed it and came running back with the biggest smile I've ever seen. KT got out some jump ropes and we all caught up by playing and laughing. Sera arrived after work and invited us back to her place for tea and to explain the big happenings.

Sera said she has a child now named Peter, and that he was white like us. Whoa this was HUGE news because Sera and Freddy have been trying to have a baby for a while. Then it came out that she had adopted the baby and then later that she gets paid $F40 a week (60 American cents an hour) to watch him and cook meals for some local teachers. We knew something was up when KT asked how the parents learned to speak Fijian (being White and all), and Sera gave KT a strange look, as if duh of course they speak Fijian! Anyway we were told we would be able to meet him the next day at the Big party. It turns out Freddy's son (that we didn't even know about last year) was on the Fijian Sevens Rugby team that won the world championships in London recently. This was HUGE!! Fijian's love rugby and to have a world champion in their presence was beyond comprehension. The plan was to go in and help prepare the feast the next morning, maybe even in the solar oven, and then await their arrival around 1 o'clock the next day.

When we went in the next morning there wasn't much cooking going on. We sat around waiting and willing to help but the only thing happening was they cooked the Cassava, in the biggest pot I have ever seen. We spent the afternoon killing time by making balloon animals with the kids, which was pretty funny because we didn't have a clue what we were doing. Heck we still don't. This was going to be a HUGE party, they built a shade structure and decorated it with fresh greens and flowers. This is when we started to realize that even though we are speaking the same language there was a lot that was lost in the translation. Things that we thought were clear weren't. First Peter was pretty dark (certainly not white) and both his parents were about as Fijian as you can get (Picture above-left is of Peter and his "white" parents!). Then Freddy and his son arrived at around 4:30 with a bunch of other people. We were told to wait in the ceremonial building as we watched, not having a clue what was going on. First, all the new guests went to another building and then came over to sit with us in a VERY structured way. There was an older couple, Freddy and then his son Oressi. At first the village women (and KT) presented the older man with lots of mats and oils, all laid out in front of him. One of the village elders spoke and the older couple and Freddy were all in tears, the older gentlemen saying "Vinaka" (thank you) frequently. This went on for about five minutes. I thought that this must be someone returning after losing his wife and the village was welcoming him back. Then he gave a speech and Freddy and the other lady were crying hysterically. What on earth is going on? Then Freddy's son was welcomed to a very special mat where Boxing Grandma was sitting. As she went to sit down grandma grabbed KT and pulled her to the mat so that it was this rugby world champ, grandma and KT sitting at the head of the ceremonies. KT kept looking at me like help .. and I was thinking she was going to be presented as a sacrificial virgin to the champion. Anyway there was more crying, grandma was having a fit, hugging Freddy's son and the two Ki-palagi (white) people were confused beyond belief. I think the son was scared out of his wits as well, as he kept chain smoking any chance he got, the weird thing was Freddy or his son didn't say anything.

So this is where we figure out that they do things a little differently in Fiji. Turns out that the older couple was Freddy's sister and her husband and that they had raised Freddy's son and another daughter.. yikes. It also began our investigation into the strange nature of brothers and sisters. Turns out they also call anyone who is actually a first cousin, brother and sisters and people who share the same parents are "real" brothers/sisters. This kind of threw a wrench into everything we thought we knew about all the relationships around the village, but we are slowly clarifying the "real" parts so we can get it all organized in our minds again. Now that I had a slightly clearer explanation for all the emotions I could relax and enjoy the kava and watch the recorded rugby games on the DVD player. Freddy came over and gave me a huge hugs and kept saying "Chris Chris" as he gave me huge hugs and held my hand. It turns out that all the gifts were actually for Freddy's son but they are passed/received through an intermediary.

The next day, of course the sun didn't cooperate so KT cooked the chicken and fish curry on board, made some Pawpaw (papaya) cake and we went in for Church. The party was after church and it was a huge feast where the table of honor rotated as people finished their food. KT got a couple of complements on her Ki-palagi food which was a little too soupy to be eaten by hand but that didn't keep them from trying. We also found out that Freddy's son was going to be leaving that afternoon instead of spending the week, another hiccup in our communication. I felt bad because I thought we would have some time to get to know him; we did have a good time hanging out with his sister. KT also noticed a VERY strange behavior between certain people, especially considering the lack of deodorant; they place their faces next to each other like a kiss to the cheek and then sniff violently. Hmmm!!! We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and sharing some more Talanoa (stories) and Kava (grog). When the generator came on KT got out our DVD and played their part for the village. They laughed and giggled and felt like movie stars as we explained that all our friends and family in America watch them on TV. They watched it three times and all wanted copies.

We spent the rest of the week hanging out in the village and playing with the kids when they got home from school. Luckily we only played rugby a couple of times, most of the village men had gone to Labasa to cut sugar cane, so that I've had a chance to recover between games. We went to the school on Friday to hang out with Sera, Freddy, Peter, and the parents. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with the kids and teaching them how to play a modified version of Ultimate Frisbee. It was rather amusing to watch the kids take advantage of the rules as we made them up. First we thought since they're not really good at throwing well or catching we'll make the rule the first person who gets to the Frisbee gets to keep it. Well the boys treated it like rugby and tackled the girls or pushed them out of the way, so we had to change that. Then the boys would throw the Frisbee way down the field and run after it to get across the line, and most wouldn't even catch it in the end zone. So we added a couple rules and then all had a blast. The girls were much better because the basic rules are a lot like netball, which they play a lot, one girl even asked KT if she could "pivot". In the end we came up with a good set of rules that worked and everyone enjoyed. Even some of the mothers came out to play, maybe it'll be the new village sport.

On Saturday KT planned a cooking class to teach the locals how to make banana bread, pawpaw cake and use the solar oven. About 20 people showed up, surrounding KT as she explained everything, they didn't even know about vanilla or cinnamon. She modified the recipes to have oil instead of butter and got rid of some of the extra stuff, and even showed them how they could make zest with a coconut grater. Of course it was overcast so we had to come up with an oven. We thought a pot within a pot would work good, especially if we put some fire on the top (they use aluminum pots) and raised the bottom with some tin tuna cans. Well I think it would have worked but there were way to many cooks in the kitchen. They kept opening it and looking, then burning the top with too much heat, then removing the outer pan and burning the bottom. Oh well they enjoyed the bread and even liked the burnt parts. The pawpaw cake was even more of a disaster because they completely took over, doing it the Fijian way, without two pots using only ash to insulate the pot from the fire.. it was even more burnt than the banana bread. Oh well it didn't stop a couple of ladies from trying to make it on their own the next day.

The first visit made us feel like what it must be like to be a rock star; with all the attention. The second visit has been even more amazing.. The people of the village who knew us from our first trip are amazed to see us again, some not believing their own eyes. The people who had only heard stories of us, greet us with open arms and are in awe that they get a chance to meet us. It's nice because we've been treated like one of the family, a little less focused on and able to relax and blend in a little more. We just hope we've been able to show them how special they are.

Posted July 24

After the paw-paw bread disaster we decided to bring the village kids out to the boat. I shuttled people back and forth and we ended up with 30 people on board. Everyone wanted a photo taken and loved checking out the boat. They especially loved our electronic zapping fly swatter that says do not touch right on it. Of course they loved the spark and zap it gave them. One little kid Tui was up on deck while I was explaining things below. He was talking in Fijian, "Chris I can hear you but I don't know where you are!!" I got a couple of good photos, one of all the kids on the right side of the boat, and then the other of the boat while they were still sitting; we must have been out of the water by a good foot on the other side.

Our second week started out rather mellow and slow; Sunday we played cards, a Fijian game called trump, where we tried desperately to throw the cards down with the same oomph as they did. It was amazing to watch, they would slam the card down with almost a whip cracking sound. They laughed hysterically as we tried, and failed to copy them. KT made some banana bread with chocolate chips which the villagers loved. We "had" to leave the village so the kids would go to church, so we went to visit a bush house where the family raised goats. It was rather funny to arrive and have them running a little generator so that the kids could watch a movie. They were having a great time and we thought they understood everything until KT described exactly what was happening.. oh.. they said. Now I understand why Stephen Segal is the most famous actor in Fiji, simple dialog with lots of actions that they can understand. It was a rather fun visit as he explained that he trained the goats when they were young to return to the pen. He takes them up into the hills and then back again, I guess after a couple of days they just keep returning home at the same time. It was kind of funny to watch them come running down the hill to home, only to be sold to the Indians for food later in life.

We spent some time cleaning the boat and working on the computer, but we would always return to the village in the afternoon to play with the kids. We had Sera and Freddy to the boat for dinner again, I guess they've been to a couple of boats now so they weren't as impressed this time. KT made them pizza which they had never had before, can you imagine a world without pizza? We went on a couple of long walks and every time we saw someone they said, "where are you going?". "Just walking" we would say as they gave us a VERY funny look. If we said we were "going moce" (sleep) they wouldn't have had a second thought because THAT was something they could understand. I finally explained that we don't get to walk very far on our small boat so we enjoy it when we get the chance.. they still thought we were crazy!!

One night after a busy afternoon of playing with the kids and a drink of tea afterwards we headed down to the dinghy to go to the boat. Of course we had a bunch of people follow us to wave goodbye as we headed out into the moonlit night to find Billabong. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a black and white striped thing on the engine .. and it began to move. Yikes, holy cow.. what the.. it was a sea snake, one of the most poisonous snakes. We jumped around trying to get it overboard,
flailing violently and forgetting about steering the dinghy. We made a couple of circles, headed right towards the reef, and pretty much made fools of ourselves to anyone who didn't know what was happening on shore. We finally got it overboard and we certainly deserved a good beer after that adventure. The good thing about a sea snake is they can't really bite you because their jaws aren't big enough. I guess you can get bit in the skin flap between your fingers and toes so I pretty much fought it with a palmed hands. It was funny in hind sight, it's been rather cold in Fiji and I guess it was warming itself on the engine for a while.

The next day we explained to everyone what had happened and after a big sigh of relief, they laughed at us. We invited Aquila and Boxing Grandma to the boat for a breakfast of coffee cake and tea. It was rather funny to watch grandma run to her house, change her clothes and fix her hair, just for a visit in the boat. Not for us mind you, the boat!! She had never seen one before. After a tour and breakfast she said that we could go back and let her sleep there all day and she would be happy. We spent the rest of the week learning more card games, "5-3-2" and "last card", and ended up giving them a couple of decks, theirs were like cloth they were so warn out.

On Saturday the men all went out to the bush to harvest food for Sunday. KT and I played some more cards and I said that I thought we should learn how to make a basket. They use a basket woven from palm leaves to carry the crops back from the bush. KT spent about 45 minutes making a small one while the ladies all called her smart.. some Fijian ladies don't know how to weave like you they said. We also spent some time handing out some of the 200 no-bake cookies she made to all the villagers, some of them loved them but some of the older ones thought they were too sweet. The rugby star Oreise came back with his girl friend and was in a much more relaxed mood.

You know you've been in a village too long when you end up in bed with the chief. It started out as a simple walk down to "check the boat" our signal that we are going to the beach to take a pee. Of course a couple of kids followed and I had to tell them to wait as I did my business. While they were waiting they heard a woman screaming from the chief's house... "Chris Chris come quick" they said. I ran to the house as the kids stayed outside. The Chief's daughter was yelling at me to help her. The chief is bed ridden and had fallen over part way out of bed and she couldn't get him back up. Oh yeah and he was pretty much naked! She was pounding on his back and hysterically crying, all while trying to rewrap his sulu. So I leaped over the bed and grabbed him around the chest.  I didn't realize before exactly how big and heavy he was. I tried pulling him back but he wouldn't move. He was moaning incoherently and was completely dead weight. Finally I pulled with all my might and he flopped backwards onto the bed. She was still screaming and hitting his chest, so I ran out and grabbed one of the chief's helpers and he started pounding on his back as well. Turns out he was taking a pee into the bed pan and started having a heart attack. yikes!! Well word got out and everyone came over .. "Chris you saved the chief!"  Yet another story they can tell about those crazy white people from the boat Billabong.

On Sunday we brought in coffee cake for breakfast and some more cookies, they made us Fijian pancakes which are a lot like donuts without the hole. We had more people out to the boat; first Oresee, his uncle/dad, and friends came out. They loved hanging out of the boat and wanted their picture taken with their island in the background. They really wanted to see the video of us swimming with the whales and the sharks. I think we gained some new found respect after they saw that.  Then we had the "ladies" out to the boat. They were much more excited and required two trips to get them all on board. They laughed and giggled as we gave them lemonade and started asking us all sorts of questions and wanted to see pictures of our family. Then they asked what we were going to do about a family. I was standing down below and I said "we're just practicing" hoping it would blow over.. I have never heard them laugh sooo hard.

Late we walked around the village saying goodbye to people that weren't hanging out by the shade building, and handed out more cookies. Everyone asked when we would be back, it was hard to explain that we didn't know. Maybe we would return with our family to see everyone grown up. They had a goodbye grog party for us and people gave us gifts of paw-paw, coconuts, bananas and pineapple for "our trip". We tried to explain that it was just a day sail but we excepted their gifts whole heartedly. We said goodbye to everyone but it was especially hard to say goodbye to Sera, Freddy, and Asenaca who walked us down to the beach that night. We returned to Billabong, completely satisfied by our visit and looking forward to our eventual return.
 

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