Back in Savusavu

Blog entry March 21                                         

Dear Reader,

You are now so far behind, I am not sure what I can do to catch you up.  My last epistle of March 15 could not be sent as my Savusavu Hot Springs Hotel base is having technical difficulties.  And since that time I have been away from civilization except for a brief message sent from Taveuni as I kept an eye on the bus stop.  So much has happened.  So many new friends made along the way.  Such, could I say, rustic conditions I have lived in and none the worse for wear.

If you visualize some of those photos you may have seen of tropical corrugated metal shanties on stilts all propped up amid a jungle of tall palms and squat taro plants with free running chickens, dogs and pigs, then you will know where I ate my first Fijian dinner and slept on my first night on Taveuni.  All at the invitation of the man, Pela, who agreed to drive me to the end of the road to see a place called Lavena.  And as my accommodation at Lavena required that I bring a few foodstuffs, I needed to return with Pela to close to where we started.  He insisted that I come to his house.  I recalled a similar invitation in Croatia which worked out very well.  I was not to know until I arrived that he was a poor taro farmer with a borrowed truck who lived a very basic life and wanted this gringo to see it.  I was also not to know that before we could have the meal for which I purchased the ingredients, we would attend a Fijian funeral, the first part of a two day affair where the squealing pig we picked up at a relative’s farm (just how many relatives lived in those metal shanties?) would be sacrificed for the funeral feast and cooked in a rolo, a fire pit where hot rocks cook the pig and the taro.  We would sit in a circle as prayers, presumably, were mumbled and kava was drunk.   As a guest, (who is that white man?  I heard ‘Kanata’ a few times), I was given the first kava to drink.  It is about as palatable as drinking mud.  So far I have had it twice with no ill effects.  Rude to refuse and don’t screw up your face either.

Eventually I was taken to Pela & Sera’s home where they live with two boys and a girl.  They are just down a slippery slope from Sera’s Mom’s house.  The latter was spared in the last hurricane of 2010 but Pela’s place was levelled.  Could have more to do with construction techniques than plain luck.  Mom cooked the dinner while we were at the funeral.  Mom’s ‘kitchen’ is detached from her three room wood siding cabin, next to the latrine and shower for the whole extended family.  I resolved to drink even less before going to wherever my bed would be.  As it was pouring rain, I was to squeeze into small boots and dash up the hill to eat my dinner with Mom.  Mom did not remove the chicken bones from the breasts I bought before she cut the up in small pieces and added curry.  I would just have to filter the bones out with my teeth.  Still everything was well cooked and tasted fine.  Back into the boots a slither down the hill with 5 year old Elisabeth as my guide.  There were more people in the house than before when I finally got the boots off.  Always barefoot in a Fijian house, no matter what the condition of the floor.  But I was given my own mattress on the floor in my own room complete with a mosquito net with only a few holes in it.  I had my LED flashlight, there is no power except for a solar light in the ‘great room’ where everyone else would sleep.  And I actually had a good sleep.  When I bought the dinner supplies, I also bought some food to use at the Lavena village center.  That would also be my breakfast at Pela & Sera’s.  Sera was very kind and she could boil water for my tea which I had with me.  Pela had explained that his day started about 4 am with an hour of prayer and by 5 he would be out in the field planting taro.  By 8 am he was ready to drive me into town to catch a bus to Lavena.  I took a family photo to mail back.  After a quick internet blog, I boarded the bus.  You might refer to it as ‘the chicken bus’ but no livestock was aboard.  Some crop material, usually taro, would be thrown into the bins under the bus.  Roads are rough.  Passengers get on and off the bus as they move from village to village, school children use the same bus system.  The kindergarten children are so cute and get on and off at different stops during the noon hour as kindergarten is a half day program.  $5 would get me the 3 hour ride to Lavena, on the other side of the island and at the end of the road.  The road follows the coastline where possible.  Fijian settlements dot the route, usually located on a river running to the sea.  The last bus to arrive in Lavena, about 6 pm, is driven by an Indo-Fijian who has married into a Fijian family in Lavena.  This marriage is apparently very rare.  However, the Fijians at Lavena are a very accepting lot.  The driver stays overnight in his place in Lavena and drives the 6 am bus out in the morning.  That is how the upper level kids get to their school.  There is a primary school in Lavena with nice looking accommodation for the four teachers.  The only other bus out is the 11 am bus.  When I left on Tuesday morning, it was unusually full.

Lavena is Paradise Found.  Beautiful sandy beaches, all wonders of plant life, opportunity to walk, swim, snorkel, kayak, all in the context of a native Fijian village, not a resort.  The four room environmental center has a rustic kitchen for community use, rustic shower and toilet facilities indoor and three beds in each of the rooms.  The bed is a 4 inch foam on a wood frame.  There is a small sink in each room.  Power comes on with a generator from 6 to 10 pm, enough time to charge my camera battery.  An office opens and closes through the day run by a lovely and kindly Fijian woman , Sellina.  The cooperative project with the village has the help of a Peace Corp volunteer named Megan.  It was her friend and colleague, Kirsten, who suggested I contact Megan if I went to Taveuni.

When I arrived, I was the only guest.  My pick of rooms, my pick of beds.  The Fijian women of the village would prepare any meals you wished to order at $10 each.  The money goes to support the village church, school and special projects, all overseen by a council.  I would order dinners and had my own supplies for the other meals.  The dinners were real Fijian traditional fare.  Usually fish.  They have a lovely way of cooking octopus in coconut milk such that it has the texture of a coast salmon and is delicious.  I also had red snapper and on my last night, three parrot fish, like small trout.  Rourou is a leafy green which boils down like spinach and I’m sure was good for my iron levels.  Vudi  looks like an oversized banana slices except it cooks like a potato. 

When I saw the little kids out playing in the surf, I figured it was safe to go snorkeling and had a great time.  Would have been better if I still had my underwater camera.  And yes, the mustache disappeared to make the mask fit better and then on my first night at the hotel, I looked at the rest of it and shaved it off.  Beard gone.  Feels much better.

Sunday was even more restful than the other days at Lavena.  Everybody goes to the Catholic church, yet I heard no singing and never saw the church.  Guests are not to wander through the village itself and the church is tucked well away.  The school is obvious from the beach walk trail but guests are not to wander on the grounds. 

The Center is located on a point with beaches curving inland on either side.  I can hear the surf all night from my room.  The beaches are idyllic.  Just along from the center, “Blue Lagoon Two” was filmed.  On the point is a cabana where I would spend many hours sitting at the picnic table watching the surf, the sea, the weather, reading a novel from their library, enjoying a cup of tea (yes, a hot drink), eating and feeding Butch, the resident ‘Golden mutt’ who adopted me.

I really tried hard to record and remember the Fijian names of the people I met.  Simone was my guide for the coastal walk to the twin waterfalls.  I accomplished that 4 hour adventure on Monday.  I recorded what I could of the native plants.  Falavia and Avikali are older Fijian ladies who moved into room #4 after I arrived.  They were not really guests but came on a mission.  Falavia has been away from the village for 10 years but has many friends in Lavena.   She knows the two roots that you peel and pulp to make a cold medicine that also relieves rheumatism!  She has proof and I have photos of the process.  Avikali is a businesswomen in Suva who is determined to improve the lot for girls in Lavena village.  Most of the girls are unwed mothers by the time they are 18, some with more than one child.  Opportunities to leave the village, to get work or further education are nil.  So these two ladies worked with the leaders of the village to have 15 ladies removed from the village and taken to Suva where they will live together under their supervision and be given jobs.  Thirteen of the ladies left children behind in the care of grandparents.  Tuesday morning’s 11 am bus would begin their journey.  Six of the girls had never been off the small island.  I was also on that bus and the emotional send-off was very hard on many.  The young men will have to work the taro farms, fish and drink themselves silly on kava.

From the 3 hour bus ride, we were together on the Princess Lomaivitti (Q of PR) as far as Savusavu.  Falavia asked me to take a group photo of her and the girls on deck.  I will mail a copy from home.  I met a couple from Vancouver on an extensive diving holiday – Rainbow Reef is a world premier dive sight.  Chatted with a pair of German tourists, had dinner in the Coastal Café, dropped in on a Green Hornet movie on deck five and spent a wonderful time with a group of Fijian gospel singers on their way to a Catholic music event in Suva.  All that made the 4 hour ferry trip ($30) from Taveuni back to Savusavu, very enjoyable.

I was one of the few that got off the ferry at Savusavu about 7 pm.  It was just a short walk to the hotel where I could reclaim my bags and start typing this blog over a cold pint of Fiji bitter.  The internet here is still out so I will transfer this to a memory stick and see if I can send it in the morning.  Wednesday evening is ‘music night’ probably at the yacht club.  I’ll see about joining in before taking a side trip to Labasa.

Last comment – Taveuni just has to be one of the most beautiful islands in Fiji.  I am so glad I went there.  And if you think this is long and exhausting to read, my written diary is almost full.