Thursday, September 13, 2007
FIJI ADVENTURES (stolen from jenn)
FIJI PART 1
*** i am too lazy to retrace the chaotic trip to fiji with my friend jenn. however, jenn has had the patience to recount the entire trip in such detail that i'm gonna steal her text and give her not only FULL CREDIT but madd props for her efforts. that said, it was an awesome trip...thanks jenn!! there will be things expanded upon and my own thoughts interjected thoughout...those will be in bold text. ***
- the view of Kadavu from our room on the ferry. the next port Kavala was our stop.
the original post on jenn's blog
I am back from Fiji .. what a fantastic trip! I know this has taken a couple weeks to update, but there is a long story to fill you all in and been having problems with some pictures, so more will come. I have put in here a few to get you started.
George and I embarked on our trip to Fiji, with short notice, on a Monday afternoon. We had decided to pre-book our hotel the first night in Nadi, so we wouldn't have to go searching around the first night on a place to stay. Our trip started with us checking in at Wellington, and George was forced to check his luggage through, since it exceeded the carry-on weight. I had a good chuckle with him, that my backpack was bigger, I am a girl, yet my backpack weighed less than his. We wandered off, picked up some Fijian cash, and it hit George that his laptop had been in the backpack, hence the heavy weight. We went back to the agent that checked us in, to plead with her to let him get his bag back. Unbelieveably, they brought us to the baggage area, and allowed him to go out, find his bag, and retrieve his laptop. This is how our trip began ....
We arrived in Nadi, about 9:30p on Monday night. It was really nice as we stepped off the plane, the warm weather hit us, and a little band was playing setting the mood we were in the islands ... We proceeded to get our bags, and look for the person we were to meet to get us to the hotel. When we asked, we were escorted to an air-conditioned room, and the lady there couldn't find our reservation. I gave her our voucher, which didn't list the hotel name, and she began calling around Nadi, trying to find out where we were booked for the night .. (fyi, I had pre-paid for this night). After some chatting, we both figured out the hotel, and it was one she had already called twice. They took us there anyhow, they checked us in, and "upgraded" us to a nice tiny room with air-conditioning and a fan ... hehe. This place "Nadi Bay Hotel" was also a backpackers, so we had our own room, which was what I wanted. The hotel staff, most of the night, tried to find out the problem with our booking. We found that my agent messed up, and booked us the week before. So, I had to pay them again. (i have since gotten my other $ back from the agent). That Tuesday am, we had time to kill, before catching a bus to Suva, Fiji's capital. So we hung by the pool, had some lunch, popped on the internet to let our mom's know we arrived safely, and then boarded the bus to begin our journey to Kadavu (pronounced Khan-dah-voo).
The bus journey was about 3 1/2-4 hrs. We arrived in Suva, and the bus dropped us at the Holiday Inn. We quickly made friends with the porter there, Elisio, and he locked up our bags, as we went and shopped for the food items we needed to bring with us to the village. We had found, as guests, we should bring the essentials with us, as a courtesy. We also asked what other things we could bring .. so we bought 2kg of Flour, 6kg of Rice, Potatoes, 3 frozen chickens (I'll explain why frozen in a minute) .. toilet paper, margarine, and some water and snacks for our long trip to the island. Now, we left with 2 large, and heavy boxes of food and stuff, and headed back to the Holiday Inn, where we had some dinner before heading out to the wharf to catch the Ferry to Kadavu. We had been told, that the ferry runs on Tuesday nights only, one time a week. We were to leave around 10:30p. We arrived at the wharf, and took all of our gear, and headed to find where we get tickets and board. Now, we know this journey is a 16hr journey, and that Petero had about a 1/2 hr boat ride to come get us on Wednesday afternoon. As we asked about the ferry, we were told that "this is not the boat you want, you boat go tomorrow night" .. we were told this over and over. (as i looked on in curiosity, boxes of food hefted high tested my patience and endurance; i couldn't help but think of Star Wars and the part where Obi Wan tells the guards, 'these are not the droids you're looking for') George and I were quite confused and worried, that if we did this wrong, the whole trip was a bust. (well, for what we planned .. we planned to go have conversations with Petero .. for research). Then during all the assurances, that this was not our boat (and against my better jedi judgment), we were also told the schedule had changed due to a church convention in Suva, the this boat had just arrived from Kadavu with people coming to Suva, and the boat would refuel over night, and we would leave tomorrow night. So, I found us a taxi, while George hung with all our crap, and we headed back to the Holiday Inn. At that point, we didn't know any other place to stay, so we headed where we had been. (while walking to our taxi that was to take us back to the hotel, i looked at jenn and said "we are officially on fiji time".)
We stayed there that night, and they were kind enough to put our chickens and butter in the deep freezer, to keep them cold/frozen. The next morning, Wednesday morning, we called the porter to our room to help us, and Elisio showed up and started laughing ... "didn't I put you on a boat last night?" ... we told him what happened, and he got on the phone to talk to someone from Kadavu, working at the hotel, to get the story. There was indeed a convention, and for JUST THIS WEEK, the schedule had changed. We were assured that Petero would have found out this new info, and not made the trip to get us today, but would be there tomorrow. (We had no way to contact him in his village). That am, we went to the ferry again, and booked our "bed". We found out that we could be in the main area with benches (remember 16 hrs we were going to be on this boat...), or book a bed. We jumped on the bed scenario, for 10$ more. We then wandered around Suva a bit ... not a whole lot to see. We saw the Hibiscus Festival being setup, and we were immediately approached by a local, who was being "kind" and showed us how to get to the museum across the way ... then, as if deja vu, because I read about this to be cautioned about ... he pulled out these wooden mask and spears and started carving our names into them ... I felt ... "man I know this situation" ... and it hit me ... we were being scammed. And alas, he wanted money for these, now that our names were on them. Not being able to get out of it, we gave him money to go away. We then wandered to the President's house, managed to get there right at the changing of the guard, took a couple photos, and headed back to the hotel. We hung around the hotel for the rest of the afternoon, outside by the pool. (where it rained sporadically, but that didn't stop me from taking a rain nap as some kids did flips into the pool). Then we decided to kill time by heading to a movie. We wandered up the street, and went to see the Simpson's Movie.(jenn forgot to mention the funniest part - the cold ... this theater was by far THE COLDEST theater i've ever been in - PERIOD) Afterward, back to the hotel for dinner and another attempt at catching the ferry.
Once again, we packed up our things, and we headed out to the wharf to get the ferry. This time, we were right. at 9pm, the let us board, and there was a guy, Ali (who now ran Jonas Paradise - the resort where i began my first Fiji kayak adventure 5 years hence), that showed us our "back room cabin". It was a small room, with 3 bunk beds (6 beds total). We put our stuff down, and settled in for the long journey. And, in true fashion to our trip so far, it turns our there were 8 people booked in our 6 bed cabin. We gave up our receipts, and the it was found the booking lady had written our numbers down wrong, but we were ok, and 2 others she forgot to write down, so they had to move for the other 2. Well, we then decided to sleep. The ship did some rockin' and rollin' throughout the night (it was nothing like the ship ride to Antarctica) ... thank goodness I took motion sickness pills! ... And early on Thursday morning, we arrived at the first stop. (we were the 2nd stop, Kavala). The boat unloaded people and all of there food supplies, fuel, etc ... and loaded up passengers heading to Suva on the return trip.
Finally, about 5 hrs later or more .. we arrived in Kavala. Petero was there to greet us and take us back to his village on a small island next to Kadavu, called Ono. He took us, and Mandy, and 2 of her step children Maggie and Joe Joe. We had met her the night before while boarding, but didn't realize we were going to the same village as her. She is one of the teachers there at Petero's village. really friendly girl.
After Petero helped his brother get all of his things onto the ship (he was heading TO Suva) ... we packed up Petero's small fiberglass boat, covered everything in tarp, Mandy and the kids hid under plastic, and we headed out for the bumpy and really wet ride back to Petero's village.
It's late, so I will add Part II hopefully tomorrow. Below are a couple of pictures for all to see I'll add more to as the story unfolds so you know what they are about I'll be adding more to this post, when I get them back hopefully tomorrow. Oh, and why frozen chickens .. because by the time we got there, they were defrosted .. and I thought the best way to keep them fresh and not going bad in the heat. :)
FIJI PART 2
We are now at Thursday, and we arrive in Waisomo, Petero's village on the island of Ono. This is where we met Vara, Petero's wife, Raffe and Enrico, Petero's sons (Vara's stepsons), Valerie and Lucia, Petero's nieces. Vara showed us around their home, and let George and I know that we would be staying in their home (2 "bedrooms"), and Petero's brother was out of town, so their sons were staying in their home, and they had another Bedroom in the kitchen "house", that they stayed in.
(what would have been really cool though is to have been there a week later because Petero was going to tear down his house and rebuild it from scratch, this time with TWO MORE bedrooms for his sons. i would have loved to have helped with that project.)
We had quite a feast that night. Vara cooked some Curry, rice, and Kasava (root). Kasava is very dry and bland, but not bad when you think you are eating this large plant root. We managed to keep our arrival low-key, which is what we wanted. Usually there is a Kava ceremony, where the whole village drinks up Kava (made from another root) .. which makes one feel numb, if drunk in large quantities (been there, done that). We didn't have the ceremony, as Petero had given up drinking, including Kava, so we were spared that. I wasn't bummed, all I heard about Kava was that it tasted like dirty dish water, so I wasn't upset :)
Vara also made fresh rolls, scones, all yummy stuff first thing every morning. Other new things we tried were Taro (a potato like root), lemon tea made of just hot water and the leaf of a lemon tree (yum), and Lovo .. the meal cooked under the ground. Petero cooked this for us the Sunday we were there.
The rest of our stay in the village was filled with fishing, (HA, I caught the biggest fish the day we went out!), we visited the site where Petero was working (a new 28 million dollar resort being built), a picnic over where Petero has his plantation, lots of being lazy, enjoying the views, the warmth, and playing with the kids. We seemed to eat all the time too. Lots and Lots of carbohydrates. At one meal, we had rice, with noodles on top, mixed with potatoes. All starch. (jenn forgot to mention the tiny fijian chilis we were introduced to near the end of our stay. they added a very welcome bit of personality to the various dishes we were served. they even got the whole table laughing when i decided to pile on 38 of them onto my roti and had a little bit of a bite go down the wrong pipe. don't let their size fool ya! - see the photo below) We had lots of conversations with Petero, which is the reason we were there, and learned so much. We also visited the school where the children from a few different villages boardered. What a beautiful area in which to have a school. I'm not sure I would do much school work if I were them!
I was humbled by my experience there. We learned so much about Fiji, and the hardships so many people face. The coup had caused problems in both the education system, and construction sites. The construction site where Petero works, had been shut down, and now just 6 of the workers are still there out of over 200, to be caretakers. Petero was very thankful for this job, so he was able to still bring in money and able to keep his boat. He would have lost his boat, if this opportunity hadn't arisen for him. Their son, Raffe, from what I understand, had to come back for a short time because the funding for schooling wasn't coming in. And their other son, Enrico, was unable to get work, work that had been promised, so he returned to the village as well. We know Raffe returned to the main island, to Suva, I hope to go back to school. Life for them is all hard work. Petero, while we were there, was his first week off in 5 months. So we felt privileged he allowed us to be with him and his family when he has so little time with them. They work hard all day, planting, cooking, and doing all sorts of work around the place. But in light of everything, family is most important to them, and really all that matters. They didn't allow us to help out much. At one point, Vara let me know she wanted the girls, Valerie and Lucia (both under 10, I believe), to do the work, so they would learn the womans jobs around the home. She did let me help, a little, but mostly not. So, George and I were leisurely throughout the week. George taught the girls a few card games, card tricks, and during our picnic one day, tried to teach the kids to juggle. :)
Each night, the generator would go on, so there was a bit of electricity for about 3 hrs. This is when all the kids, and such would run home and get in front of the TV to watch a DVD. (a funny and frustrating experience happened more than once whilst in the middle of a DVD - sometimes at a critical line of dialog - and then BLAM! the generator cuts off only to bring rise to a series of moans and disbelief) It was really fun to see. They were so excited to see these movies, even if they watched the same ones over and over. George plugged in his laptop during this time to charge it, and I would charge the camera battery. The villagers were also very much into Volleyball and Rugby. They are all very athletic and competitive.
During our stay, we had explained to Petero, that we messed up with our plans home, and that because the Ferry didn't leave Kadavu for Suva until a Wednesday, we would miss our flight back to New Zealand which was booked on Wednesday morning. We just thought about the every Tuesday, and didn't think the return would be different, and forgot it was 16hrs of travel 1 way. So we discussed with him, about flying from Kadavu back to Nadi. There is a small airstrip on the other side of Kadavu (about a 2 hr+ boat ride from Petero's village), and it has 1 flight a day, on a small plane. We called and booked a flight out that next Tuesday, so we could make our flight in Nadi on Wednesday. We were told we needed to pay for our tickets no later than monday, so I tried to pay by credit card over the phone. They took credit cards, but not over a phone. (oh, the things we take for granted!!) We were too far from the airstrip to go and pay in person, and the only other way to get them the $ was to wire it, and we didn't have that kind of cash on us. (talk about a SNAFU!) (FYI, they had 1 phone in the village for 2 villages, and only by use of a calling card). Then, in a hugely generous way, the village "store" lent us the money to buy our flights. We would wire the money (plus a 'thank you' bonus) back to them as soon as we hit the mainland. We were stunned and so incredibly grateful to them for this generosity, and trust.
We enjoyed almost a week with the family and village, and I will say it was one of the best experiences I've had. They are wonderful people, and I can't wait to go back and see them again.
Well, Part III and Finale tomorrow .. It's late again, and I know I am leaving important details out. More photos below.
FIJI PART 3
Monday, we went on a picnic and George and Petero hiked up to see his plantation. It was a day leisurely spent reading, lying in the sun, playing with the kids, and having a bit of lunch. When we returned to the village, we took Valerie and Lucia up to their school for the start of their new term. (i had a very cute experience during this visit to see the kids off. as i walked up the hill to the kid's boarding room, Lucia came running down and greeted me by taking my hand and escorting me up the hill. it was very touching and probably my favorite part of the whole trip. more times than not it is like that...you spend time with new friends on a holiday somewhere and just as you're getting comfortable and feeling like you're fitting in somewhat, the trip ends abruptly.) On our way back, the guys were out playing some rugby, so we watched and cheered them on a bit.
- that's lucia in the red.
Tuesday morning, our final day in the village, the rooster and chickens did as they had done each morning, start crowing and making all sorts of noise around 4am, BEFORE the sun came up. :) (i miss that) And I would turn over and go back to sleep each morning until the sun came up. (not me, i usually got up not long after the chickens)
Our final morning, Vara made fresh scones, and started on a big farwell lunch for us. We had our final "talk" with Petero, and finished up our travel into his past. Then, we packed up our things, and headed out for a slow trip out to the airstrip. It was about a 2 hr boat ride. We got there a little early, and we chatted as we awaited our flight. Eventually, the plane arrived, and we were on our way back to Nadi. When we arrived, we immediately headed to an atm to get cash to wire right back to Petero for the loan. We need to send it via the post office, but we landed at 2:45, got the money and didn't make it toward there until 3:15p, and by then the post office was closed. So, we went to the western union booth to send the money. We were told that we couldn't wire money to the village from within Fiji... it had to be international. They suggested the post office the next morning, but since our flight left at 6:55am, we knew they wouldn't be open. So, instead, we took our things, and went on the next adventure of finding somewhere to stay for the night. (as chaotic as the trip was, jumping these virtual hurdles became the norm and just seemed to make us laugh. it certainly did make for a unique and challenging experience. i have to say a huge thank you to jenn for being a patient trooper and not breaking down during those tough times. well done!)
Our original plan was to stay at a hotel right by the airport, but while on the plane, a fellow kiwi mentioned that a new Hotel had opened, a swanky one, and were running a deal for 89$ FJD a night. This was cheaper than the hostel hotel we stayed at our first night, so we hopped in a taxi to go check it out. Taxi driver said it was a 22$ trip, 20 minutes away. We arrived at this luxury hotel, and I told George to hang with the taxi while I went to see if the deal was real. When I asked the man at the desk about a room, he mentioned the deal was for Fijian residents only, and for us, it would be 340$/night ... I thanked him and went back to the taxi and told them ... let's go back to the airport hotel. :) There were 2 hotels near the airport ... he took us to the first one, and I went in to see about a room. She told me they only had suites left, and that was 280$/night. Back to the taxi and we went to the 3rd hotel. This time .. I got up to the desk, and smiled, and asked the guy for a room, and to please not be expensive, we just needed to crash for the night. He accommodated us, and had one for 140$/night .. still pricey, but we took it. We were tired of driving around, and too much more, the taxi would end up too expensive.
We got in the room, showered and headed to dinner. We had to laugh when we got our drinks, they had ice in them (never take ice for granted!) ... we hadn't had a cold drink in a week, and it was refreshing.
We finished the night by watching a dvd and passed out for our early flight. Our flight home went without a hitch. When we arrived back into Wellington, we went to my apartment to find out where to transfer the money from (and that GEORGE'S car had been towed!! - DOH, don't park in bus stops or it'll cost you!), and immediately went to the western union to send Petero the money he loaned us. Then it was time to unpack shower, and sleep. Thursday was back to work.
Well, that was the adventure .. I am sure I have missed some funny and fun things, but I'll update if I remember any of them.
I'll post more pictures soon too.
FIJI PART 1
*** i am too lazy to retrace the chaotic trip to fiji with my friend jenn. however, jenn has had the patience to recount the entire trip in such detail that i'm gonna steal her text and give her not only FULL CREDIT but madd props for her efforts. that said, it was an awesome trip...thanks jenn!! there will be things expanded upon and my own thoughts interjected thoughout...those will be in bold text. ***
- the view of Kadavu from our room on the ferry. the next port Kavala was our stop.
the original post on jenn's blog
I am back from Fiji .. what a fantastic trip! I know this has taken a couple weeks to update, but there is a long story to fill you all in and been having problems with some pictures, so more will come. I have put in here a few to get you started.
George and I embarked on our trip to Fiji, with short notice, on a Monday afternoon. We had decided to pre-book our hotel the first night in Nadi, so we wouldn't have to go searching around the first night on a place to stay. Our trip started with us checking in at Wellington, and George was forced to check his luggage through, since it exceeded the carry-on weight. I had a good chuckle with him, that my backpack was bigger, I am a girl, yet my backpack weighed less than his. We wandered off, picked up some Fijian cash, and it hit George that his laptop had been in the backpack, hence the heavy weight. We went back to the agent that checked us in, to plead with her to let him get his bag back. Unbelieveably, they brought us to the baggage area, and allowed him to go out, find his bag, and retrieve his laptop. This is how our trip began ....
We arrived in Nadi, about 9:30p on Monday night. It was really nice as we stepped off the plane, the warm weather hit us, and a little band was playing setting the mood we were in the islands ... We proceeded to get our bags, and look for the person we were to meet to get us to the hotel. When we asked, we were escorted to an air-conditioned room, and the lady there couldn't find our reservation. I gave her our voucher, which didn't list the hotel name, and she began calling around Nadi, trying to find out where we were booked for the night .. (fyi, I had pre-paid for this night). After some chatting, we both figured out the hotel, and it was one she had already called twice. They took us there anyhow, they checked us in, and "upgraded" us to a nice tiny room with air-conditioning and a fan ... hehe. This place "Nadi Bay Hotel" was also a backpackers, so we had our own room, which was what I wanted. The hotel staff, most of the night, tried to find out the problem with our booking. We found that my agent messed up, and booked us the week before. So, I had to pay them again. (i have since gotten my other $ back from the agent). That Tuesday am, we had time to kill, before catching a bus to Suva, Fiji's capital. So we hung by the pool, had some lunch, popped on the internet to let our mom's know we arrived safely, and then boarded the bus to begin our journey to Kadavu (pronounced Khan-dah-voo).
The bus journey was about 3 1/2-4 hrs. We arrived in Suva, and the bus dropped us at the Holiday Inn. We quickly made friends with the porter there, Elisio, and he locked up our bags, as we went and shopped for the food items we needed to bring with us to the village. We had found, as guests, we should bring the essentials with us, as a courtesy. We also asked what other things we could bring .. so we bought 2kg of Flour, 6kg of Rice, Potatoes, 3 frozen chickens (I'll explain why frozen in a minute) .. toilet paper, margarine, and some water and snacks for our long trip to the island. Now, we left with 2 large, and heavy boxes of food and stuff, and headed back to the Holiday Inn, where we had some dinner before heading out to the wharf to catch the Ferry to Kadavu. We had been told, that the ferry runs on Tuesday nights only, one time a week. We were to leave around 10:30p. We arrived at the wharf, and took all of our gear, and headed to find where we get tickets and board. Now, we know this journey is a 16hr journey, and that Petero had about a 1/2 hr boat ride to come get us on Wednesday afternoon. As we asked about the ferry, we were told that "this is not the boat you want, you boat go tomorrow night" .. we were told this over and over. (as i looked on in curiosity, boxes of food hefted high tested my patience and endurance; i couldn't help but think of Star Wars and the part where Obi Wan tells the guards, 'these are not the droids you're looking for') George and I were quite confused and worried, that if we did this wrong, the whole trip was a bust. (well, for what we planned .. we planned to go have conversations with Petero .. for research). Then during all the assurances, that this was not our boat (and against my better jedi judgment), we were also told the schedule had changed due to a church convention in Suva, the this boat had just arrived from Kadavu with people coming to Suva, and the boat would refuel over night, and we would leave tomorrow night. So, I found us a taxi, while George hung with all our crap, and we headed back to the Holiday Inn. At that point, we didn't know any other place to stay, so we headed where we had been. (while walking to our taxi that was to take us back to the hotel, i looked at jenn and said "we are officially on fiji time".)
We stayed there that night, and they were kind enough to put our chickens and butter in the deep freezer, to keep them cold/frozen. The next morning, Wednesday morning, we called the porter to our room to help us, and Elisio showed up and started laughing ... "didn't I put you on a boat last night?" ... we told him what happened, and he got on the phone to talk to someone from Kadavu, working at the hotel, to get the story. There was indeed a convention, and for JUST THIS WEEK, the schedule had changed. We were assured that Petero would have found out this new info, and not made the trip to get us today, but would be there tomorrow. (We had no way to contact him in his village). That am, we went to the ferry again, and booked our "bed". We found out that we could be in the main area with benches (remember 16 hrs we were going to be on this boat...), or book a bed. We jumped on the bed scenario, for 10$ more. We then wandered around Suva a bit ... not a whole lot to see. We saw the Hibiscus Festival being setup, and we were immediately approached by a local, who was being "kind" and showed us how to get to the museum across the way ... then, as if deja vu, because I read about this to be cautioned about ... he pulled out these wooden mask and spears and started carving our names into them ... I felt ... "man I know this situation" ... and it hit me ... we were being scammed. And alas, he wanted money for these, now that our names were on them. Not being able to get out of it, we gave him money to go away. We then wandered to the President's house, managed to get there right at the changing of the guard, took a couple photos, and headed back to the hotel. We hung around the hotel for the rest of the afternoon, outside by the pool. (where it rained sporadically, but that didn't stop me from taking a rain nap as some kids did flips into the pool). Then we decided to kill time by heading to a movie. We wandered up the street, and went to see the Simpson's Movie.(jenn forgot to mention the funniest part - the cold ... this theater was by far THE COLDEST theater i've ever been in - PERIOD) Afterward, back to the hotel for dinner and another attempt at catching the ferry.
Once again, we packed up our things, and we headed out to the wharf to get the ferry. This time, we were right. at 9pm, the let us board, and there was a guy, Ali (who now ran Jonas Paradise - the resort where i began my first Fiji kayak adventure 5 years hence), that showed us our "back room cabin". It was a small room, with 3 bunk beds (6 beds total). We put our stuff down, and settled in for the long journey. And, in true fashion to our trip so far, it turns our there were 8 people booked in our 6 bed cabin. We gave up our receipts, and the it was found the booking lady had written our numbers down wrong, but we were ok, and 2 others she forgot to write down, so they had to move for the other 2. Well, we then decided to sleep. The ship did some rockin' and rollin' throughout the night (it was nothing like the ship ride to Antarctica) ... thank goodness I took motion sickness pills! ... And early on Thursday morning, we arrived at the first stop. (we were the 2nd stop, Kavala). The boat unloaded people and all of there food supplies, fuel, etc ... and loaded up passengers heading to Suva on the return trip.
Finally, about 5 hrs later or more .. we arrived in Kavala. Petero was there to greet us and take us back to his village on a small island next to Kadavu, called Ono. He took us, and Mandy, and 2 of her step children Maggie and Joe Joe. We had met her the night before while boarding, but didn't realize we were going to the same village as her. She is one of the teachers there at Petero's village. really friendly girl.
After Petero helped his brother get all of his things onto the ship (he was heading TO Suva) ... we packed up Petero's small fiberglass boat, covered everything in tarp, Mandy and the kids hid under plastic, and we headed out for the bumpy and really wet ride back to Petero's village.
It's late, so I will add Part II hopefully tomorrow. Below are a couple of pictures for all to see I'll add more to as the story unfolds so you know what they are about I'll be adding more to this post, when I get them back hopefully tomorrow. Oh, and why frozen chickens .. because by the time we got there, they were defrosted .. and I thought the best way to keep them fresh and not going bad in the heat. :)
FIJI PART 2
We are now at Thursday, and we arrive in Waisomo, Petero's village on the island of Ono. This is where we met Vara, Petero's wife, Raffe and Enrico, Petero's sons (Vara's stepsons), Valerie and Lucia, Petero's nieces. Vara showed us around their home, and let George and I know that we would be staying in their home (2 "bedrooms"), and Petero's brother was out of town, so their sons were staying in their home, and they had another Bedroom in the kitchen "house", that they stayed in.
(what would have been really cool though is to have been there a week later because Petero was going to tear down his house and rebuild it from scratch, this time with TWO MORE bedrooms for his sons. i would have loved to have helped with that project.)
We had quite a feast that night. Vara cooked some Curry, rice, and Kasava (root). Kasava is very dry and bland, but not bad when you think you are eating this large plant root. We managed to keep our arrival low-key, which is what we wanted. Usually there is a Kava ceremony, where the whole village drinks up Kava (made from another root) .. which makes one feel numb, if drunk in large quantities (been there, done that). We didn't have the ceremony, as Petero had given up drinking, including Kava, so we were spared that. I wasn't bummed, all I heard about Kava was that it tasted like dirty dish water, so I wasn't upset :)
Vara also made fresh rolls, scones, all yummy stuff first thing every morning. Other new things we tried were Taro (a potato like root), lemon tea made of just hot water and the leaf of a lemon tree (yum), and Lovo .. the meal cooked under the ground. Petero cooked this for us the Sunday we were there.
The rest of our stay in the village was filled with fishing, (HA, I caught the biggest fish the day we went out!), we visited the site where Petero was working (a new 28 million dollar resort being built), a picnic over where Petero has his plantation, lots of being lazy, enjoying the views, the warmth, and playing with the kids. We seemed to eat all the time too. Lots and Lots of carbohydrates. At one meal, we had rice, with noodles on top, mixed with potatoes. All starch. (jenn forgot to mention the tiny fijian chilis we were introduced to near the end of our stay. they added a very welcome bit of personality to the various dishes we were served. they even got the whole table laughing when i decided to pile on 38 of them onto my roti and had a little bit of a bite go down the wrong pipe. don't let their size fool ya! - see the photo below) We had lots of conversations with Petero, which is the reason we were there, and learned so much. We also visited the school where the children from a few different villages boardered. What a beautiful area in which to have a school. I'm not sure I would do much school work if I were them!
I was humbled by my experience there. We learned so much about Fiji, and the hardships so many people face. The coup had caused problems in both the education system, and construction sites. The construction site where Petero works, had been shut down, and now just 6 of the workers are still there out of over 200, to be caretakers. Petero was very thankful for this job, so he was able to still bring in money and able to keep his boat. He would have lost his boat, if this opportunity hadn't arisen for him. Their son, Raffe, from what I understand, had to come back for a short time because the funding for schooling wasn't coming in. And their other son, Enrico, was unable to get work, work that had been promised, so he returned to the village as well. We know Raffe returned to the main island, to Suva, I hope to go back to school. Life for them is all hard work. Petero, while we were there, was his first week off in 5 months. So we felt privileged he allowed us to be with him and his family when he has so little time with them. They work hard all day, planting, cooking, and doing all sorts of work around the place. But in light of everything, family is most important to them, and really all that matters. They didn't allow us to help out much. At one point, Vara let me know she wanted the girls, Valerie and Lucia (both under 10, I believe), to do the work, so they would learn the womans jobs around the home. She did let me help, a little, but mostly not. So, George and I were leisurely throughout the week. George taught the girls a few card games, card tricks, and during our picnic one day, tried to teach the kids to juggle. :)
Each night, the generator would go on, so there was a bit of electricity for about 3 hrs. This is when all the kids, and such would run home and get in front of the TV to watch a DVD. (a funny and frustrating experience happened more than once whilst in the middle of a DVD - sometimes at a critical line of dialog - and then BLAM! the generator cuts off only to bring rise to a series of moans and disbelief) It was really fun to see. They were so excited to see these movies, even if they watched the same ones over and over. George plugged in his laptop during this time to charge it, and I would charge the camera battery. The villagers were also very much into Volleyball and Rugby. They are all very athletic and competitive.
During our stay, we had explained to Petero, that we messed up with our plans home, and that because the Ferry didn't leave Kadavu for Suva until a Wednesday, we would miss our flight back to New Zealand which was booked on Wednesday morning. We just thought about the every Tuesday, and didn't think the return would be different, and forgot it was 16hrs of travel 1 way. So we discussed with him, about flying from Kadavu back to Nadi. There is a small airstrip on the other side of Kadavu (about a 2 hr+ boat ride from Petero's village), and it has 1 flight a day, on a small plane. We called and booked a flight out that next Tuesday, so we could make our flight in Nadi on Wednesday. We were told we needed to pay for our tickets no later than monday, so I tried to pay by credit card over the phone. They took credit cards, but not over a phone. (oh, the things we take for granted!!) We were too far from the airstrip to go and pay in person, and the only other way to get them the $ was to wire it, and we didn't have that kind of cash on us. (talk about a SNAFU!) (FYI, they had 1 phone in the village for 2 villages, and only by use of a calling card). Then, in a hugely generous way, the village "store" lent us the money to buy our flights. We would wire the money (plus a 'thank you' bonus) back to them as soon as we hit the mainland. We were stunned and so incredibly grateful to them for this generosity, and trust.
We enjoyed almost a week with the family and village, and I will say it was one of the best experiences I've had. They are wonderful people, and I can't wait to go back and see them again.
Well, Part III and Finale tomorrow .. It's late again, and I know I am leaving important details out. More photos below.
FIJI PART 3
Monday, we went on a picnic and George and Petero hiked up to see his plantation. It was a day leisurely spent reading, lying in the sun, playing with the kids, and having a bit of lunch. When we returned to the village, we took Valerie and Lucia up to their school for the start of their new term. (i had a very cute experience during this visit to see the kids off. as i walked up the hill to the kid's boarding room, Lucia came running down and greeted me by taking my hand and escorting me up the hill. it was very touching and probably my favorite part of the whole trip. more times than not it is like that...you spend time with new friends on a holiday somewhere and just as you're getting comfortable and feeling like you're fitting in somewhat, the trip ends abruptly.) On our way back, the guys were out playing some rugby, so we watched and cheered them on a bit.
- that's lucia in the red.
Tuesday morning, our final day in the village, the rooster and chickens did as they had done each morning, start crowing and making all sorts of noise around 4am, BEFORE the sun came up. :) (i miss that) And I would turn over and go back to sleep each morning until the sun came up. (not me, i usually got up not long after the chickens)
Our final morning, Vara made fresh scones, and started on a big farwell lunch for us. We had our final "talk" with Petero, and finished up our travel into his past. Then, we packed up our things, and headed out for a slow trip out to the airstrip. It was about a 2 hr boat ride. We got there a little early, and we chatted as we awaited our flight. Eventually, the plane arrived, and we were on our way back to Nadi. When we arrived, we immediately headed to an atm to get cash to wire right back to Petero for the loan. We need to send it via the post office, but we landed at 2:45, got the money and didn't make it toward there until 3:15p, and by then the post office was closed. So, we went to the western union booth to send the money. We were told that we couldn't wire money to the village from within Fiji... it had to be international. They suggested the post office the next morning, but since our flight left at 6:55am, we knew they wouldn't be open. So, instead, we took our things, and went on the next adventure of finding somewhere to stay for the night. (as chaotic as the trip was, jumping these virtual hurdles became the norm and just seemed to make us laugh. it certainly did make for a unique and challenging experience. i have to say a huge thank you to jenn for being a patient trooper and not breaking down during those tough times. well done!)
Our original plan was to stay at a hotel right by the airport, but while on the plane, a fellow kiwi mentioned that a new Hotel had opened, a swanky one, and were running a deal for 89$ FJD a night. This was cheaper than the hostel hotel we stayed at our first night, so we hopped in a taxi to go check it out. Taxi driver said it was a 22$ trip, 20 minutes away. We arrived at this luxury hotel, and I told George to hang with the taxi while I went to see if the deal was real. When I asked the man at the desk about a room, he mentioned the deal was for Fijian residents only, and for us, it would be 340$/night ... I thanked him and went back to the taxi and told them ... let's go back to the airport hotel. :) There were 2 hotels near the airport ... he took us to the first one, and I went in to see about a room. She told me they only had suites left, and that was 280$/night. Back to the taxi and we went to the 3rd hotel. This time .. I got up to the desk, and smiled, and asked the guy for a room, and to please not be expensive, we just needed to crash for the night. He accommodated us, and had one for 140$/night .. still pricey, but we took it. We were tired of driving around, and too much more, the taxi would end up too expensive.
We got in the room, showered and headed to dinner. We had to laugh when we got our drinks, they had ice in them (never take ice for granted!) ... we hadn't had a cold drink in a week, and it was refreshing.
We finished the night by watching a dvd and passed out for our early flight. Our flight home went without a hitch. When we arrived back into Wellington, we went to my apartment to find out where to transfer the money from (and that GEORGE'S car had been towed!! - DOH, don't park in bus stops or it'll cost you!), and immediately went to the western union to send Petero the money he loaned us. Then it was time to unpack shower, and sleep. Thursday was back to work.
Well, that was the adventure .. I am sure I have missed some funny and fun things, but I'll update if I remember any of them.
I'll post more pictures soon too.