Circle Pacific 1998/99 - Day 25 - Fiji

• Three villagers loaded our stuff into a small twin-cab pickup to head up mountain for village stay
• Picked up 2 other travellers - Dave joked that it'd be funny if one was someone from the Cooks hostel, and it was - Gillian - had a good laugh
• Stopped for provisions - booze
• Roads muddy + slick from recent rains - extra villagers pushed + stood on rear bumper to gain traction - road crew w/ tractor pulled us uphill @ one point - Dave rode rest of way in back w/ villagers - they asked him if Gill + I were both his wives
• Stopped several times on way up so one of the village guys could puke - no alcohol allowed in village, so they were getting it in while they can
• Landscape not as lush as Rarotonga - grass, small shrubs, pines - some hilltops burned clear

• Village mix of old + new - cheap metal + wood shacks - well water - TVs - pretty chickens - various dogs

• Met a few local kids - the girl in the middle (w/ very short hair) was really curious about where we were from, why we were in Fiji, where we were going

• As visitors, we have to stay outside the fence that encloses the village - moved into a bure (hut of woven bamboo) - awesome!

• Open-sided communal area for chatting/gaming/eating - hibiscus bushes are in bloom
• Guide took us to meet the chief + drink kava - Dave had to wear skirtlike wrap - heh - we didn't bring kava, so we paid the suggested $4 tribute apiece - drank it with his wife b/c chief was busy watching World Cup in his house

• Kava ritual: on your turn, clap hands once, take kava bowl, say, "Bula" to group, drink kava in one go, clap hands 3 times, hand off bowl - kava gross, tastes like weird dirt - maybe a touchy gingery - numbs your mouth - 5 rounds of kava drinking tonight - Shan had three - 2 hours total