An eventful Fijian Day

Day 3 in Fiji was eventful and exciting! A breakfast of eggs, bacon, fruit and cereal nourished us for a beastly hike to the village on the other side of the island. Right after breakfast the troops gathered and we set of in the back of the resort for a trail guiding us up and down the mountain and across the beach to the village. The hike got pretty steep at a few points and once we made it over the mountain we still had a few miles of beach and rocks to conquer before making it to the village. The girls had to cover their shoulders and knees before entering and the guys had to wear shirts and take their hats off to show respect. Before entering the village, we were told to shout and make a lot of noise because the people of the village were still celebrating the new years (it is January 5^th by the way). We were also warned that water fights might break out at any time due to the celebration as well.

So we got to the village, passing a few cages of pigs on the way, and walked along a concrete path through the village toward the school. The homes were constructed of concrete and wooden roofs with several shacks made of that tin/aluminum siding and roof. The village was just a bunch of homes, a church, a field for recreational sports, and two buildings for school. It was by no means small though. It housed nearly 500 people and I was surprised by the amount of people and buildings that I saw. Once at the school, and elder gave us a description of the village, the school, the chief, and their general way of life. He stressed to us their growing pressure on the children for education and shared stories of community service groups that would come to the island to help paint buildings, teach courses and donate money and time. He also explained the importance of Christianity in the village. The man explained that prior to Christianity, 200 years ago, the villagers practiced cannibalism. Thank God for Christianity.

Once the man was done speaking, we walked to the center of the village where many women sat in front of blankets selling handmade goods and collected donations for the school. Meanwhile, the weather turned from painfully sunny to a torrential downpour that lasted only 15 minutes or so before the sun was pounding yet again. We took a small tour of the village and were showed their proudest and largest building, the church. After the church, we posed for a picture and made our way back to the beach to start our adventure back to our resort. On our way out, the locals picked some coconuts to sell to us. They made a little hole on the top to drink from, then once finished, they cut them open and scooped out the edible coconut inside. I was not a fan of either the juice or white insides, but several people really liked it. The tide had risen significantly and we now had to walk back through the water and slippery rocks. We conquered the mountain again and were back at the resort within an hour or so.

A shower and lunch later, the events began. First was a spear throwing competition for the guys and girls. After several practice tries and the final attempt for the win, I of course, failed miserably. I could not get say more than 15 feet tops and the spear would go sideways. Pathetic. Following the spear throwing competition was a tug of war between the dorm kids and the bure kids. The first round was a very close battle and after struggling for a while we lost to the kids living in the dorms. Round two in our best of three match was a little more interesting. We had decided that on our “1, 2, 3, pull” we would let go and watch as the other side would fall backwards. Unbeknownst to us, the other side had the exact same plan. So on our “Pull” we let go and the other team, ready to do the same thing, did not fall or anything similar. They just gently pulled the rope past the marker for the win. The final event was a water balloon toss. Which I got soaked in. In retrospect, this was a pretty pitiful course of events. Haha, oh well.

A case of beer was rewarded to some of the winners and we played a few drinking games and enjoyed the happy hour(s) before dinner. Dinner was curry themed buffet that was absolutely amazing. Just before dinner one of the other kids had gotten a diesel splinter stuck right in his thumb and I had to yank it out with some splinters. It was very unpleasing and difficult as Eric struggled through the pain, but no worries, we triumphed and the splinter was out. After dinner, a small drinking race was held (surprise mom and dad I did not compete). The girls raced to finish wine, while the boys had to chug a bottle of beer without using their hands. The rest of the night was uneventful, music and dancing at the bar, and drinking games at the tables. My bed never felt so good.