Suva, Viti Levu Island, Fiji - Nov 4

Being on vacation is exhausting. I spent all day today resting up from the excursion in Suva. I got up for coffee at 11:00 am and then lunch at 11:30. After that it was nap time!!

The tour in Suva was called “The Jewel of Fiji”. It was that, even on a cold and rainy day. There were 50 of us who set out at 8:00 am for Karomakawa Village. We were to see the village and ride in a canoe and a raft on the river. We got a lot more than that. And we almost got left at the dock.

It was a 45 minute drive along the south coast and then up into the interior to get to the village. One of the comedians on the ship said a typhoon hit Suva and did $2 million worth of improvements. We didn't see where it hit.

Karomakawa is more prosperous than the village we went to last time. This one has a really pretty, well-decorated meeting hall raised up above the normal flood level. When the river floods all the villagers take refuge there, unless is is a big flood. Then they go up into the hills.

These villagers are the Danford family. The founder was an Englishman from London who came to the South Pacific about 1825. He was one of the first to establish relations with the main island Fijians and not end up as dinner. They were cannibals here, as they were in all of the Fijian isles. Mr. Danford made himself useful and was invited into the chief's family and he was given a wife. He and his sons established the village. The land is owned by the village. The men stay with the village and get wives (one wife each, in modern times) from other villages. Now, about ten generations later, there are about 150 in the village. Primogeniture – firstborn male – determines who is the chief of the village.

There was the greeting ceremony and the kava ceremony and then lunch – another pit barbecue. We had curry chicken and barbecue pork, baked fish and taro, and various vegetable dishes – all very good. The best thing on the table was taro leaves cooked in coconut cream. I am going to try to duplicate it at home. If I can't get taro leaves, maybe grape leaves would work as a substitute. With some sticky rice it might turn out to be Fijian Dolmades.

After lunch we were to go upriver in motor canoes to see the waterfall. We were on a private tour set up by Els. (Thank you very much, Els. It was an exceptionally good day, rain and all!) There were ship tours doing almost exactly the same thing (except that Princess does not allow them to eat the village food. Princess supplies box lunches, so they miss a tasty part of the culture.) The canoes took the ship tour upriver while we ate lunch, but they were very long in getting back. It was this delay that caused the timing problem at the dock.

The canoe ride upriver was a real “heart of darkness” trip. Jungle, cliffs, waterfalls, rain, rapids, wild scenery, and a few goats and cows. Some of the villages up the river have minimal road access. Bamboo grows everywhere, so they make a bamboo raft to come downriver to town and then get back home on the road. The raft trip takes them about 15 hours.

After the canoe ride, it was a short walk to the waterfall, holding onto ropes and watching every step, wishing there were more ropes. The guide says it is 62 meters high, but I wasn't able to get into position to see the top. Everybody on the canoe was soaked, so the idea of getting in the pool at the waterfall didn't appeal to all. Libby and I got in for a very short swim. The water was warmer than the air, so it was quite pleasant.

From there we got on a bamboo raft for a float downstream. Not all that far because we didn't have much time and the river moves slowly except through the rapids. The bamboos were as much as 6 inch diameter and use small ropes, probably made of pandanus fiber, to hold the structure together. The thing wiggles and creaks and does not build confidence. We lost part of it in one rapid, rocks knocked off part of the bottom. It rode a little lower in the water after that.

We transferred back to the conoes for a fairly fast ride downriver to the bus again. People started to worry that we were running late, but none of us knew how far or how long it was to the ship. The driver went as fast as he could, but we were still on the main street when “all aboard” time came. We got to the ship about 5 minutes later, the very last passengers to arrive. The police band was on the dock putting on a good show. They draw a good crowd even in the rain, but the staff had already pushed everybody else inside the ship. Libby was 16th from last, I was 12th. We all got in, they slammed the door shut, and the ship left immediately. We have never cut it quite that close before.