We had a shore excursion today in Lautoka, so everyone did their own thing for breakfast. Me, I had room service, which arrived promptly at 7:00. I had gotten my wakeup call about 5 minutes prior to them knocking on my door. I finished eating and since I had an extra 30 minutes to kill, I laid back down in my big bed. You never know when you need that extra rest for these busy days. As it turns out I needed a bit ‘extra’ because of events on the excursion.
The group had decided that we would muster at 8:45 at the meeting place for the excursion, which was in the main theater at the bow of the ship. Our group was the 2nd one called, so we went to the bus early. It wasn’t too crowded AND IT WAS AIR CONDITIONED! YEA!!
The tour was led by a local guy by the name of ‘Bill’. He did a very good job of telling us about the Fiji Islands and the culture. He asked for a volunteer to be the representative of our group to receive the welcome at the First Arrival stop. (The First Arrival area is where the Fijians believe their ancestors first arrived to the islands). I was nominated and he immediately started calling me Chief John. Now I am King of the World AND Chief of my clan or tribe. Our guide explained what I had to do and say for the ceremony. When we arrived everyone form our bus and one other were greeted with native songs and dancers. Nice. From there they served us drinks and fresh fruit. After that, they did the welcoming ceremony.
The Welcoming Ceremony consisted of a large wooded bowl with a rope attached to it and shell beads at the other end. This represented the world and the link to the people. There were 4 men involved, 2 in native costumes and a narrator. They started by clapping their hands 3 times to show welcome and then they mixed the Kava (dried and powdered roots from the kava plant). This is where I questioned my participation. They poured a bucket of water into the wooden bowl and put the kava powder into a cloth bag. Then the big guy just submerged the bag and started squishing it in the water. (not sure if he washed his hands first, but I pretended that he did). He mixed it this way for a minute or two to make the drink. Next he poured some into a coconut bowl and presented it to me, the chief of the tribe. I had to clap one and drink the whole thing to show respect and to accept the welcome and say “Bula”. The drink tasted sweet at first, then turned astringent and very earthy. Three hours later, as I write this, my tong still tingles a bit and feels like the taste buds have been ‘effected’ a bit). After drinking the kava, they all clapped 3 times and then I had to clap 3 times to indicate that the ceremony was concluded and we were now welcomed to Fiji.
There was also a demonstration on how to peel and open a coconut and a bit of weaving of palm leaves. This stop lasted about an hour and we were on our way. The second stop was at a Hindu temple, the largest in the South Pacific. It wasn’t all that great, and most of us didn’t even get off the bus. We couldn’t go in, but were allowed to take pictures.
The last stop was to a shopping area called “Jack’s of Fiji”. It was kind of a small 2 story department / gift store. I did buy a few things. Shirts and a art bowl for the house. I had it carved with “Chief John 2017” to commemorate my visit to the Islands.
Following that, the bus took us back to the ship. We dropped our things off in the staterooms and went up to the Lido for lunch. On the way down to my room, I stopped at the Hudson room to see if there were any bridge players available None were, so I came back to the room to write this blog and relax a bit from this grueling day of being Chief.
Joe decided that he didn't want to change for dinner so he went to the Lido for dinner. They were having an Australian BBQ event there so he wanted to enjoy that and to watch the sail away from the back deck. Bob and Jim joined Kevin, Gary and I in the main dining hall. It was a pleasant meal and we got a chance to viist in a quieter setting than the LGBT meetups.
After dinner everyone went to their rooms. I came down and went out to the veranda. It looked like the clouds might clear tonight adn I wanted to see if the southern stars were visible. Thy were and quite bright. We so wanted to see them last year, but it was either too light in Antarctica and every place else had cloud cover. Now that I have seen them, I can cross that off my bucket list. I guess I can cross being Chief of the Tribe off also.
Tomorrow is another small island stop in Fiji. It sounds like it is similar to Mystery Island stop in Vanuatu.
