I always got excited when I got to drink Fiji water bottles. I thought it tasted like heaven on Earth. Or maybe I just liked the square shaped bottles. Never did I anticipate that I would get a free bottle of Fiji water…IN FIJI.
Would that be equally exciting to anyone else? Probably not.
But I was ecstatic, so that’s all that counts, right?
I decided to tour the small Fijian village of Sawani. Sawani is a fully operational Methodist village with 400 inhabitants.
The homes and public facilities are quite modest but nonetheless everyone seemed happy. They consider themselves as one big family. This, of course, is a stark contrast to most places in America. Unless you consider some rural communities where everyone actually is family by blood.
Sorry, lame joke.
The villagers performed traditional ceremonies for us.
Before they began, we had to select a chief from our tour group to represent us. Then 30 minutes of total awkwardness ensued. The men avoided eye contact with one another by looking down while shuffling nervously in their seats.
Eventually this cool guy in a Hawaiian shirt volunteered and the first ceremony was underway.
Kava is a traditional drink found in many islands in the South Pacific. It’s not something you can buy in a 7-Eleven (or at least I assume so based on the weird looks I got when I went in one and asked). It’s supposed to have relaxing properties or something. Our village “chief” was the first to receive a bowl of kava. He said it kind of tasted like a bowl of muddy water, which didn’t freak me out too much.
I was looking for a traditional experience and I thought why the hell not.
So I had quite a bit of the stuff.
I felt semi-relaxed, but mainly my tongue just got numb so I couldn’t taste the cookies they gave us afterward. Basically it was a no-win situation because of the cookies, and it really did taste like muddy water.
The ceremony continued with a formal presentation of coconuts, traditional song, dance and a brief history of the community. Before heading back to port, the villagers sold us locally made arts and crafts. They also tried to sell us plastic bracelets “made in China” which I can’t imagine is a rarity anywhere, but whatever.
On the bus home, I learned that the kava plant is chewed by several villagers before the ceremony is performed for tourists.
No wonder it was so hard to get a village chief to volunteer.
I. Almost. Died. Plus, I’m glad I had cool parents that weren’t anti-vaccine or whatever instead of this weird stuff some parents are pulling nowadays.
westderlust 