We left bright and early for Lautoka, the port where we were to catch our 3 day/night cruise through the Yasawa islands. We all piled into the "limo" with our needed luggage and took off for the 40 minute drive. We drove through the Fijian scenery, past sugar cane fields and little villages. About 15 miles into the trip, our trusty "limo" died. Mid-hill she just shut down. So after a quick pull over we cranked her back up and we were off again. For about 2 miles. She started again but a couple miles later...well you get the picture. The last 20 minutes of our trip were with held breath and all of us praying just to make it to the dock. I guess we figured we'd deal with her when we got back. With tears in our eyes we finally made it to the check in lounge. They welcomed us, assigned our rooms, measured us for snorkel gear and gave us our keys and off we went.
Our boat.
We got on the boat and took our respective rooms and that was when the game of "musical rooms" started. Everyone was switching around, Uncle George ended up on the deck below us, but after all it worked out. We set sail after a few announcements about the upcoming safety drill. While unpacking in our room, Mom and I heard a couple long whistles from the ship's horn. We peaked outside and no one else seemed to be going up so we stayed and finished unpacking. Lo and behold we ran into dad later when a deckhand found us frantic. We had missed the drill. Yep...we were those people. Katlyn told us later that they had called room numbers to see who was missing. Bueller....Bueller...
The boat had 28 cabins. Most of the rooms were located outside on the 3rd deck. The bridge was sunbathing. Below that was the dining area, bar and a lounge, and below that were 2 decks of cabins. The rooms were small but comfortable and the food was pretty bomb. Our lunch that first day was a mix of American food (french fries) and Fijian food (the most delicious beef curry. ever)
in the dining room, the food was delish.
After making friends with the crew and sailing along for about 3 hours we landed in our first port. This was the village of Gumu and we were scheduled to attend a Kava ceremony there. Kava is used by the locals in many different ceremonies. It is a potent drink made of a root and we had read that it made your mouth go numb. I was excited to see the culture, but had prepared myself for a touristy flavor.
leaving the market.
I was pleasantly surprised by the Kava ceremony and the village visit. When we first got ashore, many of the villagers were waiting on the beach to return home from the market. It was an authentic look at what it takes to survive in the Fijian islands. We made our way into the local church where we were briefed about how to carry ourselves during the ceremony and what the local culture is like. We then made our way to the community hall where we asked to be received inside and we were gladly granted access. After being given flower necklaces and removing our shoes we made our way inside. Then the kava ceremony began. The villagers sat on one side of the room while we faced them. The chief then began mixing the root powder and the water into a giant bowl. The villagers all chanted and sang throughout the ceremony. Our elected "chief" then accepted the kava and drank it. Then it was our turn. Those of us who wanted to signal that we would like to try the Kava, clapped and a small bowl was brought over. Dad went first. When the villager approached you clapped once, said "Bula" and then drank the bowl. After finishing you clapped three times with your hands cupped. Dad drank and then it was my turn. The mixture in the bowl appeared like a murky, muddy tea. Me being the stud that I am drank it with no problem. It tasted exactly like it looked: a murky, muddy tea but I got a cigarettey taste to it, like filling an ashtray with water and drinking it (but after consulting with everyone that might have just been me). It did make you tongue feel a little fuzzy but we didn't start hallucinating, like grandma was afraid of. After all of us had our fill of kava (the only 2 not to drink were Grandma and Alyssa) the dancing began. The villagers danced and sang. The music was beautiful with effortless harmonies and songs that didn't need any sort of instruments. They picked people from the crowd to dance with them and of course they read that the Maillos are fun loving people who love to be in front of a crowd (NOT) so of course we were all drug up on stage to dance around. In a last ditch effort to avoid dancing, Dad tried to act like he was taking a picture to no avail. They saw through his crafty ways... After the dance we were invited to visit the local market to look at the handicrafts the villagers made. The candyman reared his head and gave out ring pops to a few of the kids working the stalls.
Our boat.
We got on the boat and took our respective rooms and that was when the game of "musical rooms" started. Everyone was switching around, Uncle George ended up on the deck below us, but after all it worked out. We set sail after a few announcements about the upcoming safety drill. While unpacking in our room, Mom and I heard a couple long whistles from the ship's horn. We peaked outside and no one else seemed to be going up so we stayed and finished unpacking. Lo and behold we ran into dad later when a deckhand found us frantic. We had missed the drill. Yep...we were those people. Katlyn told us later that they had called room numbers to see who was missing. Bueller....Bueller...
The boat had 28 cabins. Most of the rooms were located outside on the 3rd deck. The bridge was sunbathing. Below that was the dining area, bar and a lounge, and below that were 2 decks of cabins. The rooms were small but comfortable and the food was pretty bomb. Our lunch that first day was a mix of American food (french fries) and Fijian food (the most delicious beef curry. ever)
in the dining room, the food was delish.
After making friends with the crew and sailing along for about 3 hours we landed in our first port. This was the village of Gumu and we were scheduled to attend a Kava ceremony there. Kava is used by the locals in many different ceremonies. It is a potent drink made of a root and we had read that it made your mouth go numb. I was excited to see the culture, but had prepared myself for a touristy flavor.
leaving the market.
I was pleasantly surprised by the Kava ceremony and the village visit. When we first got ashore, many of the villagers were waiting on the beach to return home from the market. It was an authentic look at what it takes to survive in the Fijian islands. We made our way into the local church where we were briefed about how to carry ourselves during the ceremony and what the local culture is like. We then made our way to the community hall where we asked to be received inside and we were gladly granted access. After being given flower necklaces and removing our shoes we made our way inside. Then the kava ceremony began. The villagers sat on one side of the room while we faced them. The chief then began mixing the root powder and the water into a giant bowl. The villagers all chanted and sang throughout the ceremony. Our elected "chief" then accepted the kava and drank it. Then it was our turn. Those of us who wanted to signal that we would like to try the Kava, clapped and a small bowl was brought over. Dad went first. When the villager approached you clapped once, said "Bula" and then drank the bowl. After finishing you clapped three times with your hands cupped. Dad drank and then it was my turn. The mixture in the bowl appeared like a murky, muddy tea. Me being the stud that I am drank it with no problem. It tasted exactly like it looked: a murky, muddy tea but I got a cigarettey taste to it, like filling an ashtray with water and drinking it (but after consulting with everyone that might have just been me). It did make you tongue feel a little fuzzy but we didn't start hallucinating, like grandma was afraid of. After all of us had our fill of kava (the only 2 not to drink were Grandma and Alyssa) the dancing began. The villagers danced and sang. The music was beautiful with effortless harmonies and songs that didn't need any sort of instruments. They picked people from the crowd to dance with them and of course they read that the Maillos are fun loving people who love to be in front of a crowd (NOT) so of course we were all drug up on stage to dance around. In a last ditch effort to avoid dancing, Dad tried to act like he was taking a picture to no avail. They saw through his crafty ways... After the dance we were invited to visit the local market to look at the handicrafts the villagers made. The candyman reared his head and gave out ring pops to a few of the kids working the stalls.
Making the kava
From Coca to Kava....detox, here we come.
As campy and hoaky as the village visit was, it retained a bit of the villages original culture in the smiles of the villagers faces, the harmonious voices and the laughter shared between them (perhaps at our expense). Standing in front of a crowd of villagers, dancing like fools binds us and brings us together as human beings, regardless of the color of our skin or the language we speak. We hear music, we celebrate and we dance, we laugh when we are embarrassed or when we have fun with our traditions.
this guy walked 45 mins. to dance for us. bangin.
After shopping in the shell market we made our way down to the beach to wait for the tenders back to the boat. The candy man worked his magic and found a few stray ring pops at the bottom of his backpack. The kids loved them, though they had some trouble figuring them out. We helped them open them and showed them how to eat them. While sitting on the beach we noticed a kid climbing a coconut tree about 15 feet high. He climbed it in a matter of seconds and was throwing down coconuts. His mom used a machete to open the coconut and we all drank the sweet young coconut milk inside. The same milk that would cost you $8 at Blue Mango but is a $1 here. We noticed some kids on the beach so we started playing with them. One of them had found a lime and had started a soccer game with Robb. A bunch of us joined in and it turned into all of us running and chasing each other on the beach. I even taught one kid to high five, pound it and "park the car". He got it down no problemo. It is infectious to hang out with these kids. Tattered, used clothes on their backs and no shoes but they haven't a care in the world. The look on their faces when they got the ring pops was priceless. It got me thinking: Is there anything that I get as excited about as those kids got about a simple 10 cent candy? How can we be so hurried, rushed and tired when these kids who have drastically less than us can be totally elated with a ring pop? It just helps to put things in perspective. There were about 800 people per village with 8 villages on the island so basically the entire student body of LMU were the only people living on this massive tropical island, just living off the land.
Impressive, no?
Impressive, no?
After our impromptu soccer game, we gave our high fives and headed back to the boat. They let us know that they would take us back to the lagoon for a quick little swim. Katlyn and I didn't want to swim but rode along with Dad, Robb, Brandon, Alyssa, Lisa and Uncle George. The took us out to where it was fairly shallow and the swimmers took off. It was shallow enough to stand and it came up to about your waist. Ever the showoff, Jeffrey decided to try and dive back in the water after returning to the boat. Changing his mind midair he proceeded to do, as Brandon called it, a "nut flop". You get the picture. Everyone swam until the boat signaled us it was time to leave. We all changed for the captain's dinner that was to take place that night. We cruised until dinner when we dropped anchor for the night and took our seats in the dining room. It was a delicious meal but all of us struggled to keep our eyes open through the meal. We couldn't wait to get back to our rooms and hit the hay. We threw dinner rolls out the upstairs windows while we ate to attract fish to the boat and we saw schools and schools of them. After dinner we headed to our cabins to rest up before our exciting day at the Blue Lagoon's private island, Nanuya LaiLai.
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