Wiwi Village

Kava Ceremony
Lovo- cooking in the ground

Children dancing for us

Elle and her new friends

I will attempt to put into words our adventure of last night, but I know I will never be able to capture the essence of the night. Maureen suggested that sometime during our stay we visit a typical Fijian village for a Lovo. Villages host Lovo's for special occasions of their own, and also for tourists in order to raise money for their villages. Lovo's typically feature singing/dancing, a kava ceremony, and a feast that is cooked largely in the ground.

After seeing many of the "villages" on our drive the other day, we were skeptical to say the least. Ordinarily, I would NEVER want to eat something prepared in a place that looked like the shanty towns we had driven by. With some ambivalence we agreed to go to Wiwi Village for a lovo on Wednesday night. But, even as we were getting ready to leave we considered cancelling. Elle was tired, Liam was cranky, and we were really unsure about what we were getting ourselves into.

The taxi took us deep into the jungle, on the same rocky road from the prior day, and brought us to one of the villages we had seen before. He even seemed unsure and asked us if we knew who we were to meet with. The villagers seemed largely unmoved by our arrival, but finally a woman emerged from a house to collect us. Welcome to Wiwi Village.

There are about 50 villagers that call Wiwi home. They are all extended family, sisters/brothers, cousins, aunts/uncles, etc. We were really uncomfortable and our initial impressions were to leave straightaway with our taxi. I felt as if we had arrived on an alien planet. But, we stayed, and we are so happy that we did! Even as I try to conciously practice non-judgement of people, places and events, this night illuminated how much work I still have to do.

The Fijians truly are some of the friendliest, most hospitable people I've ever met. Their gentle nature, warm smiles and amiable personalities set you at ease very quickly. And this happened within minutes at the village. The children were so happy and lovely, and they welcomed Elle immediately. Elle had a ball playing with them, she wants to go back to Wiwi to play with the kids.

The Ratu, the man in charge, took us to a bure where we removed our shoes and sat on a pandanus mat. A young woman, daughter of the Ratu, came and made small talk with us. The other villages paid little attention to us. Young boys were enmeshed in a game, older boys were coming home for a spearfishing trip, women were in homes doing their work. Two men were tending to the lovo. The young kids, Elle included, just ran around the yard picking flowers, rolling down hills, and playing little games.

There are about 8 huts/houses that make up the village. Most of them were made from aluminum and some plywood. They look very rudimentary from the outside, and we were very, very uneasy about eating dinner here.

Soon, 4 more tourists arrived and somehow made us feel more comfortable...a little less like we alone had been transported to an alien planet. The Ratu came back and gave us a tour of the village, and took us to see the lovo (the underground method of cooking that they use only for special occasions). They heat the rocks, lay the food down and then cover with large leaves. He very patiently answered any and all questions we threw at him. Such as,

- Do you have any power? Yes, a generator, it only runs from 6-9PM.

- Do the kids go to school? Yes, K-12. They walk a few km to the school

- How do they earn money? Farming, mostly Copra (coconut shells), Kava, and some fruits/vegetables. Some villages go into the towns and work at the resorts, but very few.

Next we were taken inside one of the houses and were shocked by 1. how clean the house was, the floors were immaculate. 2. by the amount of electronics in the home, tv's, radios, phones and cell phones too. There were chairs along two walls and the 6 tourists sat. The music was turned on and 4 adorable children did a dance for us. Another song started and the man and his son did a traditional hunting dance, very cool actually.

Next up, back to the bure for a traditional Kava Ceremony. Kava is the national drink here in Fiji, it's unavoidable. It's a mild sedative and relaxant. The kava root is shredded and pounded by hand in a cloth sack inside a bowl of water. It looks like muddy water and tastes like it too. There is much ceremony about the process, what is said, how it is drank, etc. We tried to decline, because frankly, it looks disgusting and the communal sharing of bowl and the same cup was off-putting, but the host was insistent and insulted. He says- you haven't been to Fiji if you don't try the kava. So we did. It tastes slightly yucky, and as for it being a sedative or relaxant, we felt nothing at all. But, now, we have been to Fiji.

Next it was time to eat, and plate by plate, out came a small feast. At least 10 different dishes were served. Most of it had been grown right on their land. Watermelon and pineapple, avocado, eggplant two different ways, whole grilled fish, coconut marinated raw fish, taro, veggie curry, passionfruit pie and much more. The flies were awful, even as our hosts did their best to keep them away waving palm fronds over the food. The food was quite good though, and the passionfruit juice was the best juice I've ever had, I think. I was downing my second glass when I began to question where their drinking water had come from.... I stopped drinking. However, 24 hours later we are all healthy!

After dinner, two of the village men played guitar and sang. It was all very, very pleasant. We learned so much about their village life and they were so welcoming to us. They hugged us goodbye, thanked us profusely, and said, now we are family and we are always welcome there. In fact, they want Elle back right away!

As we drove away, I was feeling so thankful for being a part of their village last night. We really got to step outside of our world, and be a part of something truly different. And although I quite like our life, I was thinking that theirs is a nice life too. They work together, for a common purpose, they support each other in work and in family. They grow everything they really need right there. The kids run freely and the joy on their faces is not something I see in the US. The warmth of their family unit envelopes you. Certainly they have their hardships too, but life is simple. It was a wonderful experience and will likely be a highlight of our trip here.

I have to add here something that happened this morning-- A enormous watermelon arrived for us. $25 Fiji we were told. That's about $13 US. That's an astronomical price anywhere, but outright ridiculous here in Fiji.

At the lovo, I had commented on their good watermelon, and noted that I hadn't seen it for sale on the island. He says "would you like to buy one?". To be polite, I said "sure, maybe". It was never discusssed again. But this morning, I got my watermelon. All $20 of it, we shamed him down to $20. It's not a good melon, but it is a good cause.