Saturday Off! Suva Market, Kava and this Blog at last.

Saturday, January 19, 2008 / 1100

Suva Motor Inn, Suva, Fiji

Finally a day of rest and time to accomplish some task heretofore neglected . . . like posting to this blog, hitting the Suva City Market, buy our sevusevu (the bundle of dried yaqona [kava] roots) which we use in our ritual greetings and asking if we can help the two villages we will visit in the Yasawa Islands located in the Northwest part of Fiji. They are some of the most beautiful islands in the world. If you google the Yasawa’s and use the Images tab you will find beautiful photographs. Once I return I hope to post some images on google earth using panoramio.com (spelling?) to tie the photo to the location of where we are at. We will be staying at the Navutu Stars resort at night which I hear is very nice. I actually hope to spend at least a few nights in the village like I used to in the past. There is nothing like being in the village – frankly, the westerner gets very spoiled because still, for the most part, you are an oddity. A foreigner is still an exception because I guess that most tourists are either uncomfortable or uneasy about staying in the village. Of course when most are paying a huge sum you wish to take advantage of every luxury. Staying in the village for me is a luxury in a sense but then again I feel at home there. Guess I am beating this to death but it is a reflection of my own attempts at sussing this issue out and coming to a more in depth understanding.

Later today we’ll visit friends at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital so I am very excited about that. We leave for the Yasawa Islands on Sunday but a hurricane is headed at us so the ferry crossing is delayed due to some very rough seas. Hopefully our medical mission will not turn into a full scale relief mission (I have not checked with Fiji weather today but the wind is up). After my return from the Yasawa’s I got the invite to go to the island of Beqa (just Southwest of Suva), the island of the firewalkers! There is a resort that Linda Kwasny (who started the Loloma Foundation) used to own. Instead of the $400 (US) a night I’ll pay $125 thereabouts which is basically the cost of food, boat transport and so on and so forth. It is supposed to be quite luxurious. I will work during part of the day seeing patients and play the rest on the reef. I am also excited about what kind of medical issues I will get to see.

My friend in Santa Rosa, California by the name of Sai is from Beqa, the village of Rukua. I brought his wife a package and she is going to arrange a night at Rukua Village for me so that is very, very nice. Found out Sai is actually a Ratu, or Chief so it is a huge honor for me to go to his village.

After a few days there I’ll return to Suva to see a few friends – Robin Taylor formerly of the University of the South Pacific, my ex in-laws (whom I will take a sevusevu today) and get ready to leave for the United States. Somehow, upon my return, I hope to take a trip outside of my area at least once a month . . . it is my hope that this will help me to not feel so restless all the time. I think that exposure to new places, even if familiar culture can do a lot to keep one stimulated / engaged – thus happier? We shall see.

I’ll pen off here as they say in Fiji and add to this later. Thanks for reading and moce mada!

David