Kava

26/11/13

     I think it's torture having sunburn and bugbites all over at the same time. Some bites I got in my sleep; I woke up to find huge painful welts on my legs, and I think they must be spider bites. Good thing there are no poisonous spiders in Fiji. No poisonous anything, in fact. It takes a lot of the worry out of exploring and trying new things; there's not much that can kill you. Not unless you stupidly ingest something you shouldn't. 

     We were told on our tour of an old cannibalistic tribal fort about two trees that looks the same, and the names start with the same word, but one has a bigger seed pod than the other. The smaller seed pod one grows by the shore, and if eaten it will kill you. The larger seed pod tree grows inland, and it is commonly eaten. But the island is only so big and deadlier tree grows for miles inland, so any eaters had better know what they're doing. 

    The fort was definitely an interesting part of the trip. Not so much what's actually left over to look at, since the whole thing was burned down 200 years ago, and only rediscovered 20 years ago. There's not much left to look at. But the history of the tribe (given to us by our guide, a descendant of the last chief of that very tribe, or do they said) was very interesting. Plus she told us a lot about what plants were around us and what they can be used for. That was the coolest part.

   But cooler than that, on our trek around Vetu Lievu (the mainland), was visiting the village of Navala, near Ba, on the north side. That was where we actually tried Kava. We'd been warned not to try it anywhere but a local village, since you never know what else is in it in the city. And like I said, I'm not about to ingest something stupid. In the village they made it in front of us, and don't worry, they used very clean water to make it. It may look like muddy river water, and taste like it, but it's not. And to prove it, when you drink it your mouth goes kinda numb. I wondered if I had just done something stupid, but the natives drank it with us, just as much as we did. I figured that if it was going to incapacitate me, at least we'd all be incapacitated together. And since nno-one drinks alcohol around here, except the tourists, I didn't think it would be that bad. It wasn't. At least, not in that way. 

    We read in our guidebooks before we came about Kava. It's made in honor of guests, or for ceremonies, and it's considered very rude to refuse trying it. They interpret refusal as your belief that you're better than them, too good to try any of their stuff. So when we were offered some, we felt we couldn't refuse. Only I thought I'd only have to try one bowl. But apparently, the cup keeps getting passed around the circle until the whole bowl is gone. And then they made another bowl. We must have drank at least 6 bowls, maybe 8, each. I didn't think it tasted too bad but I almost threw up my last cupful just from sheer overload of liquid. I never have been a chugger, and unfortunately that's how Kava is supposed to be drank: gulped down quickly, all in one shot. I'm guessing there are about 8-10 ounces of Kava per cup, at least. 

     On top of trying Kava, they also cooked a meal for us. They gave us a tour of their village: showed us the church and the school, then the community center, whichever as just an oversized bure. In the community center we sat through one of their religious ceremonies. The whole village is Catholic but they weren't speaking in English or Latin and it was pretty strange. After church they presented us with lunch. There was a huge bowl of rice, 3 bowls of sauces (Dahl, Dahl with noodles, and a coconut cream), spinach-like vegetable in a bowl, pineapple, papaya, 2 plates of I-forget-what-it's-called but it's a really dry, starchy root, fried eggplant, and a big pitcher of water. There was more food than a Thanksgiving dinner, and it was just for us. I was already full just from Kava. They told us we had to stay until it was all gone (which they laughed at hysterically), so we did our best. I think they were joking but I wasn't sure, plus I didn't want to be rude. I don't think we finished even half of it. I just couldn't put anything more into my mouth. I explained we were just too full and asked if they'd eat it if we didn't finish it, and thankfully they let us quit. The leftovers got passed around and eaten quickly. There were still at least 20 people there, leftover from church. 

   Not long after that we gulped down one last cup of Kava (it would have been more, I'm sure, but I again begged out of it because I was too full), and then it was okay for us to leave. 

   It was quite an experience. I'm not sure it's something I want to repeat all that often, or ever, but I sure am glad I did it once. 

-Carolyn