Navotua Village: The real Fiji (Days 26-28)

After a short flight to Nadi, Fiji, we arrived around 6pm as the sun was setting.  Fiji airport is a chaotic but streamlined airport where people are rushed through bag pick up and security screenings in an efficient if overwhelming manner.

There are plenty of people waiting at the exit trying to entice you with rides or bookings, but we brushed them off as we navigated our way through the throngs to a Yellow Cab that would take us to our pre-booked accommodation in Nadi for the night - or so we thought.

We pulled up in the dark to the place we had booked through airbnb, JetSet Accommodation.  Right away our taxi driver noticed something odd - the door was all boarded up and the entire place looked like it was under construction.  Someone came out of one of the nearby buildings and spoke in Fijian to the taxi driver, and they discussed back and forth for a bit before the man turned to us and explained in English that the place was under construction and closed for business.  Confused, we explained our airbnb booking.  He said the person in charge should have cancelled our booking.  When we explained that our credit cards had already been charged, he told us that he would pay for our accommodation that night elsewhere.

Our taxi driver kindly agreed to drive us around to several locations nearby until we found one with availability, and then called the man back on his cell phone to come on over and pay the front desk.  Our taxi driver was extremely kind and helpful, making sure to not leave us until our new accommodation had been confirmed and the payment made by the other man.  We made sure to tip him extra!  He could have easily left us stranded, but he explained that part of his training as a taxi driver in Fiji is to never abandon tourists who are in need and to do everything possible to make sure they are taken care of.

We ended up in a room with three beds, which was a little strange but we assumed it was the only private room they had left.  A very unexpected and mildly stressful surprise to encounter as our first Fijian experience, but our campervan journey got us used to unexpected events so we just rolled with it!

The next morning we woke up bright and early for our 7:15am shuttle bus pick-up down the road that would take us to Port Denarau where we would board the Yasawa Flyer, a catamaran that makes daily stops to all the islands in the Yasawa region.  After checking our large bags onto the boat, we quickly purchased several large bottles of water and withdrew cash before boarding the Yasawa Flyer catamaran to the remote Navotua Village, our first stop.

Some views of a few of Fiji's 333 islands while aboard the Yasawa Flyer:

We found Navotua Village on airbnb.  The listing advertised a stay in an authentic Fijian village, and we selected it as our first stop because we wanted to be sure to experience the real Fiji, not just a commercialized resort experience. 

After a four and a half hour scenic boat ride through the Yasawa Islands, we finally arrived at our stop.  Passengers heading to Navotua homestay were called to come down and identify their bags which were loaded into one water taxi, while we hopped into another water taxi steered by the friendly native Fijian, Big Joe.  Another half hour boat ride, and we had finally arrived.  We were greeted by the woman in charge of the homestays, who explained that in the village we needed to wear something to cover our legs.  I had a dress in my bag, but J didn't have anything appropriate so someone from the village lent her a skirt.  We were told that "as long as you look like a girl", it was acceptable.  (I found this especially amusing since J is more likely to be seen wearing a backwards baseball cap than anything resembling a skirt...)


We were shown to our accommodation.  We initially booked one of their "bure", but they had a full house (11 guests) and we got to stay in one of the villager's homes instead, who kindly prepared the private space for us while she and her family stayed elsewhere.  It was actually a pretty neat unexpected change because we got to see what an actual home in the village was like on the inside, instead of in the bures which they built just for guests.

After settling in, we were taken to meet the chief of the village, and presented him with a kava root, a custom for first-time guests in the village that we were informed of before we arrived.  He said a prayer in Fijian and accepted our gift.  It was very interesting to meet the chief and learn a bit about what he does, and how his position is passed down through the generations.  Later on we also met the mayor, who is elected by the people of the village (there are about 80 residents in Navotua). 

After the ceremony with the chief, we joined the other homestay guests for an outdoor lunch.  There was a plate of large, delicious tuna sandwiches made of homemade bread and tuna caught straight from their shores.

It's hard to describe the experience of culture shock.  We had just come from 25 days of living alone in mostly remote locations, and now suddenly here we were, not only in a village who's customs we didn't really understand yet, but also with other homestay guests from all over the world (France, Switzerland, Italy, even other Canadians), and it was all a bit overwhelming at first.  I will try to convey my impressions as best I can, hoping that enough detail might give a small window into this life that is so different from the one that I know.

After lunch, we had a liesurely afternoon trying to get acclimated to the village.  J and I went for a walk along their beautiful beach, admiring all the beautiful shells and bits of coral that were along the shore, and ended up in a hammock afterwards, just laying and listening to the sound of the waves.

In Navotua, all your meals are provided for by a different family.  That evening, we entered one of the village women's homes and all sat on the floor for a simple but good meal of cassava, papaya salad, noodles with tuna, and crab.  Some children were there as well, and it was really sweet to watch one of the little girls playing tickle and clapping games with another guest.

Rice, noodles, cassava, and fish

The children were all very frirendly here, calling out "Bula!" (a traditional friendly greeting similar to "hello") and smiling at us every time we walked by.  On our walk earlier in the evening, J and I came across a group of a few children playing on the beach who knew a small bit of English and tried to communicate with us by using the few English words they knew, Fijian, and gestures.  We largely didn't understand what they were saying but did manage to discern that they were in kindergarten, first, and second grades.  (In Navotua, they have a primary school for children up to grade 3.  After that, they are required to go to boarding school in a neighbouring village, where they stay there for the whole week and come back to their families on weekends.)

After dinner, we lingered back talking with each other and with our dinner host, and one of the other guests wanted to try drinking their traditional kava drink, so we took one of the kava roots over to a large metallic pot, and took turns using a large and heavy metal rod to pound the root into powder.  This was very difficult work, and one of the village men came over to help us finish it off.  His very rhythmic pounding made the metal instruments ring out in almost a musical way, and as we all stood around this man in the pitch black night under a sky of thousands of stars, it felt like we were somewhere very far from home indeed.

After the kava root was turned into powder, we brought it back to another village woman's home, who showed us how she put it in a cloth bag (to act as a filter), poured water in a large ceremonial bowl, and kneaded it over and over in the water in order to mix the kava powder with the water. 
The kava root powder mixed with water creates a clay-coloured drink that causes a calm, mild sedative effect that actually mildly numbs your tongue and throat for a few minutes, depending on how strongly it's prepared.

As we all sat on the ground around the kava bowl in the dim light (they have some very limited electricity that is powered by solar panels as well as some generators), we were taught how to participate in the kava drinking experience.  As you are offered the kava (served in a half coconut shell), you must first say "Bula" and cup your hands for form a clapping sound before accepting the bowl.  You then drink the entire bowl at once without stopping, and after you hand the bowl back you cup your hands together three times in unison with everyone else in the circle.  As we sat around taking turns drinking kava, more and more villagers quietly came in and were offered kava as well.  J and I finally decided to go to bed while some of the others remained drinking late into the night.

Swimming in The Caves

The next day after breakfast we went to The Caves, a volcanic island just across from us that has large caves in which you can swim.  It was quite a disconcerting experience at first, to jump into a dark cave full of water, but there was a bit of sun peeking through a hole up in the top of the cave. After swimming around in there for a bit and enjoying the strange experience, we were guided to enter another cave that had a small opening you had to swim to.  In high tide you actually have to dive under the opening, but thankfully (for me) it was low tide and you just had to dunk your face a little under the water in order to get through.  The interior of this cave was completely pitch black, but our guide had a small light that made it mildly less frightening.

After this experience, we took the short boat ride back to the village and had another very good lunch at another villager's home.  There was rice, fried fish, and a very tasy split pea soup.  J and I decided to go for a swim after that, to a nearby island.  It was quite a fun short little swim, for at least one of us - J was not so enthralled by swimming through the super clear waters where we could sea sea creatures and plants below us.  Thankfully for her, after we explored the island for a bit, Big Joe happened to be passing by in his boat and offered us a lift back to the village. 

Everyone in the village was extremely kind and hospitable.  It was truly a unique experience to be immersed in their culture and their way of doing things - walking through the dark with a solar powered lantern, eating cross-legged on the floor, having the same kinds of foods that they eat from day to day, playing with the children.  As we spent more time in the village, we started getting more comfortable with their rhythm of life, learning names and faces, and enjoying their well-kept little village.

That evening, we had another lovely dinner at yet another villager's home.  Their diet currently seems to be largely starch-based: the ever-present cassava, rice, noodles, plantains, and various flour dough based items.  We saw on one of their community bulletin boards a village-planning list, with all their highlighted problems, and one of them was the lack of vegetables.  When you're living in such a remote place with no real source of income and weather/water limitations on what you can grow, it must be a real challenge getting all the necessary nutrients into your diet. 

After dinner, there was some singing and dancing put on by the people in the village, and it was lovely to hear their beautiful harmonic singing and watch them immersed in their dances.  I especially enjoyed watching one very young boy who was in the audience, who was trying to copy the dance movements of one of the older men!  When the show was over, there was another kava ceremony, and people sat around and chatted with each other. 

Preparing the kava

The next day was our departure date, but not before we walked over to the school for a quick visit.  As soon as we came in, a little four year old girl rushed over to proudly show us her worksheet.  We took some time to look at all their learning materials on the walls, very similar to a typical western classroom.  Then we spent a bit of time playing a number matching game with the same little girl from earlier.  J looked just like she was back at work, sitting on the classroom floor (in her skirt!), helping this little girl learn her numbers and giving her high-fives when she matched correctly.

It's hard to sum up the experience in the village coherently.  Everyone was incredibly friendly.  
People and children all called out "Bula!" in greeting whenever you walked by.  The sweet young woman who's home we were staying in went out of her way to make sure we were comfortable, and during the last kava session it was very interesting to talk a bit more with her and find out some details about her daily life - how she doesn't like waking up for church, how she needs a "chaser" after she drinks kava, etc.  Really, just like any other 23 year old!

Things were different than our own lives.  For example, it was strange to live in such a close community where homes are always open and there doesn't seem to be much opportunity for privacy; they have one dwelling for sleeping and living in and a different unattached one for cooking in.  But it was an interesting juxtaposition to experience some familiar aspects of life thrown in with the foregin - for example, to be in the home of someone who didn't have electricity but had a cell phone, or to watch a little child who has likely never seen a television nevertheless singing "Mama Mia" impishly at us because a volunteer in the village once brought a portable DVD player and that was the only disc he had.

It was a very overwhelming experience at first, trying to get used to what their customs were, and what was acceptable and what wasn't.  Sometimes we just watched; other times we had to ask.  But as the days went on, we started to feel more comfortable.  It was only two days, but we both wished we had stayed longer.  There was something very genuine about their friendliness, and something wholesome about staying in Fiji with real Fijians instead of in a commercial resort.  We were directly benefiting their small community and providing them with one of their only self-sustaining sources of income.

We left reluctantly, back in Big Joe's boat with a bag holding a kindly prepared packed lunch of fruit juice and roti. 

If you ever go to Fiji, go to Navotua.  I would almost even say, don't stay anywhere else.  If you just want sun and sand, there are plenty of places in the world you can go to.  If you want the real Fiji, Navotua is it.  Go, and give them a friendly "Bula!" from us.

Sunset in Navotua