Yes, we had to navigate the three miles to the other end of the island, this time through the jungle to pick up our tapas.
It was an adventure.
Heading through the jungle.
Right from the beach we tried to find the path and…woah, it wasn’t where we thought it should be. Hmmm, maybe this isn’t going to be as easy as we thought it would be. We forged inward and…ran right into a lava rock wall. Can’t go that way. We spent about ten minutes just looking for a possible path. Finally we found something that looked promising. Given how it was looking though, we took another ten minutes while I used the machete to cut us two substantial walking sticks. Now we would have something to balance off of as well as to ward off wild boars…should one decide to attack us from his jungle lair.
The first half of the three miles into the village turned out to be all that. Most of the time you couldn’t really be sure there was a trail. It was only our feet that could feel the trail. You couldn’t see it, it was so overgrown. I whacked away with my machete at times, but mostly for show. The jungle is so thick, if there was not really a trail somewhere in the underbrush we wouldn’t have made it. Then about halfway, we came to a real trail. You could actually see it. Things got more comfortable after that.
About an hour in and we came suddenly into the village. And then it started raining. We ducked into the island nurse’s station – as likely a place as any and it had benches to sit on. We were on “Fiji time” so we weren’t worried about time and just sat picking burrs out of our clothes when all of a sudden George, our guide from Thursday showed up. You think that Fiji is pretty slow and easy but word actually travels very fast when people show up. We weren’t in the village five minutes before word had gotten to wherever George was – and they woke him (he had been fishing until 0400 and was sleeping) and he made his way down to where we were waiting out the rain.
OK, tour guide in hand, and rain dissipating, we made our way through the village to the tapa makers. Actually there are a number of folks who make the tapas, but I think we lucked into some of the better of the folks who do it. They were waiting for us. As we approached they invited us in and proudly unfolded not one, but two six foot by four foot tapas to show us. They had each been made on Friday by two sisters (or possibly sisters- in-law, we were not able to discern). They were gorgeous and we couldn’t make up our mind, so we made a great deal and bought both (all of our cash plus a bag of brown sugar and a beach ball for one of their children). Suffice to say they cost five or six or more times as much in Suva and we now have not only beautiful tapas, but pictures of the ladies that made them holding them up. These are real treasures. These will someday adorn the walls of our home ashore.
The first tapa we bought.
...and the artist.
The second tapa...
...and the artist.
All we had to do now was find our way back through the jungle to the boats. Turned out to not be so bad. We almost missed one fork in the road but as Bob walked to the right, Ann pointed on the ground to where we had scratched an arrow pointing down the other side. Oops. Oh well, as Ann said, “That’s why we’re both watching”.
On the way out, the machete again came in handy as we were able to knock down a green coconut (the ones good for drinking), cut it open, enjoy almost a liter of sweet coconut milk and then we chopped open the nut and scooped out the soft meat. A real picker-upper.
Score another one for the machete.
Back in our little anchorage Ann and Lisa went hunting on the beaches for sea shells (Bob napped and John was planning future voyages further west) and then Lisa made an awesome fish curry followed by music night. Last night was movie night – we watched “Astronaunt Farmer”. If you haven’t seen it, don’t bother. But tonight was uke night. Bob and Lisa played ukes, with John and the bongo and Ann providing harmony. A fun night.
Tomorrow we move a bit further north to Komo Island. Then we’re headed to Nairai where our bottle was found last year!
P.S. To my Mom, who has been managing stuff for us while we’ve been out of cell and internet range for 10 weeks – we should be at an island with cellular in a few days and able to call…