(by Ann)

For the second day in a row Bob has been feeling poorly. There is something going through the village and the boats in the anchorage. We call it the Fulunga La Funga. Not fun. The good news is that after two days of quiet and relaxation on the boat, while I went off and played, Bob seems to be recovering. Hard to be sick in paradise.

You might recall that we met an adorable 4-month old puppy named Lulu when we helped with the health screenings in the “third village” – Naividamu. Lulu is at that chewing stage but when Lisa of Lisa Kay (a dedicated dog lover) tried to play with him with a stick the dog cowered. Obviously sticks are not to be fetched in Fulunga. When Lisa heard that some of us might head back over to Naividamu to do sevusevu with Chief Moses she brought me a ball and a sock with a knot for little Lulu (they left today so could not attend).

Lulu!

When we were invited to join Graham and Diane on Maunie in a trip to Naividamu hosted by their “family” who grew up there, we were in. Well half of us anyway, because Bob was not 100% and the idea of a kava party full of polite, “No thank you, I am not feeling well”, by Bob, did not sound fun. So I jumped ship and took the Maunie ferry to Naividamu and back.

As we found out the last time we were there the village is full of delightful people thrilled to have cruisers paying attention to them. At our sevusevu the chief informed us that today they were celebrating a birthday and we were invited! When I asked whose birthday it was he replied, “A cousin in Suva, but we will celebrate without him!” I like their style. Ironically it ended up that it truly was the birthday of Baki, in fact his 50th. We had befriended Baki during the health screening so it was appropriate that we attend. It must be noted however, that Mattei was very disappointed that Bob was sick. Actually I was getting a little tired of having to disappoint Bob’s friends by telling them the sad news.

Sevusevu with Chief Moses (on right).

This kava party included the Pailangi women (i.e. cruiser women). The local women stayed in the house cooking a fabulous meal for us and playing with the babies. You know me, I jumped between parties. Oh, and played fetch with Lulu. He was very happy to bring back the ball repeatedly. Only the little boys in the village were disappointed because the ball was not for them. Some you win, some you don’t.