Fulaga Chronicles - Part 3

Happy Anniversary!

Somehow it happened.  The word got out.  Our host Meri heard that our 24th anniversary was coming up during our stay at the village.  Now, Cindi and I usually take our anniversaries pretty casually....a good dinner, an overpriced bottle of red, and some nice sentiments expressed is usually about the extent.  Not the case in Fulaga!!!

Meri hinted that there might be a bit of a celebration in the works.  "Oh, Meri, you don't have to go to any trouble.....really.....ummmmm, how many people are coming, just us and you and Jon-e???"  With a sly giggle, Meri replied, "well, ummmmm.....I think the whole village"!!!!!  Yikes!

So she was right.  They built a shelter on the grass along Meri and Jon-e's house for the event.  When we arrived at 4, things were already getting underway, and at least one bathtub sized bowl of kava ("grog") was already to the good.

Yellow barrel in the background is water for mixing kava!!!  These guys know how to party!!!

We were quickly ushered into Meri's house, where we were dressed by the women in enormous tapa cloth (made from pounded mulberry) ceremonial sulus.  These sulus are the typical traditional Fijian wedding costume.  Each village has one set, as they are quite valuable.  Speaking with a Fijian woman at the dive shop here in Viani, she said that it is a huge honor that they dressed us "kaipalangi's" (white folk) in this costume; she had never heard of this happening before.  We were very humbled.

Several guitars and a ukelele provided the wonderful music, and the grog drinking went long into the night.....about 6 hours worth to be exact.  We bought a couple of kilos of the precious roots to keep up with the consumption!  It wasn't easy to sit in those sulus, so happily they were taken off after the first hour or two.

We were introduced to a traditional Fijian wedding game:  The men stand up in a line and are blindfolded.  Then the line of wives parade past, holding out a hand.  The men have to feel the hands and try to guess their wives.  Some were successful.  Bob from s/y Charisma and I got our wives mixed up, much to the locals' delight.  Amazing amount of laughing and cheering, before digging into the spectacular feast that the village women had prepared.

Finally by 10 the kava ran out, and reluctantly we made our 20 minute hike back to the water, and the dinghy ride back to Bravo.

Wow, truly an anniversary we'll always remember!!!  Special thanks to Meri, Jon-e, and all who helped put on the bash!!!  Vinaka vaka levu!