The big event of this tour was the “Firewalkers” -- all our lives we hear about amazing primitive people who can walk on hot coals. “Oh yeah? Let’s see” was the prevailing attitude on the bus.
After a 45-minute ride to the “Village” and another hour milling about the area, buying Fiji souvenirs, strolling around the attractive tropical gardens.....
....It was SHOWTIME. We all sat in what looked like a small baseball park grandstand, looking out over a creek to a big lawn on the other side. This big flat lawn was the “stage”.
A bunch of logs were seen burning in a pile on the other side. While screaming out some Native Fijian Incantations, the Head Firewalker supervised the clearing away of the burning logs and the turning over of the hot stones underneath.
Turning over of the hot stones underneath ? Isn’t that a dead giveaway ? How hot could the underside of those stones be? Ol’ Charlie from the Show Me State of Missouri smirked. Ol’ Steve from the Screw You State of New York also smirked.
Narrator narrates, picker picks, woodpile burns on far side of creek
Fijian fakers flip the firestones
This guy would look perfect with a vanilla cream pie in his faceThe Head Firewalker stepped on the (red-hot?) stones, smiled, clapped his hands to encourage applause from the guests. Then six other younger firewalkers did the same.
This was followed by native dancing and singing by the firewalkers, and also 5 Fijian females. A narrator described scenarios of young and old folks, teenager lust and shenanigans, tribal warfare, seasonal ritual, all entertaining and surprisingly funny. Seems like the father of a pretty teenaged girl is leery of a horny young suitor, anywhere in the world.
On the way back, the bus tour guide said that this was the rainy side of the island. As if on cue, it started raining in the last few minutes of the bus ride, which took us through the small and congested town of Suva before letting us off at the dock. The rain continued for the rest of the afternoon, I stayed on the ship, and that was it for Fiji.
As for Samoa, the ship docked at a place called Apia, where the weather was sweltering and there wasn’t many airconditioned establishments. I got off to a late start and I only had a couple of hours, but I heard about a hotel and bar where crew were going to drink, with good airconditioning. Somebody said that Mai Tais were invented in Samoa. True or not, in this town it was a good day to sit in an airconditioned place and drink Mai Tais, maybe stroll around this town (Apia) and check out the local flavor. The banyan trees and the guys in the sarongs were pretty weird.
Samoan Mailman in Sarong...not quite Christopher Atkins
5 comments:
Say it isn't so! My dream vacation spot, Fiji, and all there is to show for it were some phony firewalkers?!?! Where were the beautiful beaches and tropical fish? Where were Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields in sarongs and loincloths? Not even a cannibal? I am very very sad. So much for my vicarious Fiji experience. What say you get your fanny back home and cheer me up with some tunes?
Great shots Steve! Do you mean that even you and I could walk on those hot stones without getting burned? I guess the only people who got burnt were the tourists.
Thanks Uncle Steve, you've officially ruined Fiji for everyone.
Just kidding.
The guy in the last picture looks a little misplaced.
Steve, I believe it was when we left fiji that the captain announced that a small fishing boat had raised a red flag and that we were going to turn around for an assist. Of course all the passengers where hanging over the rail watching this dramatic rescue operation take place.
It took quite a while to complete the turn around of such a large ship, to lower the life boat and to get a crew out to the fishing boat. Then we learned that the fishermen were merely waving hello and just happened to have on a red shirt that he took off to use as a flag to wave at us!
We also had that exciting helicopter life flight just off the coast of Japan. I guess a woman had a stroke and had to be life-flighted. her husband could not accompany her! There are all kinds of customs stuff to go through. He had to go with us to the next stop, pack up and fly back to Seattle.
As I was re-reading your blog, I thought it might be fun to add that the Fiji people were canibals. On the same tour as the 'hot coals' farce,some of the tools/utensils used were on display and they gave me the chills. E.g. There was a special spoon used to eat the eyes out of a human head. aarrrgh
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