Backpacking in Fiji, Chapter 1

Over the Mountains and Through the Jungles, to Nasivicoso We Go

It was 5 o'clock somewhere. Technically, ten in the morning in Fiji, but we felt there was no better way to begin an adventure than with a cold bitter in the back of a pickup truck. We hired two of these carriers (pickups with covered beds) to bring us over the mountains and through the dense jungles of Fiji's highlands. "Us" included, in my carrier, Jone, Oro, Hillary, Kyle, and myself. There were also two random Fijians that hopped in along the way. The other carrier held Phil, Ann, and all our gear.

We left Nadi (pronounced Nandy) at ten Saturday morning and arrived at our destination, Nasivicoso village, five bouncy hours later. The village is a sanctuary in the jungle, surrounded by mountains on all sides. It is home to Jone and approximately five hundred other Fijians. The individual dwellings are all constructed of either corrugated metal or wood and thatch in the tradtional bure style. Each house had a seperate small building specifically for cooking meals. Interspersed among the homes was the occassional outhouse--almost always without toilet paper. Cement walkways, all constructed by Rustic Pathways students, ran down the aisles between the homes. "Rustic Pathways 2007"; "Robert"; "Matt"; "Jenny Summer '04." There wasn't a smooth part visible. Bordering Nasivicoso on the east was the river; to the south was farmland; to the west was the road; and to the north was something every village had--a rugby field. All of this sat in the shadows of the mountains.

I jumped from the carrier and was immediately greeted by a tall Fijian named Josese,one of Jone's brothers. I had heard a lot about wild Josese, but decided to make my own judgements. He seemed nice enough.

We, along with some local kids, unloaded the carriers and brought all the gear to the Rustic Pathways bure. First on the agenda, even before we made an agenda, was nap time. It was not until after this that we decided, well, anything.

Naptime over, around four, we got together to figure out the rest of our day. On the top of the list of priorities was, obviously, cliff jumping. Following this was the savu savu (kava welcoming ceremony), dinner, and bed. After changing into my swimsuit I joined Oro, Josese, Kyle, Hillary, and Phil for the haalf hour walk to the waterfall.